He fought for racial equality
Darren W. Parker, a longtime California activist, dies at 59.
Darren W. Parker, a political activist who fought for racial equality as chairman of the California Democratic Party’s African American Caucus and former president of the local National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, has died at his home in Lancaster.
Parker died July 22 from esophageal cancer, said his wife, Brenda. He was 59.
Parker “was a good man. He loved God; he loved his family; he loved his friends; and he loved his people, especially the California Democratic Party African American Caucus,” the organization said on its website. “He will be truly missed.”
A longtime political activist, Parker was deeply embedded in local and state issues. He led the African American Caucus for more than a decade, was president of the Antelope Valley Democratic Club and vice chairman of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. He also worked for Assembly speakers John Pérez, Toni Atkins and Anthony Rendon in the state capital and was a member of numerous
community groups such as the Antelope Valley Partners for Health and the Los Angeles County Commission for Children and Families.
He also worked as a cable maintenance splicer for Pacific Bell, a job he held for more than 20 years.
Parker was born Jan. 26, 1960, and raised in Compton, but lived in the Antelope Valley for much of his adult life.
Parker met his wife in the early 1980s at a park in Gardena. Brenda, then 17, was playing tennis when Parker approached her and asked if he could play, she recalled. They were married in the summer of 1983.
Parker’s political engagement began when he was 11, he told the Los Angeles Sentinel in 2017 when he announced his Stage 3 cancer diagnosis. After joining forces with his brother and three cousins, they founded the One Hundred Thousand Students for the Freedom of South Africa at his grandmother’s house in Compton.
“Very early in life, we were creating organizations in the backyard and had meetings about how do we help the students over there that we can’t see and can’t touch, but yet want to be a part of stopping the struggle that they’re in,” he told the paper.
He attended El Camino College and Cal State Northridge, and earned a bachelor’s degree from UCLA.
In 2011, Parker ran in a special election for the state Senate against betterknown Sharon Runner in a district that stretched from Ventura to San Bernardino County and regularly voted Republican. He lost, as he did in his 2016 campaign for an Assembly seat.
Taisha Brown, interim chair of the African American Caucus, said Parker was always “really enthusiastic about what he believed in.” He “made sure that our people know that our ancestors fought for our right to vote, and that they knew he was there to fight for our rights. That democracy is for everyone.”
City Council President Herb Wesson tweeted that Parker “was a true public servant whose name will forever be synonymous [with] what it means to lead with passion, conviction, & persistence.”
Parker is survived by his wife; mother Kai; daughters Jasmine, Britney, Tiffany, Amber and Trinity; and several grandchildren.