The Clock Ticks Twice for LA City Council

In the last few days, a countdown has been in effect following the leaked recording of a conversation between four particular political figures, three LA city council members and the head of the L.A. County Federation of Labor. Despite the recordings unassuming publication on a reddit forum from an anonymous account, the outrage and mass mobilization to demand the resignation of all the bigot voices caught on tape has been outstanding. As of now, Ron Herrera, head of the L.A. County Federation of Labor and Nury Martinez, city council representative of the 6th district has resigned from their positions after the rapid onslaught of public backlash. The people leveraged prominent political actors merely through their engagement at the public comment forum, the social media campaigns, and the demonstrations at city hall and the homes of the guilty. The other two bigots on community tribunal are Kevin De Leon and Gil Cedillo. This effort to push out these actors is not a new movement, all of these actors have a legacy of acting in the interest of corporate agents and law enforcement, at the expense of working-class Latino and black and homeless peoples.

The content of the conversation is accounted for in this article by Knock LA, Council President Martinez on DA Gascón: ‘Fuck That Guy…He’s with the Blacks.’ I won’t repeat the disrespectful remarks, or the blatant threats of violence towards their fellow council member Mike Bonin’s 2-year-old son, but I do want to point out how they partook in heated bigoted discussion while meeting to discuss aggressive gerrymandering politics. They spoke about a few targeted actors and communities in their discourse that they clearly perceive as opponents and inconveniences to their projects for profit and social capital. The following actors they spoke with rage and violence are Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón, Councilmember Mike Bonin, Councilmember Paul Krekorian’, Councilmember Blumenfield, Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell, Councilmember Harris-Dawson, Councilmember Nithya Raman, and the Oaxacan and Korean communities of LA, along with additional remarks to other peoples and communities. In shameless fashion, these actors spoke about subverting, humiliating, and disrespecting their would-be opponents, though none of these other bad-mouthed people are necessarily active agents of the community and revolutionary projects, they all are targets of hard ball projects organized by this circle of opportunistic ‘community representatives.’ This should remind us that politics in this liberal republic we call ‘North American Democracy’ facilitates for the worse people of the community to become heinous leaders by merely the means of leveraging pragmatic informed votes from the community and generating illusionary campaigns and political ‘backgrounds’ that disguise their intentions, and support their opportunistic behavior.

Although the four heinous actors are not the only ones to be likely performing backroom meetings to gossip and plan out malicious ways to subvert their opponents, they are the first actors in a while to be ‘caught’ sharing their real, ugly truths while in the supposed comfort of being behind closed doors, outside the view of their constituents’ vision.

Again, LA has spoken, we want all these people out of office, and again uplift the ongoing campaign to vote in actors who actually care about their constituents and dedicate their lives to fighting reactionary notions in others and within themselves. While the countdown until the two remaining councilmen to resign is still ticking, it's only a matter of time as long as the people continue to keep the spotlight on them.