The death of Takira Leray Johnson-Bey
Newspaper reporters tend to write stories and quickly move on to the next feature and the next tragedy. But every once in a while we get to spend real time with people, and produce meaningful stories that resonate with readers and stick with us.
Angela Jackson was one of those people. My colleague Jon Bor wrote about her last year as part of series on how HIV and AIDS has wrecked havoc on this city. We write about murders; too often we don't write about the other ills that claim lives and cause destruction.
Angela had done it all. She was a prostitute, was homeless, shot up $2,000-a-day worth of heroin and cocaine, had three children, two while still using drugs. But she got better. Given one year to live a decade ago, she's still going strong, working as a counselor and trying to get others out of the lifestyle she had lived.
Her youngest daughter, Takira Leray Johnson-Bey, seemed to have escaped the hardships that had befallen her mother. Despite growing up with a drug-addicted mother who slept with up to 30 men a day, she danced, graduated from Edmondson High School and wanted to go to college. She worked as a data process manager at a downtown Baltimore bank and wanted to work with the deaf and as a child care provider.
But she slipped. She noticed her friends stripping at house parties got more money than she did at the bank. She started to do that as well, and eventually ended up dancing at the Block, and ended up dead earlier this month, stabbed during a fight that started inside Norma Jeans on Custom House Avenue.
I went back to see Jackson this week -- a hard assignment but necessary to continue her uplifting narrative from being addicted to being productive, only to see her promising daughter follow her fateful footsteps.
Jackson told me how hard it is to escape the lifestyle she chose. What it shows once again is that there is a story behind every death in this city. Takira was a stripper, and she died a hard death linked to a hard life. She had choices. She almost made the right one.
Comments
I am a close friend of Takira Johnson-Bey I came across this article just reading the paper and I want to know if you have any contact information for the family or funeral arrangements because I wasn't aware this had happened to her. We have been friends for many years and I would like to pay my respects if possible.
Posted by: Marlo Palmer | November 14, 2008 5:46 PM
Damn Takira,
You where doing everything right and then got caught up in the web. I’m sorry I could be a better influence, as I was fighting my own demons. All I can do is learn from what has happened and apply it to my life to become a better person. You will be missed, but hopefully some good will come from this terrible loss.
-Shaum-
Posted by: Shamsud Din Khatib-Bey | November 15, 2008 12:52 PM
I am sorry to hear about the lost of a beautiful women. I had came across this article and I must say, this article was poorly written. I am very
disappointed to have read an article posted on the Baltimore Sun website that has not been proofread. I had to read this article several times just to obtain a clear understanding of what happened. It saddened me to read this article because I feel as thought it wasn't taken seriously.
Posted by: Buffy | November 16, 2008 3:03 PM
For those asking for more info, they posted a myspace page in Takira's honor with all the contact information on it. I didn' tknow her but it is always a tragedy to lose one of our sisters!
RIP Takira, you are truly an angel!!
Posted by: Kisha | November 16, 2008 3:30 PM
I am so sorry that this has happened to Tee-Tee and her family. I am a close friend of the family who misses them dearly and would like to be get in contact with them again. I didn't know Takira the woman, but I knew the beautiful little girl Tee-Tee. I know that this is the hardest thing that a mother could ever have to endure. I would like to help in any way that I could. I love and miss you all. Hopefully, I will see you soon. Please post the funeral arrangements so that out-of-towners like myself can come and pay our respects.
Love that runs so deep, you could never imagine,
Sandi Keys
Posted by: Sandra Y. Keys | November 17, 2008 5:11 AM
Mr. Hermann/Blog Owner
If it is at all possible, I would like to leave you my address and phone number. I know that this isn't protocol, but I really need your help contacting Takira L. Johnson-bey's family. If you could forward this information to Takira's mother for me and have someone call me I would really appreciate it.
Please forgive me for this but I am desperate and didn't know any other way.
Thanks,
Sandra Y. Keys
3221 Swann Road #301
Suitland, MD 20746
301-568-8638 (h)
202-564-4999 (w)
301-957-8945 (c)
Posted by: Sandra Y. Keys | November 17, 2008 5:19 AM
what is the myspace page url does anyone know or the name of the page i cant seem to find her on there i have known her for years and would love to bless the page.. thanks,.
Posted by: akasha | January 7, 2009 7:15 PM
This is a really disrespectful account of her life and the author would never write one like it in reference to one of his loved ones! Not once were her children mentioned or the fact that she was really the most humble, mature, person anyone could meet! In order to educate you must first take into consideration and in implementing moderation you could have made your point while emphasizing her personality. This did not make me feel good about how she was acknowledged I wonder what will be said about you synical author?....
Posted by: nicki minaj | May 23, 2011 7:19 PM