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Councilman Mike Bonin addresses enraged crowd gathered at first LA City Council meeting since audio leak

Watch: Councilman Mike Bonin addresses crowd at LA City Council meeting
Watch: Councilman Mike Bonin addresses crowd at LA City Council meeting 12:21

Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin addressed a large crowd gathered inside of Los Angeles City Council chambers on Tuesday, emotionally calling for the resignation of his counterparts who targeted his Black adopted son in a series of racist comments leaked to the public over the weekend. 

The meeting, scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., was blocked from beginning on schedule as hundreds of protestors gathered both inside and outside of LA City Hall to express their outrage over the scandal. 

On Sunday, The Los Angeles Times released audio recording of Council President Nury Martinez, Councilmen Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera during a conversation where a series of racist comments were made, specifically commenting on Councilman Bonin's Black son — referring to him as "that little monkey."

Los Angeles City Council meets for the first time since Nury Martinez resigned as its president.
Los Angeles, CA - October 11: Councilman Mike Bonin addresses general public at city council meeting. City Hall on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022 in Los Angeles, CA. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) Irfan Khan

During his emotionally charged speech, Bonin said that the comments made by Martinez cut into his soul.

"I want to be home with my family right now," he said. "My husband and I are both raw and angry and heartbroken and sick for our family and for Los Angeles. And as an Angeleno, like most Angelenos, I am reeling from the revelations of what these people said. Trusted servants who voiced hate and bile."

"These people stabbed us and shot us and cut the spirit of Los Angeles. It gave the beatdown to the heart and the soul of the city. But before anything else in the world, I'm a dad who loves his son in ways that words cannot capture. And I take a lot of hits, and I practically invite a bunch of them. But my son? Man, that makes my soul bleed and it makes by temper burn."

Bonin, who represents Los Angeles's District 11, said he was contacted by The Times on Saturday, less than 24 hours before the audio was released. 

"My first instinct as a father was to implore them, don't run the story, or at least be vague," he said. "I didn't want to see the specifics in print. I didn't want him to have to hear them or read them some day."

He addressed the crowd for more than 10 minutes, offering an honest look at the difficulties that come with being a parent, especially in a mixed-race family. 

"As the White father of a Black child, you stumble and you f--- up. You try to do your best to be a parent and an ally, and I get it wrong a lot, I get it right sometimes. I knew that I did not want this story about virulent, anti-Black racism to be centered on an angry White dad," he said. 

As he continued, he noted how over the past two days he has heard a litany of comments targeting a multitude of demographics, including the Oaxaqueño community. Bonin said he also heard homophobic tropes, anti-Semitic remarks and "coordinated efforts to disenfranchise Blacks," and renters. 

"There are a lot of people who are asking for forgiveness," he continued. "First you must resign. Then you ask forgiveness." 

"Let me be clear, people should not ask me for forgiveness, because I can't forgive them, because It's not my prerogative. The prerogative of a boy who is too young to really understand what the hell is going on. When he's older, maybe when he's in high school, you can seek his forgiveness. In the meantime, people that love him are gonna try to help him understand, when a schoolmate says something, or a well-meaning stranger approaches on the street to say how horrified they are by what happened."

"It's not my place to forgive the slurs and the treatment of the Oaxaqueño community, or the API community, or the Jewish community. It's not my place to forgive the toted comments against the gay community or forgive the overwhelming, casual, joyful anti-Black raceness of the entire conversation, he continued. "It's not my place to forgive that coordinated effort to disenfranchise all these communities and all these people."

Despite the attacks on his family, Bonin indicated that his primary focus in this time was to "focus on love."

"I need to focus my mind, and my heart and my family's attention on all those who have shown kindness and love to my wounded and hurting family," he said. 

Bonin ended his speech offering thanks to a number of fellow officials who have offered him support in recent days, as well as anyone who "reacted with fury and indignation."

"On these tapes I have heard the worst of what Los Angeles is, from you I am hearing and I am seeing what the best of Los Angeles is."

Councilman Mitch O'Farrell, elected as pro tempore and acting as president of the council in Martinez's resignation, attempted to begin the council meeting on time, but was forced to call for a recess due to the large and outraged crowd shouting over his words. 

In the days following the audio's release, political figures like Mayor Eric Garcetti and Governor Gavin Newsom have denounced the actions of the council members involved, as well as local community leaders and activists who have expressed equal outrage. 

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