CALIFORNIA CITY, Calif. (KERO) — During public comments at Cal City council meeting several people use racist language, some directed at council member LaShelle Cooper.
- LaShelle Cooper responds to racist language; says this will be the only time she'll address the issue.
- Cal City Mayor Kelly Kulikoff said it was rare the comments were made via Zoom and said an acting city clerk was mitigating the Zoom.
- Speaking mostly off-topic... one woman said she was white and complained of diversity opportunities.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
City council meetings in the town of California City can be attended in person... and online... and it was that 'Zoom' connection that turned racist on Tuesday night.
I'm Steve Virgen your neighborhood reporter...
During public comment... several people used racist language... some directed at the newest council member LaShelle Cooper.
LaShelle Cooper was appointed council member last month after Karen Macedonio resigned.
She spoke to me on Thursday... on the condition that she would only address this racist outburst one time.
“I don’t want to ever give someone that much control, that much power over me, and I don’t want someone to take any of the energy that I need to have for my family for what I need to do for the city of California City,” Cooper said.
Several people on the zoom call used racist language during Tuesday's council meeting.
Speaking mostly off-topic... one female said she was white and complained of diversity opportunities.
“We’re going to ignore ignorance and we’re going to move forward and take care of things we know we have to take care of. That right there, that was minor and we can move on and get past it," Cooper said.
Cal City Mayor Kelly Kulikoff said Tuesday was a rare occurrence... because an "acting" city clerk was in charge of the Zoom commenters.
“I’m sorry to public that it did happen. I do apologize for that. But the issue is you can't prevent everything from happening... Obviously we can’t infringe on people’s first amendment rights rights, their free speech," Kulikoff said.
Cooper said she intends to run for council in November. In Cal City, I’m Steve Virgen your neighborhood reporter.
To watch the full meeting you can click here.
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