Koreatown Redistricting Task Force Leaders Stand Against Racism, Condemn Hateful Remarks by Members of the Los Angeles City Council and LA County Federation of Labor President, and Call for Independent Redistricting Process 

 Los Angeles, CA – Leaders of the Koreatown Redistricting Task Force* vehemently condemn racism and disrespect against our communities, and do not condone the hateful statements made in the leaked October 2021 conversation between then-LA City Council President Nury Martinez, Councilmembers Kevin De Leon and Gilbert Cedillo, and LA County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera. We demand accountability of these leaders who failed to uphold their oath to serve all communities. An attack against any community is an attack against all of our communities. As elected leaders, they have a higher standard to stand by–one we must defend. Therefore, we call for the immediate resignation of Councilmembers Nury Martinez, Kevin De Leon, Gil Cedillo, and labor leader Ron Herrera.  The values and behaviors which threaten our City’s diversity, our human dignity, and our civic progress are an imminent danger to all communities.

We also want to call out their blatant disrespect for the redistricting process. Redistricting is too important of a process to be ridiculed and put into question by those who have the power to decide on these significant boundaries. The Koreatown Redistricting Task Force worked tirelessly in collaboration with many other organizations and community members to ensure that diverse voices of the community–including the Bangladeshi, Black, Latinx and Korean in Koreatown–were represented. But they treated Koreatown as a commodity that is to be dished out to political favorites. Their shameful actions further demonstrate that we must design a transparent redistricting process that is defined by an independent redistricting commission – separate from the City Council. Such behind-closed-doors conversations bring to urgency that this is all too important of a process to be usurped by politicians and for communities to be pitted against one another.

We call on our community to come together to stand shoulder to shoulder against these tides of racism that emanated from top City leadership and emerge stronger as we work together to stand against it. We stand in solidarity with the Black, Brown, Asian, and all communities in Los Angeles, and we demand accountability for the sake of justice – without which there is no healing.

Connie Chung Joe

CEO

Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California (AJSOCAL)

Debra Suh

Executive Director

Center for the Pacific Asian Family (CPAF)

Hyepin Im

CEO & President

Faith & Community Empowerment (FACE)

Erin Cho, Esq.

President

Korean American Bar Association of Southern California (KABA-SoCal)

Eunice Song, Esq.

Executive Director

Korean American Coalition (KAC)

James An

President

Korean American Federation of Los Angeles (KAFLA)

Katherine Yeom

Executive Director

Korean American Family Services (KFAM)

Steve Kang

Director of External Affairs

Koreatown Youth & Community Center (KYCC)