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In his first meeting back on the City Council, Mark Ridley-Thomas questions whether obscenities and slurs really have to be tolerated. (Amanda Haller/Patch)
LOS ANGELES, CA — KKK hoods, drawings of nooses or lynchings, strings of obscenities, racist and sexist diatribes — all have become the toll of public service at Los Angeles City Hall in recent years. The obscenities and slurs have become so common at City Council meetings of late, they are met with a banal 'Thank You' from the dias before moving on to city business.
However, in his return to the City Council after serving on the County Board of Supervisors, newly elected Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas signaled his frustration with commenters who routinely test the First-Amendment. On Tuesday, Mark Ridley-Thomas Tuesday chastised racist and sexist remarks by public speakers, which he said the governing body has had to hear for years.