A year after a recording was leaked of three City Council members participating in a conversation in which racist language was used, leaders of Black Lives Matter L.A. are calling for Councilman Kevin de León to resign and end his bid for reelection in 2024.
During an early-morning news conference outside de León’s home in Eagle Rock, members of BLM joined other protesters who had previously led an 18-day action demanding the councilman’s resignation. Monday, they returned with the same message.
“You have to repent. Repent doesn’t mean doing a 360-degree turn, it means doing a 180,” said Pastor Stephen “Cue” Jn-Marie, who serves at the “Church Without Walls” on Skid Row, referring to de León. “You have to change the direction that you’re going in and go in a different direction.”
Citing what he called de León’s “anti-Blackness,” Jn-Marie added, “He (de León) has not apologized. He hasn’t said a word. He hasn’t said he was wrong.”
De León is the only participant in the leaked 2021 conversation — held at the offices of the L.A. County Federation of Labor — who is still holding office. Former City Council President Nury Martinez resigned shortly after the leak. Former Councilman Gil Cedillo, another participant, lost a bid for re-election. Then-L.A. Fed President Ron Herrera, the fourth participant in the conversation, also stepped down in the wake of the leak.
The four were discussing the redrawing of council district boundaries in favor of the council members when the racist language was used.
De León’s office did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment.
However, on Oct. 19, 2022, during an interview in which he said he would not resign his council seat, de León told CBS2, “I’m not going to mince words. I’m not going to deflect blame. I’m not going to defend the defenseless.”
At the time, de León also sent a letter to Council President Paul Krekorian asking to be excused from council meetings, saying he would be “spending the coming weeks and months personally asking for your forgiveness.”
About a week later, in an interview with KBLA’s Tavis Smiley, de León called the Black community “the community that I’ve aggrieved, I’ve hurt the most,” and said he felt a sense of embarrassment and shame.
De León represents the 14th District, which includes Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, portions of downtown L.A., El Sereno, and Northeast L.A.
Although stripped of his council committee assignments, de León has continued to participate in presentations and cultural events and has passed motions with the help of a few of his colleagues.
De León announced his bid for re-election in an interview with Politico, expressing confidence in his continued support among his constituency.
“When a lot of people that I called my friends and allies turned away from me, my constituents had my back,” de León told Politico. “I understood in a deeper way the relationship that I had with my community and how that motivates and drives me. That’s why I’m still here. And that’s why I’m running.”
Melina Abdullah, co-founder of BLMLA, stated on Monday, “anybody who thinks we forgot, they forget that we have long memories.”
“A year ain’t nothing,” she added. “We are going to roll and make sure that we remember not just his co-signing of what Nury Martinez said, but what he said, what he did to diminish what he said about Black organizing.”
She added that anybody who runs with de León or donates to him will face similar consequences.
“We see them all complicit with anti-Blackness, anti-indigeneity, and anti-poor people. We see them all as part of the problem and they will be held accountable,” Abdulla said.
Meanwhile, a group called the People’s City Council, which identifies as an “abolitionist, anti-capitalist, and anti-imperialist collective,” is planning a rally and protest ahead of the council’s 10 a.m. meeting on Tuesday. The protest will be directed at de León, whose presence on the council “gives a green light to anti-Blackness in our city,” the group said on X, formerly Twitter.
The race for the 14th District will be contentious, as nine other candidates have announced their plans to run. If no one receives at least 50% of the vote in March, a runoff will be held in November.
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