Joe Biden has called for the resignation of three LA city council (Los Angeles) members who were caught on tape making racist comments in a meeting last year.
The profanity-laced recordings, which emerged on Sunday, document three Latino city council members and a labor leader discussing the city’s redrawing of council district boundaries amid the redistricting process, as well as the need to re-elect Latino members and protect economic interests within Latino districts.
The recordings capture the then LA city council president, Nury Martinez, mocking the Black son of a white councilman, and her and the council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León crudely discussing Black voters and the Indigenous residents of certain LA neighborhoods.
Martinez stepped down as council president and apologized on Monday, saying she was ashamed of her racially offensive language in the recording of the meeting. Martinez, the first Latina to hold the title of president, also said she would take a leave of absence from the council.
Cedillo and de León have apologized but have not vacated their seats.
Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said on Tuesday Biden thought all three members should resign.
“The president is glad to see that one of the participants in that conversation has resigned, but they all should,” she said. She called the language in the recording “unacceptable” and “appalling”.
Previously, many of California’s top politicians, including the governor, Gavin Newsom, US senator Alex Padilla, and the outgoing LA mayor, Eric Garcetti, had encouraged the members to “take responsibility”.
The president of the Los Angeles county federation of labor, Ron Herrera, who also took part in the meeting, stepped down from his position on Monday evening.
Demonstrators filled the LA city council chambers on Tuesday for the first meeting since the story broke, chanting in protest over the trio’s remarks and demanding their resignation. Speakers urged the council to investigate the redistricting process in light of the council members’ comments and address racism in its ranks.