Rick Caruso’s famous friends

Re “Who has Black men’s votes?” Erika D. Smith column, Jan. 6

I thought the “Ice Cube Effect,” named after the rapper who said in 2020 that Democrats did not deserve the loyalty of Black voters, was an absolutely spot-on way for columnist Erika D. Smith to describe the problem of low-information, high-visibility political idiocy.

I live in Leimert Park, and I find it so depressing to see how effectively people are encouraged to check out of politics by the uneducated babbling of famous people. I hope that one day more people will realize that if your vote weren’t important, people wouldn’t be trying so hard to keep you from voting. Thank you, Ms. Smith, for another excellent piece of writing. Hassan Abdul-Wahid

Los Angeles

Smith writes that certain Black men “don’t believe another politician can fix anything in Los Angeles. So why not give [mayoral candidate Rick] Caruso a shot?”

Doesn’t this sound eerily similar to Latinos when another businessman ran for office? After expressing “what do we have to lose?” Latinos quickly found out what they had to lose as they were deported and stalked by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Now a former staunch Republican who advised you-know-who had a change of heart? Call me naive, but it sounds a little hard to believe. Hector Hernandez

San Clemente