It's been a year since we first heard the tapes of three L.A. city council members and a labor official making derogatory remarks, including comments about a fellow council member, Mike Bonin's son.
Former council member Bonin joined L.A.'s Afternoon News and said his anger about the situation is "About as hot as it ever was."
"We're talking about my son, the person in the world I love most...and to hear him called racist remarks and to hear the person who was my council president talk about beating him, that's a traumatic thing, and it's hard to get past that."
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One of the individuals at the center of the scandal, Kevin de León, not only did not resign at the time of the scandal but is currently seeking re-election, and Bonin said he's not surprised.
He said, "One of the things I've been really disturbed and frustrated about is the way he's revising history here."
Bonin said Mr. de León claims his mistake was failing to stop the conversation, but "That's a lie." He pointed out that de León was the first to attack his son and did so three times before former Los Angeles City Council president Nury Martinez told the story that led to her stepping down.
Bonin is not the only one with strong feelings about de León. Melina Abdullah, founder of BLM L.A., and several other groups protested in front of de Leon's home Monday.
Abdullah told KNX News reporter Emily Valdez, "We canvassed about 200 people this morning starting at 7 AM, and every single person said no, they want him out," referring to de Leon's re-election efforts.
KNX News has reached out to de León's office for a statement, but a spokesperson refused to comment.
Former Los Angeles City Council president Nury Martinez claimed in an interview with LAist that the term she used when referencing Bonin's black son, which loosely translates to "a little monkey," was not racially motivated.
"The word was not meant to be derogatory, and I was not describing him in that way because he is a Black child. I was simply referring to his behavior, and that was it," she said.
Bonin said, "It's gonna take me a while to process what was said in the interview [Monday], but I read a lot of, 'I didn't mean it' and a lot of, 'I didn't do anything wrong' and a lot of, 'I was having a bad day."
He said her excuses of feeling lonely and isolated on the city council are meaningless, stating he would exercise when he felt that way, not "Start using racial slurs against a child or talking about beating a child. That's, that, that's, that's beyond the pale."
Overall, Bonin says though he is still angry, he is not the one who can offer absolution to those involved.
"When my son is older, they can seek forgiveness from him when he's an adult, and he understands what they said... but, to make amends which needs to be made to Los Angeles, it begins by conceding and acknowledging what you've said or done," he said.
He said, based on the statements made over the past few days, "It's pretty clear that they're not doing that, and they're trying to write a narrative that they were the victims of the tapes."
Bonin believes L.A. City Hall is rife with problems and hopes for significant ethics reform within the council.
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