WEBVTT - Civic Cipher 102222 LA City Council Turns Racist (Part 2) 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:06.000 And now move my mic back. You're like that. 0:00:07.640 --> 0:00:11.879 We can strikes with waters from headquarters behind him and 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:13.560 the line the borders. 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:15.720 But that said, if you're just tuning in to Civic Sidefro, 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:17.520 i'm your host Rams's job, Yes he is, and I 0:00:17.560 --> 0:00:21.320 am q ward. You're listening to Civic Side from still 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:22.880 got a lot more show to stick around for. We 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:25.880 will be talking about the La City Council meeting that 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:35.000 termed racist. Unfortunately, we knew this day was coming, and uh, 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:38.800 we have to talk about it, you know. And I 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:41.479 think this this honestly, it makes me glad that we 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:45.479 have this show because no one else can give it 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:48.280 in these spaces, no one else can give it what 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:50.440 it needs in terms of like, hey, we really need 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:52.800 to address this. We can't just sing and dance our 0:00:52.800 --> 0:00:55.120 way through this one. We have to actually talk about it. 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:58.200 So we will be talking about that. We also are 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:01.319 going to be talking about Mahelia Jackson for our Way 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:06.240 Black History Fact and how she sparked Martin Luther King 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:09.440 Junior's I Have a Dream speech And that's a really 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:14.600 cool story that Maggie be knowing what she wanted us 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:17.280 to talk about. So first and foremost let's discuss how 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:21.480 to become a better ally b A b A. Today's 0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:26.120 Babba is sponsored by the Black Information Network Daily Podcasts. 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:30.959 You can find that on iHeartMedia or at binnews dot com. 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:33.560 We are having discussions in interviews on topics and news 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:39.000 stories important to the black community. Today's show comes from 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:42.800 our very own Ms. Maggie aka at Maggie B known 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:47.920 on IG and all platforms she do so she wants 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:53.480 you to learn how the media system fuels anti black racism. Interesting, 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:57.680 all right, So there's a great place to check out 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:02.880 at freepress dot net by our friend Collett Watson exploring 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:05.920 how the United States's dominant media system has propped up 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:09.240 racial oppression throughout history and continues to today. And we invite 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:11.920 you to check it out as an active ally. Understanding 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:14.440 this history of harm perpetuated by the US news and 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:19.240 media industry and the solutions for modern media justice today 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:22.480 is critical. Make sure you are fully informed and best 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:26.119 poised in position for constructive ally ship and action. Content 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:28.600 is king in many ways these days now more than ever, 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:32.079 Representation and diversity and all categories of information is invaluable, 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:36.520 as is your comprehensive support, Your eyes your ears, your clicks, 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:39.720 your reviews with these platforms and publications all matter, and 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:42.959 so do your dollars. Black news and media entities like 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:47.480 the Kansas City Defender, Media twenty seventy, Free Press, Chine Magazine, 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:50.840 and of course us here at Civic Cipher. Your donations, 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:54.240 your downloads, your subscriptions, you're purchasing our products and services. 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:56.440 All of these actions go a long way. And I'll 0:02:56.480 --> 0:03:00.200 add sharing as well, and yes, do you know and 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:03.160 on behalf of all black news and media, we extend 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:07.600 our gratitude and appreciation. So normally we have something else, 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:10.760 but that came from Maggie, and I kind of love it. 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:13.400 Thank you, thank you, thank you. You're far too kind. 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:19.000 All right, let's get to it. LA City council meeting 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:24.880 turns racist. All right. I'll start by reading this comes 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:28.840 from the LA Times. Headline reads racist remarks in leaked 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:34.440 audio of LA Council members spark outrage. Disgusted Behind closed doors, 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:38.920 Los Angeles City Council President Nuri Martinez made openly racist remarks, 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:42.720 derided some of her council colleagues, and spoke in unusually 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:45.840 crass terms about how the city should be carved up. Politically, 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:50.600 Martinis made racist remarks about council member Mike Bohnan's young son, 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:54.200 while others chime in. During this section of the conversation, 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:57.200 group was discussing a dispute between council members Karen Price 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:01.920 and Marquise Harris Dawson, who were at odds last year 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:05.920 over whose district would represent USC and Exposition Park once 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:09.360 the new maps were finalized. During the conversation with council 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:13.520 members Guil Sidillo and Kevin de Leon and Los Angeles 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:17.800 County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera, Martinez described the 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:21.279 bon In at one point as a little B word. 