The Los Angeles Urban League calls for the immediate resignation of former Council President Nury Martinez, Councilmembers Gil Cedillo, and Kevin de León after a recording came to light where the three (3) members of the Los Angeles City Council and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera held a conversation last fall that included racist remarks, derisive statements about their colleagues and former council President Nury Martinez saying a white councilman handled his young Black son as though he were an “accessory.”
The former President of the LA City Council, and all the involved Councilmembers should apologize to their constituents and immediately resign from their positions. This kind of overt racism has no place in political discourse in Los Angeles and cannot be tolerated, just as we condemned and refused to tolerate the anti-Asian hate that raised its ugly head during the pandemic.
With the full support of the board of directors, the Los Angeles Urban League hereby demands that (i) former Council President Nury Martinez, Councilmembers Gil Cedillo, and Kevin de León resign immediately, and (ii) the City of Los Angeles convene an investigatory body to determine the extent to which the racial animus displayed by these elected officials has impacted any other decisions made by the City Council during City Council President Nury Martinez’s term as President of the Los Angeles City Council.
