As it turns out, Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez isn’t as much an ally of the Black Lives Matter movement as she pretends to be—and neither are some of her colleagues. Martinez resigned her post as president of the council on Monday after the Los Angeles Times reported on audio leaked anonymously on Reddit of Martinez comparing the 8-year-old son of fellow council member Mike Bonin to a monkey. “Parece changuito,” Martinez said in the audio. It translates to: "He's like a little monkey."
Martinez was criticizing the child's behavior at a parade in 2017 when he was 2 years old, NBC News reported. She said the kid “needs a beatdown,” and in other sections of the audio she said a white colleague handled his Black son as though he were an “accessory.” Martinez also spewed racist rhetoric about Oaxacan communities. After being caught in the racist tirade, Martinez had few other choices but to resign her leadership role on the council, according to her constituents—many of whom are calling on her to resign her council seat altogether.
”I take responsibility for what I said and there are no excuses for those comments,” the councilwoman said in a statement on Monday. “I’m so sorry.”
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Warning: Videos in this story contain profanity and racist remarks that may be triggering for listeners.
She continued:
“I sincerely apologize to the people I hurt with my words: to my colleagues, their families, especially to Mike, Sean, and your son. As a mother, I know better and I am sorry. I am truly ashamed. I know this is the result of my own actions. I’m sorry to your entire family for putting you through this.”
Martinez said she has already reached out to her Black colleagues and other Black leaders, and she is asking for their forgiveness. “In the end, it is not my apologies that matter most; it will be the actions I take from this day forward,” she said. “I hope that you will give me the opportunity to make amends.”
The recording of the disgusting remarks dates back to an October 2021 conversation about political opportunity in the redistricting process. Council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin De León attended the meeting, as did Ron Herrera, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
At one point in the conversation, Martinez called Bonin a "little b---h" and said about Los Angeles County Disrict Attorney George Gascón: “F— that guy … He’s with the Blacks.”
De León echoed Martinez's remark about how Bonin parented his child and said the councilman handles the child like Martinez holding a Louis Vuitton or Goyard handbag.
De León later said in a statement NBC News obtained: “There were comments made in the context of this meeting that are wholly inappropriate; and I regret appearing to condone and even contribute to certain insensitive comments made about a colleague and his family in private. I’ve reached out to that colleague personally. On that day, I fell short of the expectations we set for our leaders — and I will hold myself to a higher standard.”
In statements they released, Cedillo and Herrera said that they should have intervened.
But no words could lessen the impact of the shockwaves this recording sent through Los Angeles communities. Candidates who had won Martinez’s endorsement sought to distance themselves from her.
Protesters demonstrated outside of Martinez’s home on Sunday.
And one of the demonstrators brought up Martinez’s time spent on the Los Angeles Unified School District board. He said the “freedom” and “ease” with which she and her peers “disparage and demean and talk about violence against a Black child is disgusting.”
California Assemblywoman Lori Wilson tweeted about Martinez:
“(1/2) It is extremely disheartening to hear the anti-Black sentiment displayed by the three members of the Los Angeles City Council. I am saddened to see a member of the LGBTQ+ community included in this attack. As the Chair-elect for the California Legislative Black Caucus,
(2/2) I stand in solidarity with my colleagues as we collectively fight against racism and bigotry in all forms and at all levels of society. May the pain caused by these remarks result in positive conversation, collective unity and healing.”
Sen. Alex Padilla said in a statement that he was “appalled” by the “racist, dehumanizing remarks.”
“At a time when our nation is grappling with a rise in hate speech and hate crimes, these racist comments have deepened the pain that our communities have endured,” Padilla said. “Los Angeles deserves better.”
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