As protesters demonstrated outside city hall in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday over racist remarks by council members in a leaked recording, city council members held their regular meeting remotely, citing COVID concerns of a fellow member.
After more than three hours of public comment from residents calling in to the meeting, the council finally unanimously voted for Paul Krekorian, prominent member of the Armenian community, as the new council president.
"I want you to know that as long as I am given the privilege of serving in this office as your President, the presidency will be a collective enterprise. It'll be a presidency that relies on leadership team of diverse abilities and diverse experiences and diverse backgrounds and diverse viewpoints," said Krekorian, moments after being appointed to the position.
"It's critically important to me that our leadership includes disagreement, because that's how we move forward as a community by listening to each other, and working together. And more than anything, I hope that we'll be committed to an atmosphere in this council and with the public of respect, of integrity, of collaboration, and understanding the perspectives of people with whom we may disagree and finding where we can agree."
Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo, who have been called upon to resign by residents, fellow council members, and even the President Biden, were absent from the meeting. De Leon, Cedillo and former council president Nury Martinez were involved in a call, which included a local labor leader and took place in October 2021, and centered on the council members' resentment about a proposed redistricting.
It came to light only this week, ahead of a city election in November, after it was posted on a Reddit message board and reported by the Los Angeles Times. Martinez, who became council president in 2020, is heard on the tape saying that her colleague Mike Bonin, who is white, treated his Black son as if he were an "accessory" and compared him to a "changuito," which translates roughly as "little monkey."
Martinez also disparaged Mexicans from Oaxaca and voiced her displeasure with Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, saying "he's with the Blacks."