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:28.159 Martinez also mocked Hawkins and said, f that guy, he's 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:32.680 with the blacks. While speaking about Los Angeles County District 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:38.760 Attorney George Gascon, who was another council member. De Leon 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:43.800 appeared to compare Bonen's handling of his child to Martinez 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:47.160 holding a Louis baiton handbag. De Leone said Bonan, who 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:51.160 is white, is like the fourth black on the council, 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:56.279 unimplied he wouldn't stand by latinos. The conversation took place 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:59.720 October twenty twenty one and focus heavily on council members 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:01.680 for us dreation with maps that have been proposed by 0:05:01.680 --> 0:05:06.239 the city's twenty one member redistricting commission. Along with revealing cruel, 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:09.720 racist comments, the leaked audio offered a rare window into 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:15.320 the behind the scenes machinations of the redistricting process and 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:18.080 the bare knuckled fighting between various groups trying to secure 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:22.360 political power. Okay, now I'm going to take a moment 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:30.520 and I'm going to talk about this. So I'm from 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:43.200 La City of Compte. Yes, I grew up around black 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:48.320 people and Mexican people. I have no aversion to Spanish. 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:50.680 I'm a little unique in that way because my grandmother 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:54.760 was from Cuba and my first language that I spoke 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:57.599 was Spanish. Don't ask me to speak it now, but 0:05:57.680 --> 0:05:59.479 if I needed to, I could get by. Don't I 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:05.680 just sound like the year old. My cousins blood cousins, 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:12.239 Jan and Tunisia identify as Hispanic. Their mother is black, 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:15.440 but their father is a Mexican man, and they both 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:22.760 visibly look to be more Hispanic. That's not to say 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:25.800 they don't claim, you know, both sides. It's just, you know, 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:27.720 that's the way the world treats them. So just kind 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:34.200 of how that goes. I have two sons. Both of 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:40.440 my sons are half Mexican. I know you're gonna want 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:42.400 to add that, so go ahead and add it, as 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:49.400 are both of my children Mexican, okay, And my childhood memories, 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:55.760 my friends then and now and well into the future, 0:06:56.480 --> 0:07:01.040 we'll all be mixed up and that will include a 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:12.680 not insignificant at all amount of Hispanic Latino people. So 0:07:12.760 --> 0:07:16.920 it's like family, and it literally is family. You know, 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:20.200 my son, my you know, like my cousin, you know, 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:22.920 literally family. And then you know how I am with 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:26.160 my friends that you know when you're in, you're in, right. 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:28.880 So this is the man who is going to give 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:32.200 his thoughts. I need you to know that because I'm 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:34.520 about as close as you can be to something like 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:39.040 this and not myself be a Hispanic person. I also 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:41.680 am as close to this as you can be because 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:44.280 I do this show, I walk this path, and I 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:54.400 am a black man, and I also recognize what California 0:07:55.320 --> 0:08:00.800 wants to be. Again, I'm from place. I was born 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:05.440 in nineteen eighty two, So the first part of my 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:15.360 life everyone seemed to get along fine. Later on, these 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:19.680 huge increases in the prison population because of the War 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:28.640 on drugs, because of let's be honest, Clinton's policies and 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:32.160 well Reagan, Bush and Clinton. Yeah, but you know during 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:35.720 you know that time, but you're absolutely right, Reaganomics paved 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:37.360 the way for all of this. Hence, the war on 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:47.040 drugs and other factors, you know, created a boom in 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:52.439 the prison population. My brother explained this to me one day. 