L.A. City Council Member Hosts Town Hall with Black Lives Matter Leader Who Calls Constituents ‘A-holes’

Councilmember Mike Bonin / Facebook
Penny Starr

Los Angeles City Council member Mike Bonin hosted an online town hall earlier this week with the local leader of Black Lives Matter — who proceeded to insult his constituents and called them “complete A-holes.”

Dr. Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter L.A., was a featured speaker at the event on “reimagining public safety,” which featured a panel of left-wing activists and academics.

“When we came here we talked about reimagining public safety,” Abdullah said on the Zoom call. “I think some of these questions indicate that the conversation is much bigger than that.”

“We’re talking about how do we dismantle white supremacy,” Abdullah said.

Bonin, a Democrat, had announced the event on social media, and invited people to join by watching the livestream and asking questions.

The town hall was moderated by former CNN anchor Carol Costello.

At one point, Costello read questions from the audience, which included a query about whether police should be called to deal with violent homeless people.

Abdullah could barely contain her contempt, calling such questions “A-hole questions” and condemning the west side of Los Angeles. Other activists on the call celebrated and applauded.

Councilmember Mike Bonin / Facebook

Abdullah and others at the meeting shared slides to highlight their “accomplishments,” including a $150 million cut to the Los Angeles Police Department budget.

Another slide listed “spaces for abolition of police,” that included schools, parks, prisons, evictions, homelessness, public transportation, car accidents, neighborhood gathering, mental health crises and “any space involving children.”

A list of “non-violent calls” that would not require a police response included shoplifting, loitering, substance abuse, welfare checks, traffic violations, domestic abuse, “caring for rape victims,” “de-escalation of a situation,” police reports for property crime, concerns about street vendors, noise complaints and parties, neighborhood gatherings, mental heath and health crises, “small-scale economic crimes like the one that catalyzed the murder of George Floyd,” and “anything related to children or schools.”

In his closing remarks, Bonin said people are “waking up to a new understanding of the impacts of systemic racism in this country.”

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