[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 104 (Wednesday, July 27, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1614-E1616]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      THE STRUGGLES OF DAMU SMITH

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 26, 2005

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to bring to the attention and 
consciousness of this body the important and significant battles of a 
courageous warrior for justice, peace, and equality, Mr. Damu Smith. 
Damu has been a constant and consistent champion of peace and continues 
his fight for love and justice despite his struggle with cancer. I 
applaud this simple man, this mighty activist, and this concerned 
citizen of the world for his tireless struggle to make the world a 
better place. I encourage him to continue his fight, knowing that 
others are aware of his struggle and continue to need his leadership.
  A passionate believer in peace and global peace movements, Damu has 
fought to raise the awareness of the world community of the

[[Page E1615]]

ugliness of apartheid in South America, the brutality of government 
injustice and gun violence, the need for environmental awareness and 
justice, and the international fights against racism, injustice, and 
discrimination. He has advocated peace instead of nuclear arms. He has 
sought reconciliation rather than violence. He has battled intolerance 
in lieu of understanding.
  A mere perusal of his life story would demonstrate to any of us that 
Damu has been a consistent champion of peace and justice wherever 
hatred and injustice reside. His humanitarianism knows few limits and 
his sense of person responsibility is not bound by social expectations.
  Damu, this champion of justice and peace, nonetheless is currently 
waging a battle with cancer. I wish him well in his persistent fight 
against the disease.
  I hope the struggle of Damu Smith does not go unnoticed by my 
colleagues in this body. I hope we see the challenges and struggles 
that face our relentless pursuers of peace, justice, and equality. I 
hope we take steps to prevent Damu's struggle from being repeated on 
future generations of Americans. While he is a true fighter to the 
core, Damu's struggle has not been easy. Yet he continues to persist in 
his advocacy of peace and justice.
  What is more disturbing about Damu's case is that there appears to be 
both genetic and environmental causes behind his disease: A family 
history and a location in ``Cancer Alley''--a small section of 
Louisiana with a number of industrial plants and facilities and high 
rates of cancer, lung conditions, and skin irritations. It would seem 
that the Congress could do more to address whether there is a 
correlation between these incidence and the industrial population of 
the community.
  I nonetheless praise the continued struggle of this fighter for 
justice and warrior for peace. I submit the following article written 
by Shantella Y. Sherman of the Afro-American highlighting Damu's 
struggle and his fight. I thank Ms. Sherman for bringing this to the 
Nation's attention.

