Another Dead Name: Meka Shabazz
Trans identified Ohio man jumps off bridge. It's your fault, says his friend and pastor.
A trans ID man has killed himself by jumping off a bridge in Ohio, according to his pastor at United Methodist Church, Rev. Dr. Joelle Hennemen. Mr. Hennemen is a trans ID man.
Meka Shabazz came out as trans in high school. He graduated, then obtained a BA in dance. He founded Columbus Black Pride, and started writing bad checks to pay for his drag costumes. This led to incarceration. After his release, his life of crime continued, and he started a relationship with a drug dealer who could supply his cocaine addiction, which according to his own narrative, it seems he never overcame. He eventually had a stroke from the cocaine use and spent 3 years in a rehab facility.
Following that, he became homeless when his friends and family got sick of funding his addiction and lifestyle, at which point he began to access women's shelters until he was asked to leave for harassing a woman at the shelter. Another time he allegedly stole from a female resident. He was misgendered violently despite “long eyelashes and nails.” At some point, he obtained low income housing, paid for by his church, King United Methodist Church. He began to "mentor" trans identifying teenagers down the path that had completely sabotaged his own life. Then in December, he jumped off a bridge. His pastor thinks it's your fault.
It is possible that this outcome was a direct result of the early exposure to drug use and criminality in the trans community that he was attempting to pass on to the next generation of teenagers. Meka connected his stroke to his cocaine use. Stroke is a risk factor for completed suicide. The brain injury affects judgment and impulse control, and the social aftermath affects self worth and will to live. Meka’s male sex put him at a significantly higher risk of completing a suicide.
https://historianspeaks.org/f/living-one-dance-at-a-time--meka-shabazz
https://www.dispatch.com/story/opinion/columns/guest/2025/01/03/meka-shabazz-columbus-ohio-transwoman-death-hate-suicide-republican-democrats/77407217007/
Another wasted life. So sad. He could have done so much with his life.
Hennemen claims it's our fault. I disagree. Plenty of trans identified men life happy lives. They don't choose to take cocaine. Perhaps Hennemen should ask himself why he didn't notice that Shabazz was becoming suicidal, or why Shabazz didn't decide to approach his pastor for support.
No one is 'to blame' when a human chooses to commit suicide, but in blaming others I suspect Hennemen is projecting his own guilt at not preventing it.
A drug-addicted criminal who harassed women. Why am I not sad?