When a person dies, a dash is placed between the year of his or her birth and the death year. That dash symbolizes what happened between the time that person entered the earth and the point of departure. In the case of Damu Smith, who died last week, he crammed more into his 54 years on earth than people who live twice as long. Yet, the feeling lingers that he left us too soon.

Always quick to greet one with a broad smile and a robust hug, Damu Smith, with his boundless energy, resembled a meteorite looking for a place to land. He was perpetually in motion. Damu traveled at warp speed and didn’t have much patience for those who only wanted to travel at the speed of light. There was always an air of urgency about him, because he didn’t know how long he would be on this earth. He didn’t know when he would come to the end of his dash.

Damu was a man of integrity. D.C. is a city where after shaking another person’s hand, you’re tempted to look down to make sure all of your fingers are intact. Yet, Damu, living in Washington, was able to transcend the culture of pin-stripped suits, business cards and selfishness and remain genuine.

He was also a visionary. Long before most of us had heard the terms environmental racism or environmental justice, Damu recognized the danger of people unknowingly being exposed to toxic waste. The communities targeted as dumping grounds were populated by people of color and the poor, the very people least able to defend themselves. But Damu defended them, first as a staffer for Greenpeace USA and later as founder of the National Black Environmental Justice Network.

He and other activists drew national attention to a polluted stretch of land between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, labeling it Cancer Alley. Petrochemical officials argue that they created jobs for local residents. But Damu and others argued that they caused cancer and other dreaded diseases and numerous studies support their view.

Writing for the Web site, SeeingBlack.com, investigative reporter Ron Nixon noted: “Nationally, a 1987 study by the United Church of Christ’s Commission on Racial Justice found Blacks were four times more likely to live in areas with toxic and hazardous waste sites than Whites. A 1992 investigation by the National Law Journal found that when government does enforce environmental regulations and fine companies, fines are much higher in White communities than in Black ones.

“In Louisiana, reports by the US Commission on Civil Rights and an unreleased report by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region Six, have raised concerns about the location of chemical plants and their possible impact on the health of their neighbors, who are primarily people of color.”

Prior to those findings, Damu was a lonely voice in the wilderness. But that was his style. Rather than follow a pack, Damu would rather take the road less traveled or, better yet, one not traveled at all.

Like Dr. King, the St. Louis native saw a connection between militarism and social injustice. And he became a leader of the anti-war movement, creating Black Voices for Peace. In fact, he was on a peace mission to Palestine preparing to lead a Palm Sunday march when he became ill and was rushed to a Bethlehem hospital.

It was not until he was at Providence Hospital in Washington that he was told he was in the most serious stage of colorectal cancer. I visited Damu as soon as I learned he was in the hospital. He was always one of my biggest supporters when I was editor of Emerge magazine, so I presented him with an anthology I had edited, “The Best of Emerge Magazine.” He thanked me and expressed appreciation for my finding time to visit him.

I told him to dispense with the formalities. He was – and is – a natural treasure, I assured him, and a visit to the hospital was nothing compared to how he had dedicated his life to uplifting his people.

When I left Providence Hospital, Damu was doing the same thing as when I entered – he was calling people on his cell phone, more concerned about others than his own health. I pleaded with him to get some rest and he promised that he would. I am not sure he did. Until his final days, he was still working, even participating in peace marches to his doctors’ chagrin. Damu was given three to six months to live, but he survived more than a year. But he always defied the odds. And Damu has the dash to prove it.