Steve Lopez: Bonin's tearful speech was the best thing to come out of LA City Hall in ages
Mike Bonin's first attempt to speak was unsuccessful.
The boisterous crowd, enraged by one of the ugliest scandals ever to rock Los Angeles City Hall, demanded that there be no City Council meeting Tuesday without resignations first.
Bonin slumped back down, emotionally spent, just a few days after he learned that council President Nury Martinez had referred to his adopted Black son as a monkey. Martinez had proved herself to be an equal-opportunity offender, with unflattering remarks about Oaxacans, Black people, Jews and others.
At the meeting, several people wore T-shirts that said, "I'm with the Blacks," a reference to Martinez's criticism of Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón.
A few feet to Bonin's left sat Councilmembers Gil Cedillo and Kevin De León, two of the three colleagues who had betrayed him. Cedillo, their careers in flames.
