It was only four years ago that Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de Leon was the new shiny object for California progressives. He finished second in California’s jungle primary for the U.S. Senate seat held by Dianne Feinstein, and even if he couldn’t beat the fellow Democrat in the general election, he appeared set up to succeed her when she finally retired or resigned from office. Just today Feinstein, who hasn’t been heard from in months, issued a statement that she intends to finish out her current term.
If Feinstein does have to step down for health reasons, Gov. Gavin Newsom has already said that he would appoint a Black woman to replace her. Why not De Leon? (Or another Hispanic? Or—eeek—a male?)
Oh that’s right: De Leon was caught on that leaked recording a couple months ago disparaging black politicians in LA. He’s refusing to resign from the City Council. This is not sitting well with LA blacks, who are now outnumbered by Hispanics, but can perceive who stands higher in the Democratic Party hierarchy of victimhood—demographics be damned.
Here’s how they greeted De Leon a couple days ago:
KDL is gross and should resign but these kinds of protest tactics are unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/eTCOgCrYyX https://t.co/CPrbNuAV9o
— Nils Gilman (@nils_gilman) December 13, 2022
Los Angeles narrowly elected black Democrat Karen Bass to be its next mayor, and she’s going to have a jolly time clearing the wreckage of this latest identity politics crash at the four-way intersectionality, as the Los Angeles Times reports:
. . . the council has one meeting left until mid-January, and has been struggling to conduct its business amid a scandal surrounding Councilmember Kevin de León.
De León faces a furor over his participation in a conversation featuring racist remarks and, more recently, a violent incident involving protesters at an Eastside toy giveaway, which has only intensified the powder keg atmosphere at City Hall. He plans to attend Tuesday’s meeting, all but guaranteeing there will be a show of force from demonstrators who have demanded that all council meetings be canceled until he steps down.
Several organizations, including Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Tenants Union, urged their supporters on Monday to show up for the meeting. Ricci Sergienko, co-founder of the activist group known as the People’s City Council, pointed out that even President Biden called for De León’s resignation after the secretly recorded conversation became public.
“The city cannot move forward with him on the council,” Sergienko said. . .
Complicating matters further, some council members walked out the last time De León showed up. If too many of them pursue that strategy this time around, the council will not have enough members for a quorum. . .
In recent weeks, a much smaller group of activists have attempted to stop the council from meeting — chanting, clanging cowbells, banging water bottles on benches and using mirrors to shine a glare into the eyes of council members. Dozens of police officers have been assigned to each meeting, escorting protesters out of the chamber one by one or in pairs.
Sounds like a fun time.
The subtext here is that black-Hispanic relations have always been very bad in Los Angeles, but have always been papered over by the media and the Democratic Party.
