Ugly Ethinc Politics

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Three Los Angeles City Council members, all Latino Democrats, led
by Councilwoman Nurie Martinez. Hateful comments fired in all directions,
and no one pushed back her Critics. Nuri's jury include
Bonnen a furious father. First you must resign and then

(00:22):
ask if difference. Martinez was a no show today, taking
what she called a leave of absence. So a great
deal of analysis to come, But first we thought you
might want to hear how the meeting began yesterday. Could
I please ask for the opportunity for this meeting to

(00:42):
begin so that we can speak and that you can
speak to the issue that has brought you all here.
So this is the l a City council trying to
clean up the mess of that audio coming out. Yeah. Indeed,
if you weren't listening yesterday, you missed the story. Long
short of it was a handful of uh Latino City

(01:03):
council people in a Latino labor leader making all sorts
of disparaging comments about the you know, various folks and
colors of folks and uh talking in you know, hard
fisted style of who ought to get what areas in
what districts and redistricting that sort of thing. And to me,
and there's some more good clips to play. Um to me,

(01:27):
there's a couple layers of dishonesty going on here. And well,
I guess yeah, the clips are little stratum, but the
original dishonesty is so much of ethnic politics dresses itself
up in the garb of you know, we're looking out
for our people at our rights, and it's just it's
just a naked grab for power. It all. It has
been since the Irish vote in New York in the

(01:50):
eighteen hundreds. You know, it's just it's it's the whole uh,
you know, touting yourself as a brave defender of the
interests of your people. I mean, it's just it's political stuff.
It's it's just grabbing power as usual. And then some
of the outrage and by the way, some of the
things that they said, we're pretty awful, and you know,

(02:11):
it's the sort of things if it hits the light
of day a year later, which is an interesting thing.
Who had this tape and why is it coming out?
I missed that that was a year ago, about a
year I missed completely. I assumed that was all recent. Wow, Yeah,
who who had that? For that long and then decided

(02:34):
at some point that it needed to come out. That's interesting,
and and as I've been saying for a couple of days,
it sounded like they're pretty comfortable talking that way. You know,
I don't think that was a one off, no, no, indeed,
And some of the stuff was unquestionably really prejudiced against uh,
particularly um indigenous type people in Mexico. That was like

(02:54):
the harshest language that was used. But anyway, the other
layer of hypocrisy I'm trying to get to is now
so much of the outrage is feigned outrage. It's like
the feigned honorable defender of my people thing. It's just politics,
just grabbing power. So the acting like you've been wounded
your very core by think some of the things I've said,

(03:16):
some of it's completely phony too. But you know, they
they they live by the sword, They died by the sword.
I guess Joe Biden themselves said about ahead of gift Care,
all three council members should resign in the Labor Leader
guide who I don't think presidents need to get involved
in city council and this whole meeting right here, because

(03:40):
it's illegitimate. The people are shutting this down afterwards. This
whole thing is racist. The fact that they had the
audacity to sit here in front of the people that
they mocked, that they minimized, that they demonized, that they marginalized,
is unacceptable. Yeah, is that twenty three? I think her

(04:03):
her role continuing, isn't it? Yeah? Go ahead. The fact
that you are trying to continue with business as usual,
it's unacceptable, unacceptable, unacceptable. We are the people, and we
are the voices who matter in this room right now,
not yours. I yield the rest of my time, but

(04:26):
this one more bomb for the road. I yield the
rest of my time, but this always time for one
more f bomb. You know? The problem is okay, So
if national or local pressure grows enough that everybody involved

(04:49):
has to resign, have you fixed anything? Have you fixed
a culture of apparently people being really comfortable being super
tribal about their politics. I doubt it. Iil the rest
of my time, but this, Yeah, I heard that, sister.
How many times have I thought that? Walking out of

(05:11):
virtually every meeting I've ever been in. And I'll follow
up with you tomorrow, but f this alright? Moving on
with the drama. Oh that reminds me. You know, I
had a conversation last night with a human who will
remain nameless. UM. This human has a relationship with an

(05:35):
ethnic community. She has found herself there. I gave away
the sex by half. I know half a humanity is
althoc fellas you're good. UH has has found herself with
relationships with an ethnic community she had not grown up with. UH.
And it has become ultra ultra clear that there is wild, flaming,

(06:00):
multifaceted prejudice all over the place in this particular ethnic community.
I mean putting the bigoted white person to shame, like
you would have to work all day at it to
get as good at being prejudiced as these other folks are. Now.
Part of what's being exposed here is the absolute idiotic

(06:24):
notion that the Black Lives Matter crowd and the critical
Theory crowd and the woketivists crowd though that they're constantly
pushing only white people are bean. It's just it's so idiotic,
it's hard to believe anybody would ever believe it. But
their point of view as well, White people have the power,
so that's the only time it matters. Those doesn't matter here.
Those people run one of the great cities on the

