The controversy at Los Angeles City Hall and the push for two city councilmembers to resign are only intensifying Tuesday morning.
Protesters set up camp outside the home of one of those councilmembers, Kevin de León, over the weekend. At 7 a.m. Tuesday, they held a press conference on the street near his front lawn to reiterate their frustration and outrage.
Chants of "Black Lives, We Matter Here" and "We're gonna camp out till Kevin gets out" filled the street outside de León's home. Members of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and a number of other coalition-building local organizations spoke out.
"We know that what has happened with Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo is something that is trying to divide our communities," said protestor Lisette Hernandez, an indigenous activist. "We have been working in our communities for decades to bridge any divide that comes our ways."
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Other speakers at the press conference called for an end to "zero-sum game politics" and "divide and conquer politics."
The controversy is over racist comments made by de León and two other councilmembers, Gil Cedillo and now-former City Council President Nury Martinez. A leaked audio recording caught the three councilmembers, along with now-resigned LA Federation of Labor president Ron Herrera, discussing redistricting and making racist and disparaging remarks.
Many of the comments targeted the young Black son of fellow councilmember Mike Bonin.
While the protesters said they were angry and upset about the racist remarks, their calls for resignation stem from what they saw as a concerted effort to dilute Black votes in the city.
The protesters ended the press conference with chants of "LA's Black and brown and native, we ain't got no room for racists."
Since the audio was first reported on Sunday, Oct. 9, voices all around Los Angeles, California and the U.S. have been calling for the councilmembers on the recording to step down.
LA's City Council is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, with that meeting take place virtually because two members of the council have tested positive for COVID-19, including Bonin.
Cedillo will not be in attendance at Tuesday's meeting, though he was not one of the members who tested positive for COVID. It was not clear in advance whether De Leon would appear virtually or not.
Demonstrators placed signs all around De Leon's neighborhood calling for his resignation.
Both De Leon and Cedillo were removed from their committee chairmanships and committee assignments on Monday afternoon, but protesters say that isn't enough.
The two members cannot legally be removed from their seats, leaving the rest of LA City Council to figure out how to further censure the two remaining councilmembers.
"These members have lost all credibility," acting City Council president Mitch O'Farrell said. "They have lost all standing. And that's a real dilemma. The wound is deepening the longer that we don't have the resignations."
