City Councilwoman Nury Martinez, caught on a leaked audio, says she sees a lot of short, dark people in Koreatown. Martinez says she doesn’t know what “village” they are from and referred to them as “tan feos” — “so ugly.”
My first reaction to these comments was anger, disbelief and sadness. The people that Martinez was referring to are my uncles, aunts, family friends and neighbors. I grew up in Koreatown, a predominantly immigrant community of Koreans and Oaxacans, people from the Mexican state of Oaxaca. We Oaxacans are famous for our tlayudas, memelitas, alebrijes, Oaxaca folklore and, overall, our rich Indigenous culture.
Oaxacans, who come from seven regions of Oaxaca, make up a large portion of those who speak Indigenous languages in California. It is estimated that there are at least 150,000 Oaxacans in Los Angeles — the largest Oaxacan population outside Mexico.
