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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.
L.A. city councilman says he s had enough of racist, sexist remarks at meetings
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Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas speaks to the press after casting his vote at Hot and Cool Cafe in Leimert Park on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020 in Los Angeles, CA. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES - In his first City Council meeting since the 2000s, Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas Tuesday chastised racist and sexist remarks by public speakers, which he said the governing body has had to hear for years.
Ridley-Thomas was a councilman between 1991 and 2002, but legal disputes in recent years have ended decidedly in favor of the speakers, basically allowing them to say whatever they want under the protection of the First Amendment as long as they don t threaten anyone.