A BROOKLYN & BOYLE POINT /COUNTERPOINT EXCLUSIVE Guest Editorial by Richard Vásquez I, too, feel saddened and let down by the disclosures in the wake of the recently leaked audio recording of a conversation which took place during the course of a private, closed-door meeting held over a years ago at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor offices. Present, we know, were L.A. City Council members Kevin De León, Nury Martínez and Gil Cedillo along with labor leader Ron Herrera. Of the four, I know Cedillo best. During our undergrad days at UCLA, we shared an affinity for progressive Democrats and a passion for the inclusive politics favored by some—but not all—of the first-generation Bruins from L.A.’s Chicano East Side whom we knew. Gil and I were inspired by the idea civic engagement and often spoke of how we might best serve our emerging community. Although I don’t know his Council colleagues well, I have had occasion to cross paths with both. Nury was the honored guest at ...

A BROOKLYN & BOYLE POINT/ COUNTERPOINT EXCLUSIVE Guest Editorial by Jorge H. Rodríguez The words spoken by several prominent elected Mexican, Latin@ officials were prejudicial, discriminatory, outright mean, and just plain hurtful to everyone they were directed at. But they were not expressed by racists, or white supremacists as some people who have written or spoken about this unfortunate incident have claimed. The distinction is that white supremacy refers to an ideology, a set of ideas promoting the supremacy of whites over people of color; while racism refers to the institutionalization of white supremacy, how it manifests structurally in our society, especially through governmental, educational and socio-political institutions, such as schools, entertainment, laws, and so on. Yes, they were acting like privileged people without regard to those spoken about. But Martínez, Cedillo, De León and labor leader Herrera are neither racists nor white supremacists. To cast them a...