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:55.600 I have an older brother, his name is raka Iris 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:57.920 Science of the Dilated People's. They make the music for 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:01.120 the show that you listen to every week, the Rappers, 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:04.080 that's the Dilated People's And so my brother is my 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:06.920 literal brothers in the group, and he told me this. 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:10.080 He says that, you know, what happens in prisons is 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:16.320 folks tend to link up with people who look like them, 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:20.880 very very tribal, right, and it's just how it is. 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:24.800 It's really difficult to get away from that. But what 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:30.400 happens is, you know, that environment is not the natural 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:33.960 state of human beings, right, We are not meant to 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:39.920 be in cages like that, and so our behavior, our 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:44.080 social skills tend to evolve in a very strange way 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:47.440 when we are put in an environment like that is 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:50.320 not our natural state. What happens is some of those 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:54.720 people get in there and learn how to hate, become radicalized, 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:58.560 as happens with our brothers and sisters from the Caucasian 0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:03.920 tribe as well. And what happens is they bring that 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:07.760 now that that prison culture has gotten so big, and 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:10.080 you know, the late eighties, all throughout the nineties and 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:16.240 early two thousands, and even now, that prison culture ends 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:19.280 up spilling out into the street as people tend to, 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:24.080 you know, rotate back in this society and you're to anyway, right, 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:33.480 And so you have prison politics in an environment where people, 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:36.840 in theory would be free from that, be freer to 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:42.520 be who they naturally, would be freer to make children, 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:47.959 as my my aunt and uncle did, who are mixed race. 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:52.000 My my uncle by marriage, his name was Romero. I 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:54.800 love that guy. Man. I haven't seen him in some years, 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:56.400 but I did like he was so cool man. He 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:58.720 wear a cowboy hat. He was like real, like macho. 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:05.040 You know, it's pokespanish. This is a g man anyway, 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:07.959 And just be free to be who you are, celebrate 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:11.000 your culture alongside other people who are celebrating their culture, 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:15.520 and not hate it. Right. What happens, though, is that 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:25.160 that prison culture diffuses through communities and even works its 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:30.280 way up to city council meetings as we're seeing now. 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:33.560 Because I don't believe that is the natural state of 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:36.240 the Los Angeles City Council. We're talking about the late 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:39.360 eighteen hundreds, early nineteen hundreds in New York City, when 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:41.559 there's you know, Italians and that sort of stuff. I 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:43.400 could see that a little bit more easy. But somebody 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:48.320 who comes from Los Angeles, this feels very bizarre. Seems 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:52.199 like you have something I can learn, No, we can learn. 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:56.240 And I think that's a large part of not just 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:58.760 what our audience gains from the show, what we gain 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:02.599 from and having these conversations forces us to become more informed, 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:05.680 more learned, and more educated on the topics that we cover. 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:10.199 And if you listen to this show before, you've heard 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:13.400 us speak about this. Just like it's hard to not 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:17.440 bring racism into these conversations, it is impossible to not 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:22.520 bring up the impact of capitalism on these conversations when 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:27.040 the resources are scarce and people have to fight over them. 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:31.199 Just like in prison people become tribal, they can in 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:34.720 city council, where they're you know, redistricting and drawing maps 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:38.400 to decide who's going to get money. Let's let's call 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:42.240 it what it is, drawing those maps and you know, 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:45.800 reconfiguring the districts. You know, the reason why we're fighting 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:49.480 over who gets USC because USC's district is going to 0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:51.280 get more money. Right. 