Nury Martinez has resigned from the Los Angeles City Council following the leak of a recording in which she is heard making racist remarks about a fellow councilmember’s son. Martinez had previously resigned as president of the council on Monday.
“It is with a broken heart that I resign my seat for Council District 6, the community I grew up in and my home,” Martinez said in a statement Wednesday. “When I ran in 2013, I wanted to see a change in my community and fight for my neighbors. That is what it has been about all along. No one expected me to win, but with the support of residents throughout the district I overcame that challenge and won the seat for Council District 6. I had the honor of serving in the role of a lifetime: being the representative for my neighbors.”
Martinez, the first ever Latina to serve as president of the L.A. City Council, did not show up to a Tuesday council meeting, taking what she called a “leave of absence.”
Her comments were recorded around October of 2021 during a conversation about the redistricting process, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The newspaper says Martinez, Councilmembers Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León, and L.A. County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera took part in the call, in which they also discussed Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas, who’d been indicted on federal corruption charges. Herrera also resigned his post Monday, following the audio leak.
During the conversation, according to the newspaper, Martinez referred to Councilmember Mike Bonin’s son, who is Black, as “Parece changuito,” which translates from Spanish to English as “that little monkey.”
Martinez is also heard in the recording complaining about the child’s behavior at a Martin Luther King Day parade, saying Bonin’s son was misbehaving on a float, which might have tipped over if she and the other women on the float didn’t step in to “parent this kid.”
“They’re raising him like a little white kid,” Martinez said. “I was like, ‘This kid needs a beatdown. Let me take him around the corner and then I’ll bring him back.”‘
The Times said Martinez and the other Latino leaders on the call apparently didn’t know it was being recorded. It remains unclear who recorded the audio and leaked it.
“As a mother, I know better and I am sorry,” Martinez said in a previous statement Monday morning. “I am truly ashamed. I know this is the result of my own actions.”
Addressing Bonin and his husband, Martinez said in the statement, “I’m sorry to your entire family for putting you through this.”
In response to Martinez’s resignation, the office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted, “This is the right move. What was said by these elected leaders is deeply troubling and racism cannot be tolerated in California.”
L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement that “Nury made the right decision, one that I realize is painful to her personally but unquestionably in the best interests of a city that I know she loves,” adding that, “her two former colleagues must arrive at the same decision soon,” in reference to Councilmembers Cedillo and De León.
All three members heard on the call have faced local and national pressure to resign.
Following Martinez’s resignation, several other council members, including Heather Hutt, Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Mitch O’Farrell, repeated their calls for Cedillo and De León to step down as well.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday that President Biden had been following the L.A. City Council story closely, and believes all parties on the call should resign, either for using or for tolerating such “appalling” language.
“Look, the president is glad to see that one of the participants in that conversation has resigned,” Jean-Pierre said. “But they all should. He believes that they all should resign. The language that was used and tolerated during that conversation was unacceptable, and it was appalling. They should all step down.”
Mark Strassmann and Kathryn Watson contributed reporting.
