Senator Kevin Parker Remembers the Incomparable Poet Laureate Maya Angelou

(Brooklyn, NY) - “Today the world lost a beacon of hope and inspiration in the passing of literary giant and poet laureate Dr. Maya Angelou. Dr. Angelou died at the age of 86, after a life spent as a civil rights activist, award-winning poet, actor, singer, dancer, professor, mentor and author of several autobiographies and novels that will continue to shape the hearts and minds of generations to come,” said Senator Kevin Parker.

Through her writing, Dr. Angelou told coming-of-age stories that resonated with young and old women worldwide. Perhaps one of the most widely recognized stories of her youth was captured in the pages of “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”. She once said ‘I want to write so well that a person is 30 or 40 pages in a book of mine…before she realizes she’s reading.’

“I know the death of the incomparable Maya Angelou moves women and men alike to mourn her passing. For at least half a century her inspirational words have uplifted us and have stirred the world’s imagination and emotions based on her poetry and tales that resonate with the extraordinary moments of the lives of ordinary people,” continued the Senator.

In a capstone to an exemplary life, in 2011, President Obama presented Dr. Angelou with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor. It was truly a befitting tribute to a ‘Phenomenal Woman’.”

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About Senator Kevin Parker

Senator Kevin S. Parker is intimately familiar with the needs of his ethnically diverse Brooklyn community that consists of 318,000 constituents in Flatbush, East Flatbush, Midwood, Ditmas Park, Kensington, Windsor Terrace, and Park Slope.  He is the Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee and the Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, Assistant Democratic Leader for Intergovernmental Affairs, Founding Member of the New York Caucus of Environmental Legislators, and Chair of the Democratic Task Force on New Americans.