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:53.679 So, when you create a situation where the resources are 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:56.160 scarce and people have to fight over them, people who 0:12:56.160 --> 0:13:00.720 would otherwise get along and thrive together now feel themselves 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:02.720 pitted against each other. So that's why you hear that 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:05.440 language about you know, he's probably going to side with 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:09.080 the blacks, meaning the neighborhood where the black people lives 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:11.920 will end up getting more money if that person votes that. 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:12.839 Right. 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:16.200 So, when you create these circumstances not just in city 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:19.640 council meetings, not just in prisons, but in neighborhoods and 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:22.560 in cities, and in this country where there has to 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:28.080 be have nots, and the haves have so much, everyone 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:30.720 else is left to kind of duke it out over 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:35.720 what remains. From schools, our education system, to city councils 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:39.560 to government. I mean, our government has been so polarized 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:43.880 and so divisive and you know, so partisan that we 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:48.920 no longer agree on anything like the definitions of things 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:53.200 that have been faccked our whole lives, because in order 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:56.200 for my team to have the power, we just got 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:59.480 to ride out on the other team. Yeah, and some 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:05.880 people who really don't benefit from their team winning have 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:09.959 been so you know, and so put into this tribal, 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:14.520 divisibalized partisan mindset. They're gonna ride for their team no 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:16.920 matter what, so that their team can win, even if 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:20.160 that doesn't benefit them in any way. So these situations 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:23.200 we talk about, the rate at which people go to 0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:27.680 prison in poorer communities also tied to the scarcity of resources. 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:30.880 The reason why some people don't go work at the 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:33.280 places where you and I have worked before media was 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:36.120 a thing, and get on the corner and do what 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:38.680 they feel like is a faster way to get more money, 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:41.280 even though it's more dangerous and less safe, and the 0:14:42.280 --> 0:14:44.160 chances that you're gonna end up get or in prison 0:14:44.160 --> 0:14:47.440 are high. I got to get this money however I can, 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:50.640 because my kids and or my parents might not be 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:52.480 able to eat or go to the doctor if I 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:53.040 don't do this. 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:56.880 So we create the circumstances that lead to black and 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:00.680 brown people fighting each other I'm trying to get this 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:03.120 money from my district, and I don't want the blacks 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:06.680 to get it over there. It's really, really a sad thing. 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:11.080 But it's very, very impossible to ignore that capitalism, just 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:14.960 like our prison industrial system, have a lot to do 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:15.920 with these outcomes. 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:18.720 And I'm glad you said that, because you're absolutely right. 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:23.080 Capitalism at the center of this is a is an 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:28.400 awesome take on it, and it is painted more vividly 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:34.520 when the social climate is underscored with basically a prison 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:39.960 population problem right over over what is it over and 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:46.280 overly incarcerated imprisonment rates or something like that. I forget 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:48.080 the term, but it's something like that, and it's it's 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:50.840 a big deal around the country. We in prison we 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:55.400 have I think, yeah, we definitely have the highest prison 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:57.520 population in the world, but we have like something like 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:01.000 our half the prisons are our prisoners on earth or 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:06.680 something in the capita incarceration rate is insane. Yeah, so 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:09.600 out of this world. And we also have like police 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:12.080 like high police shootings, every mass shooting, all this sort 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:14.760 of stuff. And you know, there's a lot of things 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:20.360 that I know, I I this is very naive in me, 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:23.200 and it's an oversimplication of how to address these sorts 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:28.520 of things. But the quote unquote one man, one vote 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:34.360 approach to pretty much everything wild would change quite a bit. 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:36.720 You know, if someone were to run for you know, 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:39.240 president of the United States and that was their platform, Listen, 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:40.800 I'm really going to change the country for the better. 