Is the Magic Johnson Community Deserving?

As you might have heard, they closed the Magic Johnson Theater in the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza officially on June 13th. I don’t know about you but, Magic Johnson is a childhood memory in fact the whole plaza is. Turns out, as reported by a fellow BlackIs blogger, “the theatre will undergo a $10 million renovation thanks to Capri Urban Investors, owners of the mall themselves. The movie theatre renovation is the beginning of a $30 million renovation to the entire mall.” (Click here for that post.) As I was holding a conversation with a few friends, they expressed their feelings towards the renovation of Magic Johnson saying, “I’ll give it 2 months before they fuck it up after it reopens” and “that community doesn’t deserve it.”

The Crenshaw District does not have the best reputation; however they work with what they have and what they know. The community Magic Johnson caters to has suffered long enough with helicopters every night, schools and teachers who have no intention of educating, and a lack of jobs to name a few. Places like Magic Johnson Theater and the mall are places where those people can relax, relieve stress, enjoy themselves, their family, and their community. And if you still think the community doesn’t deserve a remodeled mall and movie theater than think about this: maybe the community is the way it is because no one is willing to give them the time of day. Now that they say they’re worth something, they will cherish it and wish for more.