Maya Angelou’s Tribute: A Woman of Grace.
By Yero Jallow.
Are you talking about sad news? You haven’t seen or heard of one yet until yesterday (Wednesday May 28th 2014) when all media outlets including my favorite CNN, broke the sad news of Maya’s passing. I double-checked on her face book page and was greeted by the following message,
“Statement from Dr. Maya Angelou’s Family: Dr. Maya Angelou passed quietly in her home before 8:00 a.m. EST. Her family is extremely grateful that her ascension was not belabored by a loss of acuity or comprehension. She lived a life as a teacher, activist, artist and human being. She was a warrior for equality, tolerance and peace. The family is extremely appreciative of the time we had with her and we know that she is looking down upon us with love. Guy B. Johnson” (Maya Angelou, Face book, 05/28/2014).
It was frostbite for me, almost collapsing to my knees on a beautiful sunny weather, over the shocking and unbelievable news. You will probably wonder why. The answer is not farfetched. For posterity reference, I would like to put my most heartfelt condolences to Maya’s family, and to the many activists around that studied the beauty of her art, activism and poetic expression, and endeavored to put it to practice, to which consortium I belong.
The journey of any activist is dependent on your surrounding and the battles you encounter, to fight and conquer, to win or temporarily lose, the armor you equip yourself with, the motivators and inspirers you have around and moreover reliance in some power, for me He is called God, and some truth and justifiable reason to keep fighting. This long walk ran me into Maya’s work. I started reviewing her work, her history, her many poems, her upbringing, those that read her, and even some of her award accomplishments. I must say that I am the least capable to profile Maya. I know it is getting a little too late, especially now that she is gone, but I am sure she would have appreciated hearing these words if she was alive. The closest I came to making her happy with my words was probably when she wrote on her face book page,
“An unexpected medical emergency caused me the greatest disappointment of having to cancel my visit to the Major League Baseball Civil Rights Game ceremony. I am so proud to be selected as its honoree. However, my doctors told me it would be unadvisable for me to travel at that time. My thanks to Robin Roberts for speaking up for me and thank you for all your prayers. I am each day better” (Maya Angelou, Face book, May 26th 2014).
I posted on her wall, “Our prayers are with you, Maya.” It is almost a missed opportunity, with little knowledge I was talking to a fare welling hobby of times, the great and inspirational poet of times, her grace, Maya of love fame. We are in the age of technology and who knows she might have read it or maybe not. She might have seen my parading and celebration of her work somewhere. To whether she saw it or not, is not even the big deal, and how could I have missed this big opportunity of a tribute for her while alive, so she reads it, and even go to sleep with it, and not that mine even makes any difference or carries some weight, but just the pride of paying tribute to a heroine of her caliber.
While dealing with her departure, I was caught up in some pondering, some thinking with deep reflections, some weeping in my heart with red-hot eyes, a heavy heart with flashback memories, and some light just appeared before me, it was her face that struck me hard, and it just stayed right in front me without moving an inch. I offered her my prayers, my last respect, and promised in my somber mood that I will keep her memories, so long as I live.
From that spot on, her eulogy on Madiba currently circulating on You Tube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDumMEzYyqk), “His Day is Done” hit me from the side, and I struggled, stumbled, and finally woke up to the nightmare, that a poem she eulogized for Madiba, was sadly the same poem I would first share to introduce her death to some readership. I needed to muster some courage, to build some strong tissues and develop the resistance of the flashback of her memories. I convinced myself that I can do it. I struggled to quickly lay hands on the mighty awakening poem, and suddenly collapsed again on some of her stanza verses, saying, thus:
“…No sun outlasts its sunset
But will rise again
And bring the dawn
Yes, Mandela’s day is done,
Yet we, his inheritors
Will open the gates wider
For reconciliation and we will respond …[…]
(Maya Angelou, “His Day is Done” culled from YouTube 05/28/2014).
I discovered from her verses that we, her “inheritors” too can “…open the gates wider, for reconciliation and we will respond…” and at once, I contained myself, and accepted life, death, and time. I convinced myself such a heroine of times might be in a better place.
From her biography (http://mayaangelou.com/bio/), Maya was born on April 4th 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri (USA). She struggled both as a teenager and later on, as a single parent taking care of her son, Guy. Maya at some point got in contact with Malcolm X and after Malcolm’s assassination, shared vision with renowned Civil Rights leader, Martin Luther King Jnr. With the help of her friend, a novelist, James Baldwin, Maya published her first work, “I know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” some documentary capturing her upbringing, in a typical America back then, with endless struggles against racism and segregation. (Maya Angelou, Biography, culled from the web (http://mayaangelou.com/bio/) on 5/28/2014).
Over the last years of her life, we saw her pride, her laughter, and her smiles over the emergence of a Black President in the U.S, in the person of Barack Obama. It was for Maya and the many others that witnessed the ugly days of racism and segregation in the late 40s to the 70s a dream come though. At age 86, Maya still rocked, and she never let age create that barrier for her to continue to share and inspire the world. One thing she loved, evident from her scattered memories (poetry, films, manuscripts, books, audios, speeches, etc.) around, she had an unmatched spirit of sharing, and she used her talents to push others to light.
I took a peek at her face book page, in an effort to expose Maya’s mind on her last month on earth. What was she thinking? How was she feeling? Do we have any clue that she saw death approaching her that fast? It is beautiful. We are who we are and like she graciously shared in her celebrated poem, “His Day is Done,” thus, “no sun outlasts its sunset.” Pushing any buttons won’t bring us any more light and grace than we deserve. It was Maya’s true self. Her last words speak for themselves. Here, it gives you a clue, and you are now reading Maya, her own postings on her face book wall, and we are talking about in May’s month, the same month she fare welled us for eternity. Maya was at par with current world events and regularly updated her face book, to acknowledge things, and her latest postings attest to that fact.
“And now we come to the day where we can honor the brave men and women who have risked their lives to honor our country and our principles. Our history is rife with citizens who care and who are courageous enough to say we care for those who went before us” (Maya Angelou, Face book, 05/26/2014)
“An unexpected medical emergency caused me the greatest disappointment of having to cancel my visit to the Major League Baseball Civil Rights Game ceremony. I am so proud to be selected as its honoree. However, my doctors told me it would be unadvisable for me to travel at that time. My thanks to Robin Roberts for speaking up for me and thank you for all your prayers. I am each day better” (Maya Angelou, Face book, 05/26/2014).
“For the 25th Anniversary of The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav, I recorded this audio preface. Please listen and enjoy, then read the 25th Anniversary Edition of The Seat of the Soul. http://vimeo.com/95555905” (Maya Angelou, Face book, 05/16/2014).
“Each one of these girls is our daughter, our sister, our niece, our aunt and our mother. The future of Nigeria and Africa and New York and Europe and the United States etcetera, etcetera, is threatened by the robbing of these young women’s future. We must have our darlings back so that we can help them to heal from this horror” (Maya Angelou, Face book, 05/07/2014).
So how can Maya be celebrated and remembered? I don’t know about others, but Maya’s legacy lives. She taught us activism, poetry, love, empowerment and how to unite. Like she profiled on Madiba’s eulogy, it reveals the way she wants to be remembered. Maya was a woman of grace; a pillar of hope in a struggling America, and an educationist that taught the art of activism through writing with her ink. Maya is among the most influential voices of times.
May the spirit for which you lived be with you and a best of reception from the Almighty God. Till again Maya and with all the love…