What Does the LA City Council Scandal Reveal About Race and Politics?
Summary from the AllSides News Team
After the Los Angeles Times (Lean Left Bias) published quotations of a leaked audio from a redistricting meeting featuring three LA city council members in which now-ex council member Nury Martinez expressed racially disparaging comments about fellow council members and the LA community, a number of pieces have been published analyzing what the controversy reveals about race relations in America as well as the value of transparency is politics.
Key Quotes: An analysis in NBC News (Lean Left Bias) stated that “prejudice from Latino to Latino and Latino to other racial groups is not so uncommon.” One writer for the New York Times Opinion (Left Bias) voiced fears that “with the browning of America, white supremacy could simply be replaced by — or buffeted by — a form of ‘lite’ supremacy, in which fairer-skin people perpetuate a modified anti-Blackness rather than eliminating it.” In a piece for Reason (Lean Right Bias), one writer argued the scandal reveals the necessity of transparency in political discourse, stating that this controversy “shows how unwarranted that romance for smoke-filled rooms really is.”
For Context: After the story broke, many prominent Democratic Party members called for the council members featured on the tape to resign, most notably President Biden. Nury Martinez, who was the President of the council and made the statements, has resigned. The other two have not.
How the Media Covered It: The statements from Martinez were covered nationally as calls for resignation mounted. Opinion and analysis pieces across the spectrum condemned her remarks.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
Latino L.A. City Council members' racist slurs expose the problem that undercuts progress
Some may want to see the explosive, racist diatribes of a handful of prominent Los Angeles City Council members as an unfortunate incident that will eventually fade away. They might dismiss the remarks revealed in a leaked audio as isolated and confined to a few Latino leaders.
But the reality is that such prejudice from Latino to Latino and Latino to other racial groups is not so uncommon. Call it anti-Black racism, colorism, classism — it all adds up to a destructive strain that is not so hidden in Latino...
From the Right
L.A.'s Leaked City Council Tape Reminds Us Why 'Smoke-Filled Rooms' Are Bad
The rampant cable news attention seeking and kayfabe committee hearings that characterize politics today have an ideologically diverse set of pundits yearning for a return of the "smoke-filled room." There, the argument goes, politicians could hash out policy in private, frank conversations away from all the bad incentives created by TV cameras and records requests.
"Sometimes," wrote Jonathan Rauch in 2015, "the only thing wrong with smoke-filled rooms is the smoke."
The intensifying scandal surrounding three Los Angeles City councilmembers caught on a surreptitious recording making racist remarks during one...
From the Left
L.A. City Council crisis exposes Black-Latino divisions — and unity 
The Los Angeles Latino council members who used racist language in a leaked recording have exposed the conflicts — but also the solidarity — between Black and Latino residents.
Why it matters: As the country, especially major cities, becomes more diverse, how Latinos and Black Americans work together today may define the nation's future around civil rights and equality.
Driving the news: Los Angeles councilmember Nury Martinez resigned from office yesterday following pressure from a coalition of Black and Latino activists and political leaders over her racist remarks during a...
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