The Daily - Race, Power and the Leaked Recording in Los Angeles

Episode Date: October 19, 2022

This episode contains strong language.A leaked audio recording of Latino lawmakers in Los Angeles making racist comments has created a political firestorm and brought demands for resignations.But not only has the uproar forced the authorities to reckon with what officials say behind closed doors, it has also raised a sharp issue: Why is a city with so many Latino constituents represented by so few of them?Guest: Shawn Hubler, a California correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: The recording of the private conversation between three council members and a labor leader has already led to two resignations. Here’s what to know about the controversy.The disparaging remarks highlighted a history of racism within the Latino community.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

From The New York Times, I'm Sabrina Tavernisi, and this is The Daily. When a racist audio recording of Latino lawmakers in Los Angeles was made public, it created a political firestorm and demands for resignations. It forced Los Angeles to reckon with what officials say behind closed doors. But it also raised an uncomfortable question. Why is a city with so many Latinos represented by so few of them? Today, I talk to my colleague, California correspondent Sean Hubler. California correspondent, Sean Hubler.

It's Wednesday, October 19th. Sean, tell me about the recording at the center of the scandal in Los Angeles. What's on it? This is a recording that was made last October. And it was one of several recordings that were made without the knowledge of the people speaking at the headquarters of the Los Angeles County Labor Federation, which is a very powerful democratic organization in local politics in L.A. And on the tape are three members of the Los Angeles City Council, Nuri Martinez. That's the woman's voice you hear. She's the president of the Los Angeles City Council, which is a very powerful position, by the way. And two other council members. council members, Kevin DeLeon and Gil Cedillo, who both represent pieces of East LA, and in Kevin DeLeon's case, downtown. And they're meeting with Ron Herrera, the head of the Labor Fed, who

is a longtime acquaintance of all of them. And they were meeting at a time when Los Angeles was undergoing a process that happens every 10 years. So anyways, getting back to redistricting. Redrawing the boundaries of its political districts. These were districts in which these folks were all going to have to be reelected. And they had just gotten some bad news. They're looking at these draft maps, recommendations on how the lines ought to be drawn, and they're not liking them. And they were meeting to see how can we get what we want out of this map. And what were they saying about what they did want?

What were they looking at when they cast their eyes out into these districts and the lines? So basically— We're in a different spot now than we were 25 years ago. The thing for us is to exercise our power. They're looking to maximize the power of the Latino community in Los Angeles overall. I mean, we're like a little Latino caucus of our, you know, our own city. And as they look at the maps, they particularly don't like that some sort of high-value institutions are being mapped out of Latino districts, potentially. You took away the airport. You took away Anhelms and Bush. You took away, which generates about a thousand jobs. economic drivers that provide a lot of jobs that could help them and their Latino allies in the future, you know, get elected and employ people in their district. So if you want to talk about

Latino districts, what kind of districts are you trying to create? Because you're taking away our assets. So you're just going to create poor Latino districts with nothing? So they're upset. They're upset. And the conversation begins to get personal. And in particular, Nori Martinez, who's the council president, she starts to attack her colleagues. And to be clear, she's the most outspoken of the three. But the other guys don't really stop her. What do they say? So there's a section in the conversation where the council president is talking about one of her colleagues on the council, a guy named Mike Bonin. He's white. He's a gay man, and he represents a wealthier part of Los Angeles, the West Side. And he and his partner have adopted this child,

who is now eight years old, going on nine, and the little boy is Black. And she's talking about this episode. Where at the Martin Luther King Jr. Parade in Los Angeles, Mike Bonin and his son are on a float with her. It's like the oddest thing. It's like black and brown on this float. And then there's this white guy with a little black head. And she compares Mike Bonin's son. It's an accessory. To Louis Fatang, that's a good place to put your accessory. To an accessory. Oh, man. The kid is bouncing off the effing walls on the floor.

There's nothing you can do to control him. She says the little boy is misbehaving. She says that the kid might tip the float over. I'm over here trying to parent this kid. I'm like, you can't do that. I said no. She uses the Spanish word changuito, which means little monkey, to describe his son. It's me and Karen Bass on the floor

trying to protect this little kid. She says that she would like to take the kid around back. This kid needs a beat down. Let me take him around the corner and then I'll bring him back. Yeah. And beat him. Let me take him around the corner and then I'll bring him back. And beat him. You understand? Come here. It's a pinch. So ugly.

Ugly and racist and Bonin is not the only target of this conversation. What's his name? What's he look like? Armin. The guy with the one eyebrow. He used to be with the tall guy. They talk about Armenian political colleagues. Armin, what's his last name? And it's an I-A-M, I'll bet you. Armenian political colleagues. I mean, what's his last name? It's an I-A-M, I bet you.