         Faith and Deliverance: Damu Smith Wages War on Cancer

       Damu Smith's name bounces around rooms with the same quiet 
     reverence often reserved for more popularly known figures: 
     Nelson Mandela or Desmond Tutu. Sometimes, there's a knowing 
     smile or two. Smith is a kind of modern-day superstar among 
     activists: fierce, passionate, courageous, God-fearing. His 
     celebrity has reached far and beyond Washington, D.C., into 
     the far corners of the Earth. Where there is any semblance of 
     injustice, rest assured, Damu Smith is planning strategic 
     countermoves.
       Smith's activism rallied civic consciousness against 
     apartheid in South Africa, gun violence, police brutality and 
     government injustice. He worked to effect peace and a freeze 
     on nuclear weapons, and advocated for environmental justice, 
     both in America and abroad. In fact, Smith was in Palestine, 
     heading up a delegation of protest against unfair treatment 
     suffered by Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli 
     government, when he collapsed, subsequently being diagnosed 
     with colon cancer.
       As a result, Smith has always appeared larger than life, 
     particularly to this reporter, who met him more than 20 years 
     ago as a pre-teen. Interviewing Smith became a challenge that 
     15 years of reporting experience couldn't overcome. I was 
     nervous. I wasn't sure what to expect, so I stood outside his 
     apartment door for a solid five minutes, willing each knock 
     to become just a little more audible to him on the other 
     side. Finally, I entered at his behest, ``Come on in, the 
     door is open.''
       Once I'd taken off my shoes and peered around the corner, I 
     was able to get a full glance at Damu. His eyes were bright, 
     his skin flawless and his smile brighter than ever. He 
     bustled around his apartment with a small contingent of 
     associates: his friend and doctor of more than 30 years, 
     Jewel L. Crawford; a friend from St. Louis; and others who 
     came and went in fluid motions.
       There is a handwritten note attached to a hand-carved 
     mirror, one of the many African treasures decorating Damu's 
     home. Above a litany of daily affirmations, is written, 
     ``With God All Things Are Possible.'' All along, Damu 
     answered questions and telephone calls, gave directions to 
     Dulles International Airport, passed out fresh juice and 
     (laughed).
       Dr. Crawford answered my question and confusion without me 
     asking: ``Damu approached his disease the same as he does 
     everything in his life. He's a fighter, and he's getting 
     stronger because of his faith.''
       Crawford would know. She was one of the first people Smith 
     spoke with following his hospital admission. While Crawford 
     says she cannot be certain of how cancer struck Smith, she is 
     certain he will beat it.
       ``Damu has a family predisposition to this type of cancer: 
     His paternal grandmother and his father both had it. It's 
     hard to put a definite on it, because even though Damu is a 
     vegetarian, never smoked [and] never drank, he was in one of 
     the most toxic areas on the planet for an extended period of 
     time. Being in Louisiana all that time could have been the 
     element that pushed him over into being affected,'' said 
     Crawford.
       The area Crawford referred to is known as ``Cancer Alley,'' 
     a small section of Convent, LA., where a smorgasbord of 
     industrial plant run-off brought on cancers, lung conditions 
     and skin irritations among residents. In the early 1990s, 
     Smith led an all-out campaign against the Japanese owners of 
     the Shintech plants, and lived with some of the area's 
     residents.
       Smith himself agrees that living in a toxic environment 
     could be the culprit in the development of cancers, including 
     his own, but says the family factor should not be overlooked.
       ``The air we breathe, the water we drink, the foods we eat 
     and the homes in which we live are toxic. This is a very 
     toxic environment we live in this millennium. I live a 
     healthy lifestyle: I don't drink, don't smoke, never did an 
     illegal drug. I'm a vegetarian and I eat organic food. And 
     yet, I end up with colon cancer. Why? Could be a number of 
     things,'' he surmised.
       ``Could be the toxic environment, could be the fact that 
     within my family there's a genetic marker of colon cancer. My 
     father died of it. My grandmother, his mother, had it. She 
     didn't die from it, but she had it. So, according to 
     conventional medical doctors, I'm at greater risk because I 
     have this family marker,'' said Smith.
       Though he says he should have seen a doctor regularly, like 
     most minorities, he didn't make it a top priority, especially 
     since he was so health-conscious.
       ``I should have been at the doctor every year getting 
     checked. I wasn't. I have to be honest with you, I used to 
     think about going to get a checkup and I'd say to myself, `I 
     don't want to find out anything bad. I just can't imagine 
     anything bad happening to me because I eat so well.' I used 
     to say that stuff. So, this is one of the things I want to be 
     a poster child for: getting screened and checked for colon 
     cancer,'' said Smith.
       But how does a poster child maintain in the fight for his 
     life? According to Smith, with an unwavering conviction in 
     God.
       ``First of all, I have to have faith in God--in a higher 
     power, greater than us. And so, that's the most important 
     thing to me, having faith in God and knowing that he can 
     deliver me from this,'' said Smith.
       ``I was told by one of the doctors when I was initially 
     diagnosed at the end of March that people in my condition, 
     statistically, have only three to six months to live. And he 
     made it a point of saying to me twice during our 
     conversation, 'Don't hesitate about anything.' That was 
     Easter Sunday morning of this year. I had to really reflect 
     on that.''
       Doctors also informed Smith that his liver was three-
     quarters full of tumors--a condition that effectively made 
     the illness terminal. After going through what he called 
     ``about 30 minutes of anguish and seeing my whole life race 
     in front of me like a video clip,'' Smith announced he was 
     fighting it.
       ``There are a lot of people out there, when they hear that, 
     allegedly, they have only three months, six months, a few 
     days or a few weeks to live, they plan their lives 
     accordingly. I plan to be here for several more years, and 
     I'm thinking in that direction,'' said Smith.
       The reality of death is all the more gripping because he 
     lost a close friend to colon cancer around Christmas. Unlike 
     his friend, who went in for surgery and passed a few days 
     later without a moment to prepare, Smith said he is grateful 
     for the opportunity to fight for his life.
       ``Here I am. I've been alive three months since I was told, 
     and I'm feeling great right now. Those tumors are shrinking. 
     I'm sitting here with you now doing this interview and 
     drinking this organic kale and carrot juice, and I am 
     drinking it as much as possible because it heals the liver . 
     . . I'm taking chemotherapy, acupuncture, sound healing, 
     breathology, everything in the toolbox of healing. I'm 
     picking up and using on my body right now. And I'm keeping 
     God at the center of everything. So, I don't plan to lose.''
       Smith is only human, and is clear about what his body is 
     going through. He says that having a clear understanding of 
     his body's day-to-day function and how to improve those 
     functions while his body is under attack is essential. Even 
     this though, he says, takes a back seat to faith.
       ``I'm also a very practical person. I understand that I 
     have a very serious disease occupying my body, but I'm 
     claiming victory! . . . I am expelling that disease from my 
     body by having faith in God and having faith in my family and 
     the community of angels who have descended upon me and who 
     surround me now,'' he said.
       Still, others wonder why Smith would make such a personal 
     struggle public. The answer for Smith is an echoed sentiment 
     understood by everyone who encounters him. He wouldn't be 
     Damu Smith if he wasn't helping out the next man--even during 
     his own crisis.
       ``So many people hide what's wrong with them and stuff, and 
     he was open and went public with it so that he could possibly 
     help someone else,'' said Crawford. ``Even facing a life-
     threatening situation, Damu is {still} organizing and trying 
     to touch someone else's life.''
       ``When I was lying in the bed at Providence Hospital once I 
     returned from Palestine in late March, I decided that I had 
     to, one, walk publicly in this journey of healing [and], two, 
     that I had to organize people to help me and organize people 
     to help others understand that they don't want to go through 
     what I was about to go through.
       ``There were literally hundreds of people who came to see 
     me at Providence Hospital,

