A day after Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de León said he does not plan to quit amid widespread calls for him to step down over his involvement in the city hall’s audio leak scandal, protesters camping out at de León’s Eagle Rock home vowed to remain there until the embattled councilman resigns.
Around 10 people in several tents have staged a campout since Oct. 17, with more protesters expected to join later Oct. 20.
“If we just lay down and accept it, and say, ‘He’s not leaving, so let’s all go home and forget about it’—that looks terrible on us,” Michael Williams, a protester with Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, told City News Service.
Police told the protesters that the tents needed to be at least 300 feet from de León’s home, so the set-up is actually in front of other residents’ homes. But the protesters told CNS on Thursday morning that de León’s neighbors have been supportive of the campout, providing food and water and even allowing them to use showers.
“The neighborhood is here,” Williams said. “They’re more willing to have us out here sleeping on their lawns than for him to be on the council. That says a lot.”
On Thursday morning, the group had more food and drinks than what could fit on two medium-sized folding tables. There were boxes full of lunch, two Starbucks containers, stacks of Krispy Kreme donuts, and early Halloween candy. A water cooler had a paper sign taped to it that read: “Text me when it’s low and I'll fill you up again!” along with a name and phone number.
Signs outside the tents included: “Camp out until de León is out” and “... Just 25 Black people yelling,” a reference to one of the comments on the leaked recording dismissing Black voters that touched off the scandal.
Evy, a 32-year Eagle Rock resident who only provided her first name, observed the campout Thursday morning as she was walking her dog. She lives down the street and supports the protesters being in the neighborhood as long as they remain peaceful.
She said she doesn’t condone de León’s comments, and called it “sad” if the councilman resigns because “this will be the second time in a row that our councilman got booted out.” de León’s predecessor, José Huizar, was indicted on federal corruption charges in 2020 and has pleaded not guilty.
De León conducted interviews with Univision, in Spanish, and CBS2, in English, on Oct. 19 and said he will not resign amid calls for his resignation ranging from President Joe Biden to nearly all of his council colleagues.
“I’ve always been up against many, many challenges,” de León told CBS2. “And obviously, this is the biggest one I’ve ever been confronted with in my life.”
The councilman said the city needs to heal, and that he “wants to be part of that.”
But another member of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, Baba Akili, said that it isn’t possible because de León is the problem.
“We are in outrage now not because he just happened to wake up on the wrong side of the bed one day,” Akili said. “He made some offensive statements. He participated in creating public policy that’s hurtful. And so he is the problem. He can’t help heal from that.”
The October 2021 conversation between de León and fellow councilors Nury Martinez and Gil Cedillo, along with Ron Herrera, president of the LA County Federation of Labor, included racially charged comments and discussions over favorable redistricting—and led to Martinez resigning her council presidency and later her council seat last week.
De León and Cedillo have been under mounting pressure to resign since the leak of the tape Oct. 9.