Jewish political colleagues. I'm sure Katz and his crew have an agenda. The Budils cut their deal with South Aleppo. They attack white liberals. Because I told folks again, all those crazies in Orange County who are pro-Trump, I said, forget about them. They're no threat to us. Who they see as, you know, kind of stabbing them in the back politically. It's the white liberals.

It's the LA Times. Amen. At one point, they veer into a conversation on Koreatown, which once was a large settlement of Korean immigrants in Los Angeles, but now is a very diverse neighborhood. Koreatown's a misnomer. It's called called Cape Town because it's got a lot of Koreans, but it's all Latinos. And they talk about how Latino Koreatown is now. I see a lot of little short, dark people. Yeah, buta Oaxacan. Buta Oaxacan Koreans.

And there's a riff on Oaxacans. I don't know where these people are from. I don't know what village they came out of, got here, but... And there's a riff on Oaxacans. And they talk about them in rather offensive terms. Wow, so that was really quite something. So this really ugly talk against one of their colleagues' Black son, This really ugly talk against one of their colleagues' black son. Also disparaging remarks against Jews, Armenians, Oaxacans, and all on this secret recording. But obviously at some point, the secret recording stops being secret. That's right.

The recording was sort of squirreled away for about a year. And then it emerges. It was uploaded to Reddit, made its way into the hands of some reporters at the Los Angeles Times. And there are a lot of theories about who recorded it and who leaked it. None have been substantiated just yet. But in any case, when the tape was released last week, it created just a total firestorm in the city. L.A. City Council President Nury Martinez under fire. Shocking audio recordings, racially charged statements and slurs. What a story this is. It's a bombshell. It's stunning. Right out of the gate, the young Democratic progressives in the city call for resignations for everybody. Let me start by saying racism is a disease that must be confronted head on and dug out of our bodies, of our systems, of our communities. Calls from the black community in the city for everybody to be gone altogether.

Oaxacan music playing again Wednesday evening outside of Los Angeles City Hall. The Oaxacans are upset. They face a lot of discrimination, and so they were really hurt by these comments. And if there's anybody else that knew and didn't say anything, they must go too. And the calls persist. Mentors of these politicians, other Latino politicians, Senator Alex Padilla. Has the president followed this? Does he have a reaction to what's going on? Yes, he's followed this. Spoke to him about it yesterday. And even President Biden weighs in.

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. And here's the difference between the Democrats... President Biden, which is about as big as it gets, right? The president of the United States reaching into local city politics and saying

lawmakers must resign. That's right. These are Democrats on the Los Angeles City Council and their own president is calling on them to resign. president is calling on them to resign. So what happens? How does it end? So Nore Martinez relinquishes the council presidency, and then Ron Herrera steps down from the Labor Federation. But it's not enough. And so on Tuesday morning, it all culminates at the city council at Los Angeles City Hall. Good morning. Good morning. And welcome to your Los Angeles City Council. People jam into City Hall, infuriated about this leaked tape. This meeting cannot start.

Kevin DeLeon and Gil Cedillo walk in. And people scream and curse at them in multiple languages. Get out like you wanted us out! Get out like you wanted us out! Get out! Get out of here! Get out of here! To the point that the two of them end up having to go

into a back room of the council because they're creating so much chaos. up having to go into a back room of the council because they're creating so much chaos. We would like to hear from Councilmember Bonnen. Will you all make that possible for us? Mike Bonnen takes the microphone. Good morning everybody. A silence falls. I really, really do not want to be here today.

I want to be home with my family right now. I am, but I want to say a few words. Mike Bonin gives this incredibly moving speech about his son and just how unbelievably hurt he is by this. Before anything else in the world, I'm a dad. I am a dad who loves his son in ways that words cannot capture. And I take a lot of hits. And hell, I know I practically invite a bunch of them. But my son? Man, that makes my soul bleed.

And it makes my temper burn. And I know I'm not alone. Because Los Angeles has spoken and it feels the same way. And what it's going to take for the city to heal and for him to heal. There's, there are a lot of people who are now asking for forgiveness. And asking for forgiveness is a good first step, but, well, it's a second step, because first, first you must resign and then ask for forgiveness. The room goes wild again. Mike, thank you for your courage. Thank you for expressing your sorrow. We share it with you, Mike. And you can tell in this chamber, you're surrounded by people who are here for you, who are here for Sean, who are here for Jacob.