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:45.560 Let's do one man or woman, one vote, and we 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:48.120 can shape this country in the way that the people 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:50.440 really wanted to shape it. Then you would have something 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:52.840 that really reflects a democracy. Now. I recognize there's some 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:54.520 people that are like, people don't know what they want, 0:16:54.760 --> 0:16:58.280 people are stupid, whatever, that sort of thing, but at 0:16:58.360 --> 0:16:59.880 least we would have a better idea of what it 0:16:59.920 --> 0:17:02.720 is that people truly want, and it would eliminate these 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:05.400 sort of this fighting, bickering. Jerry Mandering is a big 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:07.399 thing that we pushed back against on this show because 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:11.600 the black vote has been disenfranchised. Black political power has 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:15.880 been challenged at every conceivable step in the political process 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:22.520 in this country since it was first permitted. And you know, 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:26.680 we see that those challenges are uglier than ever now 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:29.560 heading into midterm elections, which, by the way, I voted today, 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:34.760 I voted earlier. I sent my ballot in and if 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:38.840 you are not voting in the mid term elections, then 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:45.919 you need to sit on attack. All right. All Right, 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:47.720 I was going to say something else, but I'm not 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:50.400 going to say that. Okay, I'm going to keep reading, 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:58.720 because after this was exposed, there are people on the 0:17:58.720 --> 0:18:01.160 city council who have still not resigned. You would think 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:03.120 that's the first thing that you do. I've embarrassed myself, 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:07.280 I've embarrassed my people. I've shown my hand. I've exposed 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:11.239 a very ugly side of you know, this process. And 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:14.199 I was supposed to be the great solution, and I 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:16.199 you know, whatever whatever it is that you would go 0:18:16.240 --> 0:18:17.919 through in terms of your soul searching as you came 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:24.320 to terms with this disgusting behavior being made public. Right, 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:28.200 but I'll read and this comes from NPR to LA 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:33.200 City council members have lost their committee positions over race scandal. 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:36.439 All right. The head of the Los Angeles City Council 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:39.720 stripped two members of much of their power Monday to 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:42.960 pressure them to resign for participating in a private meeting 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:46.320 in which they did not object to a colleague's crewed 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:50.359 and racist remarks and at times joined in the offensive banter. 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:55.280 Acting Council President Mitchell Ferrell removed gil Sedillo and Kevin 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:58.639 de Leon from committee chairmanships and assignments and named them 0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:01.720 instead to a board that rare meets as he turned 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:06.400 up the heat on the veteran Democratic politicians. Quote, these 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:11.120 members have lost all credibility, all standing, O'Farrell said at 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:13.919 a city Hall news conference. By losing committe assignments, their 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:16.760 influence in city Hall has dwindled, and they have largely 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:19.320 become token figures, unable to participate in the day to 0:19:19.400 --> 0:19:22.920 day work of the Council and unwanted in council chambers 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:25.520 where their appearance is likely to cause an uproar. The 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:28.320 Council has moved to censure Cidillo and daily On, but 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:31.320 doesn't have the power to remove fellow elected officials from 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:35.680 office unless they've been charged with a crime. Latinos, who 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:38.440 make up nearly half the city's population, only had four, 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:41.000 or just over a quarter of the fifteen seats on 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:43.520 the council at the time. Black people, who made up 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:46.080 less than ten percent of the population, have three, a 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:52.439 fifth of the seats. So we know that the the 0:19:52.600 --> 0:19:56.120 main woman who we don't use here, an main woman 0:19:56.160 --> 0:20:00.119 who is you know, almost all of the audio it 0:20:00.320 --> 0:20:03.800 was her, Yeah, and she said in Spanish that, you know, 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:07.680 the little black boy was a monkey or acting like 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:15.480 a monkey, something like that. She has resigned, she stepped down. 0:20:16.480 --> 0:20:18.960 But the other folks again who are participating in this 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:26.440 and encouraging it, you know, or did not move to 0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:30.680 stop or otherwise correctly behavior, very very willing, laughing, sure 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:32.160 get it. 0:20:32.280 --> 0:20:35.639 Participants. They weren't lookers on, they weren't