WorldBeat founder Makeda ‘Dread’ honored with East Village mural

Makeda “Dread” Cheatom was surprised and honored when she found out a mural was being painted in her honor in East Village this month. But when the longtime San Diego multicultural arts producer saw the painting for the first time Monday morning, she was profoundly moved.

The wall-size painting near 17th Street and Imperial Avenue depicts the 78-year-old Cheatom surrounded by the things that have meant the most to her in her long career as a local reggae music promoter, vegetarian restaurateur, peace activist and founder of the WorldBeat Cultural Center in Balboa Park.

Created over the weekend by Carlsbad mural artist Taylor Gallegos, the mural shows Cheatom spinning a record on a turntable against the backdrop of doves of peace, a fertile vegetable garden and the word “unity” in tall block letters. The color palette resembles those of the Jamaican flag.

“He really captured me,” Cheatom said Monday. “He brought everything in there. But overall it’s always been about unity for me. The first day of Kwanzaa is ‘umoja,’ which means unity. It’s about bringing all the different colors and nationalities together. That’s so important because we’re separated in America right now. We can’t have these divisions. Peace begins with us.”

The mural was commissioned by Estrella Jalisco, a Mexican beer company that will spend $1 million over the next four years to underwrite the creation of murals of local heroes in up to 100 American cities . The mural subjects are chosen from nominations and votes by the public. Nine mural artists in the Southwest were selected to create the first group of murals in San Diego, Los Angeles, Phoenix and El Paso. The first local mural was completed in October by artist Carly Ealey at Ninth and G streets in East Village. It spotlights Jacquelyn Alvarez, an artist and holistic healer with the Urban Art Shop in City Heights.

Cheatom grew up in San Diego and now lives in Hillcrest. She became well known in San Diego first as a DJ, who hosted the “Reggae Makossa” program on 91X radio station for 25 years and now on the low-powered station KVIB at 101.1 FM. She also produced reggae concerts in San Diego, including the annual Bob Marley Day at the sports arena for a quarter-century. In 1971, she opened Prophet, the city’s first vegetarian restaurant, a lifestyle she continues to promote at WorldBeat Cultural Center, which she founded 1989. The center promotes peace through the celebration of world music, dance, visual arts and cultural education.

The mural is just the latest way Cheatom has been honored for her work. In 2019 she received the President’s Award from the NAACP chapter in San Diego. The Women’s Museum of California honored her as a Cultural Competent Bridge Builder and in 2012 she was inducted into the San Diego County Women’s Hall of Fame. She has also received a Channel 10 Leadership Award and honors from Project Concern International, the Palava Tree for Arts & Culture, Water For Africa Foundation and International Rescue Committee, among others.

Cheatom said she especially loves the vibrant colors of the new mural because this year has been “pretty gray” because of the public’s isolation and sadness caused by the pandemic and the divisive presidential election. But she’s confident that better days are ahead.

“I have faith in us,” she said. “We must come together. There’s only one race, we’re different cultures and colors, but one race and that’s the human race.”

To promote unity this year, Cheatom said WorldBeat — which closed its indoor space again on Saturday due to the latest COVID-19 health restrictions — has expanded its digital footprint and it is now reaching a global audience. The center’s annual weeklong Kwanzaa festival will return in December, but most of its events will be online except for one day of outdoor events. That date has not been announced.