THE D.C. STATEHOOD GREEN PARTY
http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org
Monday, May 8, 2006
Contact:
Scott McLarty, DC Statehood Green Party Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624,
mclarty@greens.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- D.C. Statehood Green Party members mourned the loss of Damu Smith, who
passed away on May 5, 2006.
For more than three decades, Mr. Smith was a prominent leader for justice, human rights,
peace, and the environment in Washington, D.C., and was a close friend to many Statehood Greens.
"Brother Damu Smith has been a large, vibrant and consistent presence in the struggle for justice
for many years," said Asantewaa Nkrumah-Ture. "His constant fighting spirit, both with his
illness and in the fight for justice, was absolutely phenomenal. He will be greatly missed
as we look forward to greater victories in the future. Our thoughts and prayers go
out to his beloved daughter Asha and other family members."
Damu Smith was the first coordinator for environmental justice for the Southern Organizing
Committee for Economic and Social Justice, and organized Toxic Tours in the South for
Greenpeace, helping to expose Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley', confronting Shell Oil about its dumping
practices, and forcing a PVC plant out of Norco, Louisiana. In 1991, Mr. Smith
coordinated the first National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit.
Mr. Smith also founded Black Voices for Peace, which protests U.S. military aggression in Iraq
and Israel's occupation of Palestine, and lobbied for redirection of funding towards health care
and other human needs.
"Like minds always come together, as in the case of Josephine Butler and Damu Smith," said Gail
Dixon, Statehood Green activist and former member of the D.C. Board of Education. "I met Damu
because of Josephine, learned better how to struggle because of the efforts of both of these
giants of human rights, and I carry the impressions that they made on me
as my guide for activism and fairness."
On November 5, 2000, Damu Smith was a featured speaker at the Ralph Nader presidential
campaign's 'Super Rally' at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C.
Statehood Green Party Steering Committee member Ann Wilcox, who has known Damu since both came to
D.C. in the 1970s, noted that "Damu Smith made important connections between militarism abroad
and domestic economic needs, particularly for minority and working communities. He was a
tireless advocate on peace, labor, and environmental issues, including recent protests
of aid cuts to victims of Hurricane Katrina."
MORE INFORMATION
The DC Statehood Green Party
http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org
Biography of Damu Smith
http://www.damusmith.org/
