Last night, as I was watching Anderson Cooper‘s exclusive interview with Donald Sterling, I found myself struggling NOT to laugh at everything that was spewing from his mouth. Truth be told, I love that Sterling did that interview without the assistance of a lawyer or a publicist. It was great seeing him torpedo his chances at regaining respect, eliminating the racist claims, and maintaining ownership of the L.A. Clippers. Every time Sterling attempted to seem remorseful, Cooper would ask him to expound on a comment, which only resulted in him looking far more ignorant. That interview will be used by every PR firm in America to justify why prospective clients need representation, and what can happen when you don’t have any, but, I digress.
The most interesting part of the interview was the comments Sterling made about Magic Johnson. Sterling repeatedly questioned what Magic did to deserve the praise he receives, as well as, questioned what Magic has done for the Black community. As “AC360″ progressed, Cooper did a great job of proving why Magic deserves praise by pulling the exact numbers he has raised for HIV awareness and by stating how his charity is highly-rated. But what I really want to talk about today is Sterling’s accusation that Black men like Magic don’t do nearly enough to help Black folk. My problem with that assertion is largely predicated on the fact that there are actually some Black folks who believe Sterling’s accusation actually has merit. But little do they know, Magic has done a lot for the Black community.
When Magic Johnson Enterprises was created, a division of the company called Johnson Development Corporation was launched to focus on inner-city development. In the 1980s, when the rise of crack met the living hell of Reaganomics, many urban epicenters were war zones. Neighborhoods where Black and brown people congregated were seen as “un-investable” and little was being done to provide those neighborhoods with businesses and employment opportunities. Magic saw how Blacks were being neglected across the country and decided to make a change. In 1995, the first Magic Johnson theater was launched in Crenshaw, and after that theaters popped up in Houston, Atlanta, Cleveland, and Harlem. These theaters created thousands of construction jobs and permanent positions to manage and operate them. Along with the theaters, Magic created strategic alliances with restaurants and other business that would be placed in and around the theaters, such as T.G.I. Fridays, Starbucks, Old Navy, Home Depot, Burger King, and Bed, Bath & Beyond.
In 1998, Magic forged an alliance with Canyon-Capital to create the Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund that has financed 31 real estate developments in 13 states. It launched its biggest investment fund in April of 2008 when it raised $1 billion from pension funds and other wealthy investors.
But there’s a reason that Donald Sterling wouldn’t see any of this as helping the Black community, because Magic is assisting the most overlooked group in America, poor folks. As far as Donald Sterling and his wife are concerned, poor Blacks are nothing more than the niggers they need to keep away from their buildings. Men like Sterling are the reason there were so few investments in urban communities, because that’s what housing discriminators do. The type of housing discrimination practiced by Sterling is the reason Black and brown folks had to drive 40-plus minutes outside of their own neighborhoods to see movies or go to a nice dinner. Magic may not be giving out “interest free million dollar loans” to Black entrepreneurs, but he has helped out the functional underclass who never will be millionaires or big-shot entrepreneurs. The same people who just want the security of a job that can help them pay their bills. If you want to ask what Magic Johnson has done for Black people, then that’s fair … unless your name is Donald Sterling and you engage in business practices that strongly assist structural racism in keeping people of color poor.
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Lincoln Anthony Blades blogs daily on his site ThisIsYourConscience.com, he’s an author of the book “You’re Not A Victim, You’re A Volunteer” and a weekly contributor for UPTOWN Magazine. He can be reached via Twitter @lincolnablades and on Facebook at This Is Your Conscience.