(06:46):
face of the earth. You're telling me they don't have power, right.
It reminds me of um. If you're old enough, you
remember Archie Bunker from a TV show back in the seventies.
But he was a character UM who regularly talked like
this is a white guy talking about the Puerto Ricans
or the Mexicans or the Negroes or whatever in the

(07:07):
language of the day, and um. And now it seems like,
you know, so wrong, so old timey, So I can't
believe we ever talked that way. Well, apparently in at
least among the powerful Hispanic community in Los Angeles, they
talk like Archie Bunker all the time, breaking down people
by by their their racial background and using not particularly

(07:30):
nice terms to describe them. It's just the way they talk,
the way Archie Bunker did back in the seventies. Sure
be a fly on the wall in Chinatown when they're
discussing their black neighbors, for instance, you would hear things
that would shock you. But anyway, moving along, Uh. Councilman
Mike Boonen is one of the fellows who was involved

(07:51):
in the well. He was one of the targets of
the the dirty talk behind the scenes. He's a white fellow,
he's a gay gent. I'm not sure husband comes up,
but just you know, I was gonna point that out.
And he and his husband have adopted a black son.
Who uh, the the trio or the quadron? What are

(08:12):
the the quartet of shame was discussing the sun leaping
about on a parade float and compared him to a monkey.
Here's Councilman Mike Bonan in twenty four and my dad
who loves his son in ways that words cannot capture.
And I take a lot of hits, and and how
I know, I practically invite a bunch of them. But

(08:35):
my son, Man, that makes my soul bleed, and it
makes my temper burn. And I know I'm not alone.
Bleeding souls, burning tempers, no way to go through life.
That's a rough day. So there he is, tearfully explaining
that how hurtful it is. Look, as I said yesterday,

(08:57):
I refer to all three of my children as monkeys.
All of my friends refer to their children as monkeys.
Children are parapatetic of movement and highly energetic, have high
pitched voices, and like to play and wrestle just like monkeys. Okay,
this surfaces about once a decade, somebody referring to a

(09:19):
black child in some way as being like a monkey,
and people feign horrible outrage, or maybe it's sincere outrage.
I'm here to tell you I don't consider myself a
spokesman for white people, but at this moment I'm going
to act as one. Everyone else on earth. White people
constantly refer to their own children as monkeys because they're

(09:40):
like monkeys. It ain't racial anyway. So whether his outrage
is real or not, I don't know. I don't know.
Yeah it did, it did, and and if he was indeed,
probably an aspiring actor like everyone else. But it's a
good point. He's just working out the city council till

(10:02):
he gets his first acting gig, until he gets his
union card. Uh Now, I I am reminded that the
uh Norri Martinez woman who's taking a leave of absence
and saying, this is the most difficult time of my life.
People finding out who you actually are is the most
difficult time of your life. That's kind of interesting, kind
of interesting if the most difficult period of your life

(10:25):
is when people figure out who you really are. Yeah,
that says something darling. That's a good point. Uh. Now,
I am reminded that she said somebody ought to take
that kid around the corner and whoop the hell out
of him. Essentially he's two years old or he was
two years old. Times talk right there. Yeah, good lord,

(10:45):
that's out of bounds. So I don't know if that
was racial. Was that racial or just h a different
view of parenting? Yeah, I don't, I don't know. It's
just odd a mean person saying means things. Here's a
pastor who showed up to to lecture everybody involved. Peace
and blessings everyone. Scientific research has told us that the

(11:08):
oldest bones found with that of a black woman. This
information is for Nuri, ron Gil and Kevin and anybody
else talking in that Jim Crow Antebellum South back room.
You will not shame blackness. You will not shame our

(11:31):
royal children. We like in the Woman King will come
for you. We are coming for you today, are we
coming for We could not have them sitting amidst this
family meeting because they have soiled their seats. Their seats

(11:55):
are poisonous. The seat of Nuri is poisonous. Once you
saw your seat, it is poisonous. Yeah, I probably gotta
get out one of those chlorox wipes or something for
those seats. The Antibellum South, that is Los Angeles as
brought to you by first generation Mexicans as people than

(12:23):
it is humanez Crow just I don't know, I don't
know if I'm just saying I don't think any of
the old South attitudes played a role in this whatsoever. Yeah,
and I'm not sure how the oldest bones factor in either, honestly.
But the woman King is coming, I think that's what
she said. Okay. And finally, protesters in the chamber hallway

(12:45):
prior to the meeting clip they are chanting fluara or out. Well,
that was all really good. This is gonna still give
me my highlight from the thing I yield the rest
of my time. But this Armstrong and Jetty