Meka Shabazz is an accomplsihed dancer, comunity activist, teacher, and mentor. She resides in Columbus, OH where she teaches African Cariribbean dance and GED courses and actively mentors LGBTQA and cis gender youth.
NOTE: This blog is a personal reflection and its part of our ongoing series #AllBlackLivesMatter, which highlights the experiences of African American LGBTQA people.
Awareness of my transsexuality emerged at an early age. Throughout my childhood, I identified with my feminine and masculine traits. My first opportunity to express myself artistically occurred during this time. Teachers and mentors often referred to me as a griot, a West African storyteller, this was the high point of my youth. I danced with Tony West and the Imani Dancers, a West African dance company, and with Ballet Met. At Ballet Met, my dance teacher was April Berry, a former principal dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
In high school, coming out as transgender woman and cultivating interests in modern dance characterized my purpose in life. I threw myself into artistic work through participation in high school productions including “Amadeus.” My poem, “Awakening” about the death of Emmett Till won the NAACP ACT-SO Award in 1997. Art was a pathway to express myself freely, but I still needed a place where I felt safe and welcomed. To find community and a supportive place to go, I joined the club scene. With the assistance of Maria Garrison, a local makeup artist and performer, I became a cast member in a drag show at Club Taboo in the Arena District in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. My stage name was Meka Zhane Garrison. On stage I could be myself while giving my best performance.
After completing high school in 1997, I received a full scholarship to Ohio State to create art through dance.. However, my interests were greater, so I moved to study modern dance at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. In college, I continued to refine my skills and became active in the ballroom scene in Philadelphia and New York. After completing my Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance in 2002, I returned to Columbus. Once in the city, I joined the Chuck Davis African American Dance ensemble as principal dancer (2002-2004). One of my most notable was the establishment of Columbus Black Pride.
Everything took a turn, when I began to write fraudulent checks for the items I needed to perform. This cost me dearly. I was sentenced to 5 years in prison. While incarcerated, I lost hope but still believed in myself and my abilities. I saw a need for education assistance for my fellow inmates and decided to become a GED Tutor. After my release in 2010, I worked as an Artist in Residence for the Summer Arts Camp at King Arts Complex. Most of my time, however, was spent developing a GED Program for LGBTQA people at Stonewall Columbus.
Life after prison was not easy. The years between 2010 and 2015 also witnessed another major setback. I entered a relationship with a drug dealer. He was my boyfriend. And I, too, became addicted to cocaine. Everything came crashing down when I had a stroke. I spent three years in a rehabilitation facility. I emerged from the nursing home to face another significant challenge: homelessness.
My experience as a homeless Transgender woman in Columbus, Ohio was very rocky. After, initially relying on friends and family to assist, my financial situation became increasingly unstable. When I could no longer afford to stay with those closest to me, I went to a local shelter. I felt unsafe in a men’s shelter but not welcomed in the women’s shelter. The constant moving between women’s and men’s shelters was emotionally and physically taxing.
Several incidents of discrimination occurred while at the shelter. One night at 2:30 am in the morning, my Transgender niece and I were asked to leave because a female resident informed staff that we had said something negative about her appearance. I was misgendered as a man at a women’s shelter although presenting myself as a woman with long eyelashes and nails. In yet another incident, a female tagged my bed with a magic market and wrote “Thef” (spelled incorrectly) on the headboard. Despite these setbacks, I overcame homelessness and secured low-income HUD housing. My church family at King United Methodist Church paid my rent and gave me furnishings for my apartment.
My message to all people going through a difficult time is to put on your big girl pants and humble yourself. At the peak of my success everything I worked so hard for was lost, but I persevered. To the LGBTQA community not everyone will be accepting of who you are. They may try to break you and harass you emotionally. Maintain yourself by keeping yourself polished. When mistreated as a result of gender discrimination, you must continue to believe in yourself. You must be persistent.
Although my life has been full of challenges and difficulties, I remain motivated and positive. I am currently in the process of reestablishing my GED Tutoring program through Stonewall Columbus. Affectionately known as Mother Meka by those whom I mentor, I work with LGBTQA youth and cis teenagers. I consider these young and old souls my family. And I have rekindled my love of dance by teaching an African Caribbean Dance on Zoom, which is a five series class. I am grateful to be in a good place in my life. To have my health, a budding career and social support. I am truly blessed. My life has come full circle. I have taken all the pieces of my life and recast them in a fabulous mosaic that includes mentorship, teaching, rekindling my love for dance and acting and serving as a mother figure for our youth. I am learned so much from the roads I have traveled. I have lived my life one dance at a time, and I look forward to the next exciting chapter of my life.