Asha Moore-Smith - Taking Charge Against Colorectal Cancer Conference

Asha Moore-Smith is the daughter of educator Lynn Moore and full-time activist Damu Smith. Asha is a singer songwriter, performance artist, actress, and activist born and raised in Washington DC.  She grew up in the protest and civil rights tradition traveling the country with her father, Damu Smith, who was a leader of local, national and global human rights and environmental justice organizations, such as the National Black Environmental Justice Network, Greenpeace USA, Operation PUSH, the National Alliance against Racial and Political Violence, the American Friends Service Committee, National Black Independent Political Party, and Black Voices for Peace, for which he was the founder. May 5, 2006, Asha lost her father to stage-four colon cancer when she was 13 years old. She also watched him passionately use his activism to form the Spirit of Hope Campaign to highlight, educate and fight against racial and economic disparities in the healthcare system that impact access to affordable, quality care that he, and so many others have experienced. Asha has turned the pain of losing her father at a young age into purpose by committing to sharing her father’s story and publicize racial health disparities, especially related to colon cancer. This is why being a part of the Taking Action Against Colon Cancer Conference and strategizing new ways to increase screening rates among the uninsured has become a top priority among her life’s work.