Los Angeles City Councilwoman resigns after being caught in racist rant

Before his three-day trip west, President Joe Biden encouraged all participants in the racist meeting to quit

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  Shervin Aazami, holding his son Barrett and a sign, protests outside City Hall during the Los Angeles Council meeting. AP

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  Los Angeles Urban Policy summit president Earl Ofari Hutchinson and Donna Dymally after leaked audio recordings revealed leaders made racist remarks. AFP

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  Faith, labour, immigrant and community leaders rally outside Los Angeles City Hall to denounce racism and demand change. AFP

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  Veronica Sance participates in a rally outside City Hall to denounce racism and demand change on October 11, 2022 in Los Angeles, California, in response to a recorded, racially charged leaked conversation between leaders at City Hall and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President. - Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nury Martinez is facing a torrent of criticism and calls for her resignation following the release of a taped recording from almost a year ago of racially charged remarks she made. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP)

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  Pastor Kelvin Sauls speaks out after a recorded, racially charged leaked conversation between leaders at City Hall and the president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labour. AFP

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  Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez with Mayor Eric Garcetti this year. AP

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  Ms Martinez and Mr Garcetti this year. The Orange County Register / AP

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  Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de Leon is one of the leaders heard on the incriminating recording. EPA

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  Congressman Jimmy Gomez of California has denounced the remarks and called for resignations. Getty / AFP

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  LA mayoral candidate Karen Bass addresses the Women's March Action Rally for Reproductive Rights at Mariachi Plaza on Sunday. AFP

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  Angry LA residents made their feelings known at the Los Angeles City Council meeting on Tuesday. AP

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  Ms Martinez issued an apology and expressed shame, but has yet to resign. AP

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  Protesters outside City Hall during the Los Angeles Council meeting on Tuesday. AP

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  A protester holds a sign with the names of council members purportedly on the offensive recording. AP

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  Los Angeles City Council member Mike Bonin pauses while speaking to his supporters before starting the meeting on Tuesday. AP

Los Angeles City Council member Nury Martinez resigned on Wednesday amid extreme pressure, including from the White House, after surreptitiously recorded racist comments about a colleague's son were made public.

“Serving you has been a privilege and one that I don’t give up lightly,” Ms Martinez said. “It’s hard to say goodbye but please know that I was in this fight for you.”

The incendiary audio recordings between Los Angeles City Council members set off a firestorm among politicians, which reached as far as the White House.

President Joe Biden said he wanted to see resignations from all three members who took part in the conversation.

"He believes that they all should resign," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

"The language that was used and tolerated during that conversation was unacceptable and it was appalling."

The turmoil began after a recording of racist and highly bigoted comments made by Latino members nearly a year ago were leaked to the public.

Ms Martinez, who landed in the centre of the storm, can be heard saying that a fellow council member, Mike Bonin, who is white, treated his young son, who is black, as an “accessory”, and that the child was like a monkey.

She also used a homophobic slur to denigrate Mr Bonin and called indigenous immigrants from the Mexican state of Oaxaca “tan feos,” or “so ugly”.

Ms Martinez, the first Latina appointed president of the city council, was speaking with at least two other council members, Kevin de Leon and Gil Cedillo, who can be heard laughing and taking part.

Mr de Leon and Mr Cedillo remain in their council seats.

At a Tuesday council meeting, protesters shouted at Mr de Leon and Mr Cedillo to leave the room.

A hush fell over the room as Mr Bonin came to the podium.

"Asking for forgiveness is a good first step first — well, it’s the second step because first you must resign and then ask for forgiveness," he said as the crowd cheered.

Other calls for the council members to resign have come from across the Democratic establishment, including from US Senator Alex Padilla, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, mayoral candidates Karen Bass and Rick Caruso, and other members of council.

Governor Gavin Newsom denounced the racist language, saying he was “encouraged that those involved have apologised and begun to take responsibility for their actions", but fell short of demanding resignations.

California Congressman Jimmy Gomez met Ms Bass in "an emergency meeting with civic, faith and justice leaders to start the process of coming together and healing".

"I am appalled by the racist, homophobic language and personal attacks made in a leaked audio recording of a meeting with city council officials," Mr Gomez said in a letter to constituents.

"There’s no room for anti-blackness, anti-LGBTQ, anti-indigenous language in any shape or form. We must root it out. LA is hurting, and these past days have been painful."

The California Legislative Black Caucus said the recording “reveals an appalling effort to decentralise black voices during the critical redistricting process".

Mr Biden on Wednesday begins a three-day trip of the US western states of Colorado, California and Oregon.

Los Angeles's rough sleepers -- in pictures

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  Skid Row in Los Angeles, California, is dotted with plenty of street art, some of it ironic. Photo: Karen Borter

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  A Skid Row resident has seen better days. Photo: Jessica Jewell Lanier

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  A homeless veteran bundles up for a winter in Los Angeles. An encampment outside the VA Hospital in Brentwood was recently bulldozed. Photo: Gilbert Mercier

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  Fire consumed a vacant commercial building a block from the Venice Beach Boardwalk and adjacent to a homeless encampment that was later cleared. Photo: Los Angeles Fire Department

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  A homeless man in Sherman Oaks, a Los Angeles suburb, takes a rest on the sidewalk. Photo: Gilbert Mercier

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  Los Angeles artist and university professor Christopher Chinn began painting portraits of the city's homeless. This encampment in LA's Echo Park was swept of its 300 residents earlier this year. Holly Aguirre / The National

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  Christopher Chinn said that documenting the homeless through art is an important part of the city's cultural memory. Holly Aguirre / The National

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  A homeless man takes a rest at a bus stop outside the Frank Gehry-designed Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. Holly Aguirre / The National

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  The face of homelessness in Los Angeles has changed drastically over the years. This woman was calling Skid Row home when this photo was snapped. Photo: V.T. Polywoda

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  A homeless woman salvages in Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles. Photo: Russ Allison Loar

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  Homeless residents of Los Angeles can be found in almost every neighbourhood. Photo: Creative Commons

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  When you're homeless in Venice Beach and on a movie set, they shoot around you. Photo: Gregory Sotir

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  This couple calls Skid Row in Los Angeles their home. Photo: Russ Allison Loar

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  This gentleman emigrated to the US from Mexico but could not find reasonably priced housing. Photo: Russ Allison Loar

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  Skid Row in Los Angeles encompasses a 50-block radius and is home to some 6,000 residents sleeping in the rough. Photo: Russ Allison Loar

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  It is not uncommon for the homeless in Los Angeles to populate their encampments with possessions from their previously housed lives. Photo: Russ Allison Loar

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  A group of residents sleep in the rough on the banks of Arcadia's El Monte Water Conservation Park in East Los Angeles County. Photo: Creative Commons

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  Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti attended the opening of the YWCA Greater Los Angeles and Target Acts of Kindness Project, which provides temporary housing to the city's houseless. Photo: Los Angeles Mayor's Office