The council can't get anything done. All right, seeing as we're not going to be able to proceed with what we're seeing right now, I will have to call a recess. We'll start this. They end up putting this over to the next day. And over this time, Nori Martinez, who has already given up her presidency and who has not come into the meeting, she issues a statement that she'll take a leave of absence. And finally, on Wednesday, she resigns entirely from the city council. And by this time, Ron Herrera, the head of the Labor Federation, has also resigned. And the pressure is now mounting on the other two council members to go. The pressure is now mounting on the other two council members to go.

So how do you make sense of this, Sean? I mean, how do you understand what you've just witnessed? Well, at this point, a lot of us are trying to puzzle through, right, what has really just happened here. Because there's, on one hand, a kind of a surface version of this chaos, and then there's a deeper version of it. And it has everything to do with Los Angeles and its history of dealing with race and ethnicity and power. We'll be right back. was taking place in the context of redistricting, like how power is going to be redistributed in the city of Los Angeles, and that there was some frustration there. What was it about? It really, it has to do with how the population of Los Angeles has changed in recent years. So, Los Angeles is a huge city. It's the second largest city in the United States in terms of population. It's roughly 4 million people, which is approximately the same population as the whole state of Oklahoma.

And it's very diverse. Every permutation you can think of racially and ethnically. And Los Angeles has for a very long time been majority minority, which is to say no one racial or ethnic group has the numbers to really call the shots. But now something different has happened. In the last decade or so, the number of Latinos in Los Angeles has grown to the point that Latinos are reaching a kind of critical mass. They're overtaking all other groups in terms of population. They're now close to 50% of the population of the city of Los Angeles and could be more by some estimates. And, you know, this is all over Los Angeles. Parts of the city that were once Koreatown or a district full of Armenian families or historically Black are now full of immigrants

from places like Mexico and El Salvador and Guatemala. And so the districts have changed remarkably, but their representation has not changed. And so on the Los Angeles City Council, for example, you would say, okay, there are 15 council seats in Los Angeles. Latinos, 50% of the population. How many should they have? Well, one could argue maybe seven or eight at least, right? But no, they only had four at the time this conversation was leaked. And now, of course, they only have three. this conversation was leaked. And now, of course, they only have three. Wow. So that's a lot less than technically if their share on the city council corresponded with their share in the population, they should have.

That's right. There are about half a dozen white council members, but non-Hispanic white people in Los Angeles only represent about 28% of the population. That's a lot of white representatives for not a lot of white population. Right. At least that's what some people argue, that the number of representatives on the council should be basically proportional to the demographic makeup of the city, that there should be a match between the proportion of population that is ethnically Latino or white or black and the proportion of the council seats that are held by folks of that race or ethnicity. And it seems like embedded in that argument is this unstated

assumption that you can really only be represented appropriately by someone of your own ethnic or racial group. Right. And of course, not everyone agrees with that. Not everyone agrees necessarily that you have to be black in order to represent black people in your district or that you have to be white to represent fairly white or people in your district that, you know, or even represent them really well, you know, that you have to do white to represent fairly white people in your district or even represent them really well, that you have to do any more than just listen and understand and fairly take their side and look out for the constituents in your district, regardless of race or ethnicity. But for what it's worth, white people are not the only group in Los Angeles

that have more representation on the council proportionally than they have in the demographics of the city. There are also more black council members than the black share of population in Los Angeles. But what are their numbers? 8.8% of Los Angeles' population now is Black, and about 20% of the council seats are held by Black council members. Okay, so Latinos have the numbers but don't have the representation. But why is that? And going back to the tape, that conversation is happening in the midst of redistricting, which is presumably connected to this demographic mismatch you're talking about. Absolutely. Because over the years, there have been long issues in LA of Latino people trying to gain power in the city, gain seats on the council,

and they have. They've made some progress, but the progress has been slow and it's been incremental. And it's arguably that has been sort of OK with people because all the Latinos couldn't necessarily vote. Many of them were undocumented or recent enough immigrants that they had not been naturalized yet. Many of them were just learning the country, learning the city. OK, fine. the country, learning the city. Okay, fine. But now their numbers are such, and even their voting numbers are such, that there's, according to many Latinos in the city, no excuse for these numbers anymore. And so that's the context. That's how these politicians feel about the situation anyway, that they personally have not gotten their fair

share of the spoils, that Latinos have not gotten their fair share in the city. And among them, they want more districts, they want more Latino power, they want more respect, they want more opportunity for Latino politicians like themselves. They want more for what they consider their people. For example, take the comments that they make about Mike Bonin. The sense that they have is that all of the good things in LA are in white council districts. That, for example, Los Angeles International Airport, which is in Mike Bonin's district, you know, is a really rich, fat political plum. Why isn't in one of their districts? rich, fat political plum, why isn't in one of their districts? Why does the white guy have it?

