Yvette Nicole Brown, Kym Whitley Defend Karen Bass, Suggest Criticism a Result of Racism

Yvette Nicole Brown and Kym Whitley are standing behind Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass ... saying she's a woman of steel -- and, people are unfairly criticizing her because of her race.

We caught up with the two stars in L.A. Saturday ... and, we asked them about Mayor Bass' response to the devastating wildfires -- 'cause both of them ardently supported Bass' run for the job.

You've gotta watch the clip ... YNB and KW get pretty heated just thinking about all the criticism Karen's received in recent days.

Brown starts out by saying Karen has spine of steel, and she's been a Black woman in America for a long time ... so, these kinds of shots aren't new to her.

Whitley and Brown agree that people need to stand behind their mayor ... and, think at least some of the criticism is born from ignorance about the different regions of L.A. -- pointing out Malibu has it's own mayor, so the Pacific Palisades wildfire can't be laid solely at her feet.

Yvette ends the chat by saying that L.A. has had fires for years ... but, in her 30 years in Los Angeles, she can't remember a mayor getting raked over the coals like this -- and, she implies a lot of the reason for that is race.

The Palisades Fire is the largest of several blazes that have plagued the city this week. It's burned more than 23K acres already ... and, it's expected to continue for some time.

Bass has faced the brunt of attacks by prominent conservatives and even some well-known celebs ... including Khloé Kardashian who called her a "joke."

Whitley was forced to evacuate her home in Tarzana because of the Palisades Fire ... detailing the chilling experience she and her son went through.