Former Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez at Dodger Stadium Friday, Jan. 15, 2021, in … [+]
A secretly recorded private conversation involving three Los Angeles City Council chamber members has sparked public ire. Three Latino council members Nury Martinez, Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León were heard making racist statements on a recording from October 2021. During the 80-minute conversation, Martinez could be heard calling the child of a councilman the Spanish word for monkey and was also heard making derogatory remarks about Mexican migrants from Oaxaca. The profanity-laced recording contained a plethora of racist and inflammatory remarks made by the council members. On Tuesday, Martinez stepped down as the president of the council and announced she was taking a “leave of absence” while Cedillo and de León have yet to step down. There are three important lessons that can be gleaned from this situation, which should be used as a learning moment for organizations and institutions.
1. Racism should not be tolerated. Apparently, there is little that can be done if the council members do not resign. Los Angeles doesn’t have the power to remove city council members unless a crime has been committed. Every organization and institution should have provisions and policies that state that racist and inflammatory behavior will not be tolerated. People who engage in racist behavior should be dealt with immediately. Racism of any form should not be tolerated. Continuing to allow an individual or a group of individuals who engage in known harmful behavior to continue working within an environment sends the unconscious message that the harm they cause is acceptable.
2. Anti-blackness is universal. One thing’s for sure and two things are for certain: anti-blackness is a global issue and membership in a marginalized group does not absolve you of internalized anti-blackness. There is a commonly held belief that employees of color have a universal experience. This belief must be eradicated. Being a person of color doesn’t mean you don’t participate in and uphold anti-blackness. The council members being Latin American did not stop them from perpetuating anti-blackness and other bigoted beliefs. Anti-blackness is a pervasive issue within the Latin American community and other communities of color. Within the workplace, when examining experiences of different racial and ethnic groups, it is imperative that the data be disaggregated. Black employees specifically have very unique experiences that should not be compared. When we conflate the Black employee experience with the experiences of other marginalized groups, we fail to acknowledge the harms that are unique to the Black community.
3. Training on interrupting racism is vital. The aforementioned leaked audio was from a meeting between Martinez, Cedillo, de León, council members who represent Los Angeles East Side and the then-head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, Ron Herrera (Herrera has since resigned). It is not known who recorded the meeting and who leaked the audio, which was posted to Reddit in early October. More workplaces must equip employees with the tools to interrupt racism when it occurs. There is a possibility that the person who recorded the meeting and posted it to Reddit knew, in the moment, that what was being said was disgusting, inflammatory and harmful, but they didn’t know how to react or respond and they were fearful of backlash and repercussions if they spoke up. Employees should receive mandatory intervention training so they are equipped with the tools to interrupt racism and discrimination when it occurs.