There's a lot of that kind of underlying the personal remarks that they make. But presumably these council members are looking out for themselves too. Like, this is also in a really basic way about getting reelected, right? Oh, absolutely. And you can hear it on the tape. They're very concerned about their own particular political futures, their own grip on the party. These are accomplished people. These are esteemed people, all of them. Nore Martinez, she came out of the school board. She was the first Latina to head the city council. Kevin de Leon, he was an activist before he became a politician. He ran the upper house of the state legislature. It's one of the most powerful positions in California. He championed the notion of California as a sanctuary state. Gil Cedillo got driver's

licenses for people regardless of documentation. It was a game changer for just hundreds of thousands of Latino immigrants in California. It was a huge, huge thing. All of these people are, you know, sort of important political figures in LA, but they're also watching their left flank. They're also seeing coming behind them a new generation of Los Angeles activists and Democrats, young progressives who are pushing for faster change, bigger change, bolder stances. And it turns out that after this recording is made, by the way, a young progressive did oust Gil Cedillo from his seat during the primary, and he's going to have to step down in a couple of months. So it sounds like this kind of helps explain the urgency and the anger of these lawmakers

on the tapes, right? That they were fighting for their own political survival in a lot of ways. And it's all kind of connected, this complicated question of what does it mean to give Latino voters what they deserve in this moment? I mean, now that they've become such a big part of the city's electorate. That's right. There are a lot of people with a stake in this question. There will be winners and losers that come out of this question. So let's zoom out for a moment here, Sean, and just kind of think about this. Because from what you're saying, you know, it is at its core a story about power and demography and representation and change. But I wonder if it's

also a story about lawmakers undermining their own goals. I mean, am I right to think that with this resignation of the city council president, that this recording has really set back the goal of empowering Latino voters in Los Angeles, right? I mean, it would seem that way, like that all of this has actually weakened Latino lawmakers. Well, right. Absolutely. In the short term, most obviously, they've lost a city councilwoman. They're down one person. Two other city councilmen are under intense pressure to resign from the White House on down. And I would imagine the work of the council itself is pretty impaired, right? Oh, absolutely.

Just interpersonally, how do you get past something like this, right? I mean, Mike Bonin has even said that the way that he could forgive would be if they resigned. So the work of the council is definitely impaired. And there's real work to be done, by the way that he could forgive would be if they resigned. So the work of the council is definitely impaired. And there's real work to be done, by the way. There are other problems in Los Angeles, let's face it, right, to deal with. You know, it's unclear how this is going to play out in the future. When you talk to Latino voters, as we've been talking to Latino voters all week long, they completely condemn the racist remarks,

and they were talking about somebody's kid. That did not play well. But the overall sense that representation needed to be updated, that's a real feeling in Los Angeles. And what we're hearing from voters is, yes, we don't like the way that they said it, but yeah, it's our turn. Sean, thank you. Thank you. On Monday, Kevin DeLeon and Gil Cedillo were stripped of their committee assignments

as part of continuing efforts to convince them to step down from the city council. And on Tuesday, the council replaced Nuri Martinez as president. We'll be right back. Here's what else you should know today. The court got Roe right nearly 50 years ago, and I believe Congress should codify Roe once and for all. byro once and for all. President Joe Biden promised Tuesday that if Democrats kept control of the House and expanded their numbers in the Senate

in the midterm election, the first bill he would send to Congress next year would be one that codifies abortion rights across the country. If you care about the right to choose, then you got to vote. That's why in these midterm elections are so critical to elect more Democratic senators to the United States Senate and more Democrats to keep control of the House of Representatives.

In a speech in Washington aimed at energizing the Democratic Party's base ahead of the midterms just three weeks away, Biden urged Democrats to remember how they felt in June when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. felt in June when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. And Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said Russia's recent bombing campaign had destroyed about a third of Ukraine's power stations in the course of just eight days. He said that the airstrikes have caused, quote, massive blackouts across the country and that hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are also without water. The attacks on critical infrastructure are happening far from the front line in cities like Kyiv, and they come as the weather starts to get cold ahead of winter. This week, the World Health Organization warned of the potential

for a humanitarian disaster if the power remains out in Ukraine. Today's episode was produced by Will Reed and Luke Vanderplug, with help from Rob Zipko. It was edited by Liz O'Balin, with help from Lisa Chow. Fact-checked by Susan Lee, contains original music by Marian Lozano, and was engineered by Chris Wood. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsberg of Wonderly. That's it for The Daily. I'm Sabrina Tavernisi. See you tomorrow.