to be a part of an investigation of human rights violations occurring in Louisiana,’ says Damu Smith of Greenpeace.

From all appearances, acclaimed author Alice Walker is not often snapped by photographers plying the celebrity party circuit. Read The Same River Twice: Honoring the Difficult, her 1991 account of the movie adaptation of her novel The Color Purple, and it’s obvious Walker relishes the quiet beauty of her northern California home and needs a good reason to leave – or a good cause. In many circles, the writer is known as much for her politics and her activism as for her writing, and it is for both activism and a good cause that Walker heads to Louisiana this weekend.

  Walker, along with actors Mike Farrell (M*A*S*H, Providence) and Alfre Woodard (Down in the Delta), poets Haki Mahubuti and Sonya Sanchez, Reps. Maxine Waters and John Conyers, and others are joining community activists from southern Louisiana in a tour of this state’s infamous "Cancer Alley" and New Orleans’ Agriculture Street landfill. "This is an opportunity for a group of highly visible public figures to be a part of an investigation of human rights violations occurring in Louisiana," says Damu Smith, who coordinated the effort for Greenpeace. "Up and down the river, people are literally sick and dying from a range of very lethal toxic chemicals. We wanted to organize an event that would bring more of a media spotlight and put public attention on the public health crisis that has been created."

  Smith, who has worked with Greenpeace for the past five years on environmental justice issues in Louisiana, is unabashed in his strategy of using public figures to attract attention to his cause, but insists this weekend’s event is not just a publicity stunt. "This is just the beginning," Smith says, pointing out that he and Greenpeace have played major roles in providing support for communities in the "Cancer Alley" region (including involvement in the Shintech and Agriculture Street cases). "It is our plan to encourage education, organizing and mobilization among the people who take part in this, to put pressure on government agencies and corporations. We’ve also taken this to the United Nations."

  Smith believes that what is compelling Walker and others to travel to Louisiana this weekend is the event’s focus – how the environmental justice issues of "Cancer Alley" are affecting the children who live there. "We sent out a package that was pretty comprehensive," says Smith. "The photos are quite compelling – children on a playground in front of [a plant in] Norco, a young child on a respirator. As you move around the country … even around New Orleans, people don’t know what’s going on up river. They have no idea about the suffering of little children in those areas. We’re really going to showcase what’s happening – the cancers, the skin rashes, the rampant respiratory problems."

  The health problems of people – mostly poor or people of color – who live in the shadows of Louisiana’s industrial corridor have been well documented, even garnering the national spotlight from time to time. But always, the cameras go away and the courts and government agencies demand clear cause-and-effect evidence from situations that are murky at best. "Right now, the burden of proof is on the people, not the companies," Smith points out. "The policy is that they’re willing to sacrifice people’s lives and health in the face of inconclusive evidence and uncertainty. I say we have to take action when the evidence points to even the possibility of harm."

  "We’re advocating alternative development strategies. We don’t have to live with all the toxic chemicals that we live with," says Smith of Greenpeace’s goals. "We want to reduce emissions as long as people are forced to live in close proximity to [plants and factories]. Plus, people are complaining about the noise, explosions, accidents, traffic and ongoing stack emissions. There are a host of things that diminish the quality of life in these communities, not just things that cause cancer." .