Nury Martinez, Los Angeles City Council president, quits after audio leak of racist remarks

Nury Martinez, a Los Angeles City councilwoman, quit from her post after she was found passing racist remarks in a leaked audio clip. The said clip was first posted on Reddit by an anonymous user and was later obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

The newspaper reports that the audio clip contains a conversation between Martinez and two other council members, Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León, along with Ron Herrera, the president of Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

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Martinez, post the release of the clip, released a statement apologising for her remarks and said that she will be vacating her position, effective immediately. However, she still remains on the LA city council.

The Times reports that the aforementioned individuals in the leaked audio were discussing their frustrations about the city’s redistricting commission’s proposed maps. They were reportedly discussing the importance of  “ensure(ing) that heavily Latino districts did not lose economic assets”.

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The conversation later shifted to Councilmember Mike Bonin, a white man, who is father to an eight-year-old African-American child. While speaking on Bonin, Martinez said, “Bonin thinks he’s f**king Black.” She went on to detail the time when Bonin and his son appeared on a float during a Martin Luther King Day parade. Martinez said that on this day, Bonin “handled his young Black son as though he were an accessory.”

Martinez is also heard referring to the child as “Parece changuito” and “He’s like a monkey.” She also heard criticising the way Bonin and his husband, Sean Arian, are raising the child, saying, “They’re raising him like a little White kid”, adding, “I was like, this kid needs a beatdown. Let me take him around the corner and then I’ll bring him back.”

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Later in her statement, Martinez said regarding the conversation, “The context of this conversation was concern over the redistricting process and concern about the potential negative impact it might have on communities of color. My work speaks for itself. I’ve worked hard to lead this city through its most difficult time”.

Bonin and his husband released a statement condemning the remarks made by Martinez and the other individuals heard in the clip. Their statement read, “We are appalled, angry and absolutely disgusted that Nury Martinez attacked our son with horrific racist slurs, and talked about her desire to physically harm him. It’s vile, abhorrent, and utterly disgraceful”.