The implosion of the Los Angeles City Council this month, after three of its members were secretly recorded talking in racist terms, has thrown the political machinery of one of America's largest cities into crisis.
As of now, there is one empty seat on the 15-member body after one of the three recorded members resigned, and the remaining members who weren't part of the racist conversation have all publicly demanded that the two others resign, going as far as stripping them of nearly all their committee assignments. And on Sunday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he is "looking forward" to an announcement of the two council members' departures soon.
But despite the outcry, Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León refuse to quit, expecting they can wait out the storm of fallout for their participation in a racist conversation in which they and former City Council President Nury Martinez disparaged a white colleague's adopted 2-year-old Black son and discussed strategies to consolidate their power at the expense of Black leadership. Martinez stepped down days after the audio was leaked.
