O鈥媢trage in LA: Can reforms help heal wounds left by City Council racism?
California鈥檚 attorney general said this week that his office last year鈥檚 voter redistricting process in Los Angeles. The once-in-a-decade redrawing of the voting districts was the context for a secretly recorded conversation among Latino City Council members whose raw power-scheming over district boundaries and blatant racist comments sparked an explosion of outrage and hurt when the audio was made public on Sunday.聽
Whether the state鈥檚 highest law enforcement official finds civil or criminal liability remains to be seen, but some people are now calling for an overhaul of the decennial mapping process. Proponents, including the outgoing , are demanding that City Council members no longer have a say in the maps, and that the process be tasked entirely to an independent commission 鈥� as was approved by voters for California鈥檚 congressional and state legislative districts in 2008.
Could the transparency of an independent commission restore integrity and trust in LA鈥檚 government, as well as heal this racial gash in a city famed for its diversity and its racial clashes?聽
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onBackroom politics were on full display in Los Angeles this week, where a secret recording exposed blunt racism among leaders. Angelenos are examining deep divisions in their diverse city, while a state investigation is hoping to restore trust in leadership.
鈥淏ecause of the huge degree of distrust that this has already fostered and will continue to foster ... we absolutely must have an independent redistricting commission,鈥� says , director of the Center for Inclusive Democracy at the University of Southern California. But that鈥檚 a baseline response, she says. 鈥淲e need something else to reset鈥� city government because of the serious consequences of intertwining politics with racism.聽
What was said in that private conversation is 鈥渉orrible and should never be tolerated,鈥� says Dr. Romero. 鈥淲hen it鈥檚 intertwined with politics, it鈥檚 literally talking about people鈥檚 life chances,鈥� because local government is so influential on people鈥檚 lives.
Dr. Romero laments not only the further erosion of trust in the political process, but also fears messaging that casts all Latino political leaders as racist pols out for themselves, playing a zero-sum game that pits one group against another.聽
Meanwhile, she says, a 鈥済renade鈥� has just been tossed on decades of interracial community-building in Los Angeles, particularly between Black and Latino residents.
The recording
The recording,聽聽after appearing on Reddit without an identified source, revealed a candid conversation among City Council President Nury Martinez, council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Le贸n, and LA County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera, as they discussed redistricting of City Council seats. Ms. Martinez and Mr. Herrera have both since resigned their positions. Mr. Cedillo and Mr. de Le贸n are resisting calls to do the same 鈥� despite widespread pressure, including from President Joe Biden.聽
The 80-minute recording from October 2021 is punctuated with profanities and crass references to fellow council members. In a particularly shocking exchange, Ms. Martinez calls the Black child of white council member Mike Bonin a changuito, Spanish for monkey. She also likened the child to a luxury handbag and accused Mr. Bonin of using the toddler as a political ploy. In another section, she described Oaxacans in LA鈥檚 Koreatown neighborhood as 鈥渓ittle short dark people.鈥澛�
In discussions about the redrawing of council districts, Ms. Martinez recalls telling a local business leader to convince Black council member Marqueece Harris-Dawson to 鈥済o after the airport鈥� in Mr. Bonin鈥檚 district, which accounts for 鈥渂illions of dollars鈥� worth of contracts.鈥� They also discuss weakening the base for , a South Asian immigrant. 鈥淵ou have to keep her on the fence. You have to make her work for it.鈥澛�
At another point, Ms. Martinez stated LA District Attorney George Gascon was 鈥渨ith the Blacks,鈥� a phrase demonstrators repurposed for T-shirts and signage as they shut down council meetings with loud protests. Mr. Herrera, who hosted the confab at the Federation of Labor, states plainly, 鈥淢y goal in life is to get the three of you elected. ... I mean, we鈥檙e like the little Latino caucus of, you know, our own.鈥�
鈥淎 problem from the start鈥澛�
The City Council has final say over its own district lines 鈥� drawn by a commission appointed by council members and other elected officials. LA voters would have to approve a ballot measure to convert today鈥檚 setup to an independent redistricting commission.聽
Although the 2021 Los Angeles City Redistricting Commission strove for independence by adopting integrity and transparency guidelines, holding public hearings with many community stakeholders, and making public its maps, 鈥渨e did not have a truly independent commission,鈥� says Fred Ali, who chaired the commission and is a longtime nonprofit leader in LA.
