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.
And then she heard her name on the recording.
"The one who will support us is Heather Hutt," says Los Angeles City Councilmember Gil Cedillo.
"Yes," agrees Ron Herrera, then-president of the L.A. County Federation of Labor.
"Oooh!" squeals Nury Martinez, then-president of the City Council. "I like Heather Hutt!"
Their words brought on a fresh wave of nausea, followed by shock.
"I couldn't believe it," Hutt told me. "I was like, 'Where did that come from?'"
Indeed, of the many questions that have emerged since my Times colleagues revealed the secret recording of Cedillo, Herrera, Martinez and Councilmember Kevin de León conspiring over redistricting, this is an important one that hasn't been answered.
Why did these Latino "leaders" believe that a Black woman whose family moved to Leimert
