Democrats, It’s Time to Meet the Moment
LA City Hall Scandal —
Los Angeles has seen its fair share of political scandals over the decades, but the leaked audio of Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez, councilmen Gil Cedillo, Kevin de León, and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera making disparaging and racist remarks about Black people, their colleagues and conspiring to commit voter suppression takes the cake.
In one single instance, the worst fears of Blacks in Los Angeles were confirmed in graphic detail — the top Democratic political and labor leaders of the city are anti-Black and are actively conspiring to dismantle what is left of the Black community in Los Angeles.
Famed author and poet Maya Angelou once said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
From referring to a white councilmember’s Black son as an “accessory” and describing him as a monkey in Spanish to wanting to physically beat that same little boy, colluding to replace one Black council member with another who can be depended on to vote in favor of Latinos, conspiring to commit Black voter suppression, even seemingly writing off Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón because “He’s with the Blacks” — no one should ever be confused about where Black people stand with Martinez, Cedillo, de León, and Herrera.
Now that their plotting, planning and blatant racism have been exposed, usher in the carefully crafted public apologies.
At the risk of never working at city hall or in politics again, I am going to speak the truth about this situation. There are some instances where apologies just won’t cut it, and this is one of them.
The only acceptable resolution to this scandal is for the immediate resignation from public office of all four people involved. Period. This is not a situation where thoughts-and-prayer-like statements mean a damn thing.
Let’s be clear, had the leaked audio been of a group of Black leaders or Republicans saying racist and derogatory comments towards any other race or group of people it would have been a “Do not pass Go and do not collect $200” type of situation that would have resulted in the immediate calls for resignations of all involved.
The deafening silence from alleged allies of the Black community on this situation, including the Democratic Party, is just as bad as the strongly worded statements that say everything except for Martinez and co. to resign.