[[Page E1616]]

     and some of my friends were getting upset, saying I needed my 
     rest. But I knew what I was doing. God knew what I was doing. 
     I needed to organize my friends and family first, and I told 
     them that we've got to fight this, because it's not just me. 
     People have to go get checked, and we need to organize around 
     this.''
       Out of those bedside meetings, Smith was able to establish 
     the Spirit of Hope campaign, which seeks solutions to health 
     disparities among minority and poor Americans. The campaign 
     focuses on universal health care, education about the need 
     for screening measures, addressing astronomical health care 
     costs and promoting general well-being among minority and 
     poor people.
       ``The whole spectrum of wellness is what the Spirit of Hope 
     campaign is focusing on, and I wouldn't have it any other 
     way. It wouldn't be me if it didn't focus on something other 
     than me,'' said Smith.
       Smith says that despite the cost and fear associated with 
     the procedure, it is imperative that people of color and 
     those living below the poverty line get regular checkups, 
     including colonoscopies.
       ``What are you going to fear most? [If] you want to live, 
     you cannot fear doing what you have to do to live. 
     Colonoscopies are expensive. They're between $700 to $900 
     dollars. And if you're not insured, that's a major problem. 
     For Black people, and people of color and poor people, that's 
     a major problem.
       ``It's very important we organize a campaign that insures 
     that everyone has access to effective, holistic, 
     comprehensive, prevention health care and access to treatment 
     facilities so they get what they need when they need it,'' he 
     argued.
       Smith is also thinking about access for his l2-year-old 
     daughter Asha, who he lovingly refers to as ``Asha Boo-Boo'' 
     and the ``crown jewel of his life.'' ``I don't want her to go 
     through this. I want her and all of her little friends to get 
     screened when the time is right. So, I have to work for them 
     too,'' said Smith.
       As my time with Smith draws to a close, I begin to wonder 
     if maybe he hadn't been misdiagnosed. The wristband, which 
     resembles a hospital clasp, is in fact a tag from the Essence 
     Music Festival that he's simply neglected to remove. Damu 
     Smith is doing life Damu Smith-style: happy, brilliant and 
     winning the fight.
       ``This has been one of the happiest times in my life, in 
     the midst of this crisis. Now some people might say, `How is 
     that possible?' It's possible because I have seen the love 
     come to me in such wonderful ways. I cannot begin to describe 
     how profound, how rich and warm and beautiful the love has 
     been from my family and friends and God. I thank God for this 
     moment and for the chance to fight,'' said Smith.

                          ____________________