In Nury Martinez’s district, Angelenos react with disgust to news of racist recording

A mailman delivers a package to the Sun Valley home of Councilmember Nury Martinez on Monday. I have already reached out to many of my Black colleagues and other Black leaders to express my regret in order for us to heal.” Martinez, De León, Cedillo and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera were recorded in a mid-October 2021 conversation about city redistricting in which Martinez called the young Black son of Councilman Mike Bonin “Su negrito, like on the side,” using a Spanish diminutive term for a Black person that can be considered demeaning. Let me take him around the corner and then I’ll bring him back.” Martinez also said Bonin handled his son as though he were an “accessory” and said “Parece changuito,” or “He’s like a little monkey.” The conversation took place as several council members were frustrated by a plan from a redistricting commission that would have removed economic assets from heavily Latino districts. At another point, Martinez mocked Oaxacans as “little short dark people” and said “F— that guy … He’s with the Blacks” while speaking about Los Angeles County Dist. “She shouldn’t be a representative for the city of Los Angeles,” Lucia Perez, 32, says of Nury Martinez.