The Los Angeles City Council president who stepped down from her leadership position Monday after leaked audio showed her making openly racist remarks has a history of labeling the U.S. “racist.”
“On this #Juneteenth, the world has been awoken to the fact that Black Americans still face racism, discrimination & social injustices. We need to continue to listen, learn, & act to end racism, including institutionalized racism in government systems & laws. #BlackLivesMatter,” LA Councilmember Nury Martinez tweeted on June 19, 2020.
Martinez was also among the LA City Council members who pushed to defund the Los Angeles Police Department in 2020, and tweeted about her support for the Black Lives Matter movement, accompanied by her motion to defund the police department.
“We need a vision for our city that says ‘there is going to be justice.’ American society is founded on a racial hierarchy, one that is born out of slavery, followed by Jim Crow segregation and corporate abuse of labor. As such, police departments are asked to enforce a system of laws that are designed to reinforce and maintain economic and racial inequality,” the motion read.
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Martinez calling for the end to racism follows her stepping down from her leadership role on the LA City Council Monday after leaked audio detailed her making openly racist remarks concerning a Black child of one of her colleagues on the council.
The audio was recorded in October 2021 and first reported Sunday by the LA Times. The audio detailed a conversation between Martinez, Councilmembers Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León and L.A. County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera while discussing the redrawing of districts.
Los Angeles, CA – October 04: Councilman Kevin de León, left, and Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez confer at city council meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022, in Los Angeles, CA.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Within the audio, Martinez criticized Councilmember Mike Bonin, who is White, over the parenting of his Black son, who she said he treated like an “accessory.” She also called the child “ese changuito,” Spanish for “that little monkey.”
She focused on the child’s behavior at a Martin Luther King Day parade, arguing she and other women on a float in the parade had to step in and “parent this kid” or the float would have tipped over.
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“They’re raising him like a little White kid,” Martinez said, according to a recording leaked on Reddit. “I was like, ‘This kid needs a beatdown. Let me take him around the corner, and then I’ll bring him back.”‘
Los Angeles, CA – August 30: Council member Mike Bonin opposes the motion for the appointment of Heather Hutt as an interim council member for the 10th District. Motion failed to receive the 10 votes required for a public hearing at City Hall on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022, in Los Angeles, CA.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Martinez also took aim at Los Angeles County District George Gascón after she and her colleagues in the recording discussed whether Gascón would endorse Cedillo in his re-election campaign against Eunessis Hernandez.
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“F— that guy … He’s with the Blacks,” Martinez is heard saying, according to FOX 11 Los Angeles.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon addresses police accountability and the actions taken by his office to restore trust in the community during a press conference on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in Los Angeles, CA.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
In other tweets from Martinez reviewed by Fox News Digital, she slammed former President Donald Trump as “racist” for his immigration policies.
“Forced hysterectomies is another example of ICE & Trump’s racist, intrusive & violent assault on immigrants. It is nothing new. US has a long, shameful history of sexist & racist inspired forced sterilization of women & people of color, including in LA,” she tweeted in September 2020. The tweet was accompanied by a CNN link on forced hysterectomies in the U.S.
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“Once again Trump’s racist policies against immigrants, people of color and the Constitution comes to light – we’ll see him in court again where he’s not doing so good as of late!” Martinez tweeted on July 21, 2020, accompanied by another CNN article reporting on Trump signing a presidential memorandum that excluded illegal immigrants from being counted in congressional districts in 2021.
Martinez stepped down as council president, though it appears she did not resign completely from the Los Angeles City Council.
“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 am sorry to your entire family for putting you through this,” she said in a statement Monday.
“In the end, it is not my apologies that matter most; it will be the actions I take from this day forward. I hope that you will give me the opportunity to make amends. Therefore, effective immediately I am resigning as President of the Los Angeles City Council,” the statement continued.
Her office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on her previous tweets.
Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace contributed to this article.