passive in that 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:36.840 they were. They joined in. 0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:43.679 So they are still technically on city council. And again, 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:49.320 this is one of those things where it's like kind 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:51.119 of hurtful, you know what I mean. It's one thing 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:53.720 if like you make a mistake and you just take 0:20:53.720 --> 0:21:01.119 your lumps. It's another thing if you choose to stick 0:21:01.160 --> 0:21:05.040 around and remind everybody of exactly what you think of them, 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:08.000 you know what I mean. And the really interesting part 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:15.920 for those who kind of joined in. I was at work. 0:21:15.920 --> 0:21:18.120 I won't say when, and I won't say where, because 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:20.440 I don't want this story to be about anyone specifically 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:28.560 but me, and an absence of anyone being present from 0:21:28.560 --> 0:21:31.480 the party that was being made fun of. I was 0:21:31.520 --> 0:21:35.440 there and I heard it and I did not defend them, 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:45.800 and I felt like a coward. I felt like fraud 0:21:47.359 --> 0:21:50.080 because I like to think I think all of us 0:21:50.280 --> 0:21:52.760 have this version of ourself that's heroic. If that would 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:56.199 have been me, I would have had been me. You 0:21:56.240 --> 0:21:58.880 know we all think that, right, But just like when 0:21:58.880 --> 0:22:03.080 someone tried to kidnap my son, a moment of pause 0:22:03.160 --> 0:22:06.720 could have led to him being taken. Because you think 0:22:06.720 --> 0:22:09.439 if someone tries that, I'll jump over this car and 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:13.280 I'll that's what you think. But when I turn around 0:22:13.280 --> 0:22:15.720 and I see this man reaching into my car to 0:22:15.800 --> 0:22:19.680 grab my son, I freeze, and once again I feel 0:22:19.680 --> 0:22:20.400 like a coward. 0:22:21.440 --> 0:22:21.600 Right. 0:22:22.040 --> 0:22:25.840 I bring these examples up because I can not just 0:22:26.040 --> 0:22:30.560 forgive or sympathize, but empathize with someone who does not, 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:34.640 who is not biased for action when something wrong is happening. 0:22:35.160 --> 0:22:38.000 We all think we would, right, But in the situation 0:22:38.080 --> 0:22:39.880 I was in, it would have required me to challenge 0:22:39.880 --> 0:22:42.120 someone who probably could have fired me for my job. 0:22:42.160 --> 0:22:43.800 And you and I have both shown the world that 0:22:44.680 --> 0:22:46.400 there's only so far you can go where we will 0:22:46.440 --> 0:22:50.600 just say forget this job and walk away. What this 0:22:50.680 --> 0:22:53.239 person said on his face if I typed it out 0:22:53.280 --> 0:22:55.800 wouldn't be offensive. But if you were standing there and 0:22:55.840 --> 0:22:58.879 you heard the joke, you know for a fact that 0:22:58.960 --> 0:23:01.000 it was offensive. But it was offensive to parties that 0:23:01.040 --> 0:23:03.800 weren't present, so there was no one there to speak 0:23:03.840 --> 0:23:06.800 up for them except for me. In my mind, there's 0:23:06.880 --> 0:23:08.879 ten of us there, so anybody could have said something, 0:23:08.920 --> 0:23:11.560 But in my mind, the person that should have said 0:23:11.560 --> 0:23:16.879 something was you. However, if I laugh at or join 0:23:17.119 --> 0:23:18.800 in on this joke, that's different. 0:23:18.960 --> 0:23:21.480 It is a degree further. That's different. 0:23:22.560 --> 0:23:28.200 It is a few degrees further, and it's beyond cowardice. 0:23:28.440 --> 0:23:32.280 You're just as much as at fault as the person 0:23:32.280 --> 0:23:35.520 that you're allowing you to get off this hate, this racism, 0:23:35.560 --> 0:23:37.400 and this divisiveness. 0:23:37.200 --> 0:23:38.560 It's being complicit. 0:23:38.800 --> 0:23:43.440 Yeah, you know, in those moments, I apologized to people 0:23:43.480 --> 0:23:46.040 that I knew who should have been represented in that space, 0:23:46.440 --> 0:23:51.280 more over my children than their mother, so to paint 0:23:51.280 --> 0:23:53.679 a picture of how serious this was. And when they 0:23:53.720 --> 0:23:55.520 heard it, they're like, oh, that's no big deal, But 0:23:55.560 --> 0:23:58.640 to me, it was a very big deal. 0:24:00.840 --> 0:24:05.160 Well, I had to learn those lessons too, and I'm 0:24:05.200 --> 0:24:08.080 happy to say that more recently in my life, I 0:24:08.280 --> 0:24:13.440 have spoken up, not laughed, and if I can do it. 0:24:13.600 --> 0:24:15.720 You can do it too, and so can these people. 0:24:16.119 --> 0:24:17.800 But first they need to step down and take their 0:24:17.880 --> 0:24:22.199 lumps absolutely. All right, let's move on, yo, La, we 0:24:22.280 --> 0:24:26.000 love You'll figure that out. Okay. I'm thrown off the 0:24:26.040 --> 0:24:31.159 West side again. Yeah yeah, okay. Hispanic people, Mexican people, Latinos, 0:24:31.680 --> 0:24:32.680 black people. 0:24:32.960 --> 0:24:39.040 White people, Asian people say it all original agent other. 0:24:39.200 --> 0:24:41.840 If you check that, we love you too, yeah, and 0:24:41.880 --> 0:24:44.600 we we all in it together, all right. I just 0:24:44.600 --> 0:24:47.720 wish everybody would feel that way they're gonna feel eventually. 0:24:48.160 --> 0:24:51.919 All right. Today's way Black History fact sponsored by Hip 0:24:51.920 --> 0:24:56.359 Hop Weekly Media. This comes via biography dot com. How 0:24:56.560 --> 0:25:00.360 Mahela Jackson's spark Martin Luther King juniors I have dream 0:25:00.400 --> 0:25:04.320 speech Long before his famous nineteen sixty three speech in 0:25:04.320 --> 0:25:06.560 front of the Lincoln Memorial, Doctor Martin Luther King Junior 0:25:06.640 --> 0:25:09.359 had a dream. He talked about the dream that the 0:25:09.400 --> 0:25:13.919 previous April at a sixteenth Street Baptist Church meeting in Birmingham, Alabama, 0:25:14.080 --> 0:25:17.160 of quote seeing Negro boys and girls walking to school 0:25:17.160 --> 0:25:19.440 with little white boys and girls playing in the parks 0:25:19.440 --> 0:25:23.320 together and going swimming together. He continued that dream at 0:25:23.320 --> 0:25:26.560 at Cobbole Hall speech in Detroit at Gobol Hall, Cobol 0:25:27.440 --> 0:25:31.800 Cobo ha sorry speech in Detroit that June that he 0:25:31.960 --> 0:25:34.800 hoped Negroes would be able to buy houses or rent 0:25:34.800 --> 0:25:37.879 a house anywhere. Their money will carry them and they 0:25:37.920 --> 0:25:40.480 will be able to get a job. So for his 0:25:40.520 --> 0:25:44.359