Being merely an 鈥渁dvisory鈥� body to the council 鈥渨as a problem from the start,鈥� he says. Once the commission started producing maps that the council did not like, 鈥渢hen all the manipulation began.鈥� The most clear and public example, he says, was the replacement of commissioners by council members who did not think that their commissioners were fairly representing their views. All the same issues that framed the recorded discussion 鈥� population trends, ethnic communities, economic assets 鈥� would still have to be handled by an independent commission, but the difference, says Mr. Ali, is that these sometimes tricky discussions would take place in public.聽
鈥淥ne of the ways that the city council can begin to earn trust back is by moving forward on a ballot initiative to create an independent commission,鈥� says Mr. Ali, who notes that this is a trend across the country in states and municipalities.
Need for transparency
But independent commissions are no guarantee of a process free of interference, says Zev Yaroslavsky, a former member of the LA City Council as well as the LA County Board of Supervisors who has been involved in several redistricting rounds himself.聽
He praises Mr. Ali鈥檚 appointed commission for its transparency, but criticizes the work of LA County鈥檚 independent commission for producing a final map at 鈥渢he 11th hour and 59 minutes鈥� in a closed session. Independent commissions are not accountable to voters, he points out.聽聽
Still, he鈥檚 with Mr. Ali on the benefits of changing the city鈥檚 approach. 鈥淎 truly independent commission of qualified people who have familiarity with the Voting Rights Act and other laws pertaining to drawing districts would be superior to elected officials drawing their own district lines,鈥� he writes in a follow-up email. 鈥淚t is imperative that they have an open and transparent process that solicits and considers stakeholder input and communities of interest. In short, voters should choose their representatives, not the other way around.鈥�
Los Angeles has undergone profound demographic changes over the past few decades, with Latinos growing to about half the population and the Black population declining to around 9% as people leave to find higher-paying jobs and cheaper housing. The is now Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, which account for 13% of the population. These changes produce 鈥渢ensions鈥� and 鈥渏ealousies,鈥� says Mr. Yaroslavsky, 鈥渂ut I refuse to believe that what those people said in that room reflected what real people think in this town,鈥� adding that 鈥渢housands and thousands鈥� of people have worked hard to address racial tensions and bring communities together.聽
He consistently finds rankings of as the highest area of satisfaction in LA County, which includes the city, in the annual 鈥渜uality of life鈥� surveys by the University of California, Los Angeles, which Mr. Yaroslavsky . 鈥淭his is not the city of 50 years ago,鈥� he says.聽
鈥淭his is the city where people of different colors and different ethnicities work together, go to school together, marry each other, go to the market together. Communities are more integrated now than before,鈥� he says. The government, too, reflects a much greater diversity both on the City Council and in the mayorship, where polls indicate voters may well elect the city鈥檚 first woman, Karen Bass, who is Black, to the job.
Mr. Yaroslavsky聽points out that a political strategy that pits groups against each other is聽counterproductive.聽In a city this diverse and complex, 鈥測ou want to find ways for everyone to win, and not make it a zero-sum game. What went on in that room was the philosophy of, 鈥業f I win, you have to lose,鈥� and that鈥檚 not true.鈥澛�
The tape and what it uncovered is a 鈥渢errible stain鈥� on the city, Mr. Yaroslavsky says, 鈥渁nd there鈥檚 going to have to be healing process and a coming together and a cleansing of the house.鈥�
鈥淭ake stock of their hearts鈥澛�
Resignations are a first and important step, he and others say. Beyond an independent redistricting commission, several council members are proposing a ballot measure to from its current 15 鈥� which was set in 1925, when the population was about a quarter of its present size.聽聽
The expanded size would increase representation, allowing for smaller districts and presumably closer relations between council members and their constituents in America鈥檚 second-largest city, says , professor of public administration at the University of La Verne in La Verne, California. But a larger body might be even harder to govern, she says. America鈥檚 largest city, 聽City Council seats and , the third-largest city, has 50.
But there鈥檚 a human component to the healing, she and others emphasize. 鈥淚鈥檓 really looking to see what kind of leadership we will have from the next mayor of Los Angeles and the next council president.鈥� They can take the lead on diversity, equity, and inclusion 鈥� and push a new code of ethics.
Mr. Yaroslavsky says that everybody on the City Council needs to 鈥渢ake a deep breath, take stock of their hearts a little bit more. ... And hopefully, the goodness in them will come out and operate on the assumption that people ought to have mutual trust, mutual understanding.鈥澛�
