Commentary: Farrakhan's valedictory?

CHICAGO, May 12 (UPI) -- Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan's weekend announcement of a new prostate cancer center named after him at historically black Howard University in Washington was not a valedictory.

The African-American Muslim minister, who survived a near-death battle with complications from treatment of the disease in 1999, looked hale and sounded hearty Sunday night. His remarks on the creation of the Louis Farrakhan Prostate Center Foundation, at a black-tie, fundraiser celebrating his 70th birthday at the Chicago Hilton and Towers Hotel, while poignant were far from a farewell.

"I feel that I'm just another atom in a universe of atoms and whatever I am is a gift from God," Farrakhan told the audience of about 2,000 who paid from $50 to $1,000 a ticket. "Human nature wants us to want to be accepted."

The kinder and gentler Farrakhan clearly reveled in the film and video clips highlighting his life that were projected on a giant ballroom screen, and enjoyed tributes by speakers from the Rev. Jesse Jackson to Princeton University's Cornel West. But humility reigned throughout the gala, dubbed "The Farrakhan Years: Yesterday, Today and Forever."

He said he had learned from his illness.

Farrakhan said after 1995's wildly successful Million Man March, which was followed by a controversial tour of the Muslim world, he thought, "My job is done." Farrakhan's visits to Iran and Libya drew criticism from other black leaders who accused him of squandering political momentum generated by the march.

But how many lives might have been saved had the looming health issue of prostate cancer been raised on that bright October day when the attention of the nation and world media were riveted on the men standing on the Mall.

If it took a killer disease to bring about Farrakhan's epiphany, that's what it took. At 70, he remains a spellbinding speaker and he spoke as he has many times of Islam's respect for the prophets of the Judaic and Christian faiths.

Jackson praised Farrakhan for opening his private life to the public to serve as an example.

"We came to know each other. He was true to his faith, he was true to his God. He knew he had another mission and that pulled him through," said Dr. Alfred Goldson, lead surgeon of the medical team that performed life-saving procedures on Farrakhan at Howard University Medical Center. "He's a strong black man."

The cancer foundation, launched officially at a health fair at Mosque Maryam on Saturday, provides free prostate screening for men of all races who are without health insurance. Many men wait until the disease has progressed too far before seeking medical help.

An estimated 33 million Americans have no health coverage and are vulnerable to financial ruin if they develop a catastrophic illness like cancer that can be treated and cured in its early stages.

Prostate cancer is one the worst killers of blacks, killing more African-American men each year than the number that died in the Vietnam War. About one in six men screened for the disease will test positive and half of those 133,000 will be black males. More than 32,000 men will die of prostate cancer this year.

"It's very ugly," Cornel West, professor of African-American studies and a prostate cancer survivor, told United Press International.

"My brother just had it two months ago. Dr. Ben Carson (director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University Children's Center) had it ... Andrew Young ... black men must get their PSAs (prostate specific antigen) checked. Absolutely."

When Farrakhan was diagnosed with prostate cancer 12 years ago, he was 58 years old and had not had a prostate examination for 16 years.

"To use his birthday as an occasion for this is an act of service, but is consistent with his profound deep love for black people," West said.