Crenshaw Subway Coalition is a Los Angeles-based activist group which campaigned for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) to put its LAX-Crenshaw line underground and put a metro stop at Leimert Park. ¹ The group states it was founded to promote “social, economic and racial justice [for development projects on Crenshaw Boulevard].” ²

The coalition strongly opposes gentrification and bases most of its campaigning around it. The coalition states that gentrification “displaces the poor for profit, is rooted in colonialism and white supremacy, and [employs] racist policing that targets poor communities.” ³ The organization has been publicly supported by Democrat politicians including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D), U.s. Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA), and California State Senator Laura Richardson (D-Los Angeles), as well as special interest groups and including the Los Angeles NAACP and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). ⁴ The Coalition identified three of its board members, Melina Abdullah, Akili, and Jody Armour, as being heavily involved with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.  ⁵

History

The Crenshaw Subway Coalition was founded in 2006 as part of the Citizens’ Campaign to Fix the Expo Rail Line. In 2011, the Coalition split and became an independent organization. ² In 2013, the coalition convinced the LA Metro Board to build a metro stop in Leimert Park. ¹ As of 2024, the metro line between LAX and Crenshaw was still above ground and the coalition has reduced its presence with its main focus now being on the Liberty Ecosystem campaign, which it co-founded in 2021. ⁶

The Crenshaw Subway Coalition agrees with the Los Angeles Tenants Union’s definition of gentrification, which states gentrification never happens naturally but always involves taking housing away from poor people in order to make a profit, and is “rooted in colonialism and white supremacy.” ³

Crenshaw Mall

Redevelopment

In 2017, the Crenshaw Subway Coalition openly opposed the redevelopment of Crenshaw Mall, which would have added new apartments along with a renovated mall that would have cost more than the average apartment in the area. The Coalition stated that this redevelopment would create a “gentrification tsunami” and would force low-income individuals out of the community. The Coalition argued the program was  “part of a deliberate ‘urban cleansing’ effort concocted by elitist leaders in the public and private sectors who seek to push out long-time Crenshaw residents […] and replace us with the more affluent.” ³ The coalition suggested that the proposed redevelopment of this mall was an attack on the Black community and further claimed all gentrification of this kind is done to “suppress Black wealth creation and exploit Black labor that goes back to the days of [post-Civil War] Reconstruction.” ⁷

Attempted Purchase

The Crenshaw Coalition gathered many community groups together under the name “Downtown Crenshaw Rising” to purchase the Crenshaw Mall instead of allowing an investment group to buy it. The coalition got people to invest by attacking the other investment groups and associating them with former President Donald Trump. In an article about the purchase, the coalition referred to Deutsche Bank, the owner of the mall, as “Donald Trump’s corrupt bankster friends” ⁵ and claimed that the Deutsche Bank was the “most corrupt bank on the planet.” ⁵ The coalition also went after the Seritage Growth Properties investment group, a group trying to purchase the mall. The coalition specifically went after Seritage Growth Properties’ COO Ken Lombard, saying, “Expecting that Ken Lombard has not cut a backroom deal for himself on the sale of the mall, is like expecting Donald Trump to not lie.”  ⁵

In 2021, the Crenshaw Mall was sold to the Harridge Development Group, owned by billionaire Len Blavatnik, which offered almost $30 million more for the property than Downtown Crenshaw Rising. ⁸

1. Goodmon, Damien. “Leimert Park Stop Approved! .” Crenshaw Subway Coalition, May 23, 2013. https://www.crenshawsubway.org/leimert-park-stop-approved.
2.  About the Crenshaw Subway Coalition.” Crenshaw Subway Coalition. Accessed November 25, 2024. https://www.crenshawsubway.org/about.
3. “Stop Gentrification .” Crenshaw Subway Coalition. Accessed November 25, 2024. https://www.crenshawsubway.org/gentrification.
4. “Supporters.” Crenshaw Subway Coalition. Accessed November 25, 2024. https://www.crenshawsubway.org/supporters.
5. “The Trump-Deutsche Bank-Public Pension Funds Attempt to Thwart the Black Community .” Crenshaw Subway Coalition, September 24, 2020. https://www.crenshawsubway.org/donald_trump_banksters_at_deutsche_bank_pension_funds_lombard.
6. Laveaga, Ricky de. “Downtown Crenshaw Rising Mutual Aid.” Knock LA, April 21, 2023. https://knock-la.com/downtown-crenshaw-rising-mutual-aid/.
7. Goodmon, Damien. “Capri’s Crenshaw Mall Redevelopment: ‘Urban Cleansing’ by Another Name.” Crenshaw Subway Coalition, July 27, 2017. https://www.crenshawsubway.org/crenshaw_mall.
8. Bautista, Christian. “Black Group Says Racism Sank Its $115m Bid for Crenshaw Mall.” The Real Deal, September 5, 2024. https://therealdeal.com/la/2024/08/30/black-group-says-racism-sank-its-115m-bid-for-crenshaw-mall/.