The Latest Articles by Erika D. Smith

Column: Meet the Black people remaking LA's Leimert Park — one building and one event at a time

LOS ANGELES -- Tony Jolly sounded tired.

Los Angeles Times · Jun 29, 2023

Column: State Farm is right. California can’t keep building housing in high-risk places

Back in January, on a dark night of pelting rain, Erica Lopez Bedolla had only minutes to evacuate her family from the impoverished Central Valley town of Planada after a levee broke.

Los Angeles Times · Jun 19, 2023

Erika D. Smith: The real and complicated reasons why Los Angeles still has so many RV encampments

For five nights, Melissa Grady refused to sleep.

Los Angeles Times · Mar 10, 2023

On this flooded island of homeless people, climate change has never been more real

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The raft to Bannon Island does not inspire confidence. But Dyrone Woods climbed aboard the piece of crumbling Styrofoam secured to the remains of a wood pallet anyway.

Los Angeles Times · Jan 9, 2023

Erika D. Smith: Megan Thee Stallion was right. But she's one of too many women who aren't believed

Women are waiting — especially Black women.

Los Angeles Times · Dec 28, 2022

Erika D. Smith: Representation matters. But a Mayor Karen Bass means more for Black women in LA

Watching Karen Bass be given her flowers for becoming the first woman and only the second Black person to be elected mayor of Los Angeles, I can't help but think of how much has changed in California over the past two years.

Los Angeles Times · Nov 18, 2022

Erika D. Smith: 'I'm a Black woman, not a pawn.' The forgotten victim of LA's racist tape scandal

Heather Hutt, a longtime political staffer turned interim Los Angeles City Council member, was already disgusted listening to three colleagues and a prominent labor leader use racist language to justify their plot to hoard political power for Latinos.

Los Angeles Times · Oct 18, 2022

Erika D. Smith: Nury Martinez's racism feeds into Black Angelenos' worst fear. It's us versus them

She called the Black child of Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin "changuito," or "a monkey," who gets carried around like a purse. "Su negrito, like on the side."

Los Angeles Times · Oct 10, 2022

Erika D. Smith: Isn't Karen Bass the victim? Why all the questions about her stolen guns?

Ever since Karen Bass announced that she was running for mayor of Los Angeles, she has mostly downplayed the historic implications of her candidacy.

Los Angeles Times · Sep 28, 2022

Erika D. Smith: In this Black Lives Matter family feud, we'll get transparency. But at what cost?

On Aug. 30, the venerable Pew Research Center released a report summing up the opinions of Black Americans, specifically our thoughts about racial inequality and the prospects for systemic social change.

Los Angeles Times · Sep 9, 2022