A Man in Full

I’m on a quotation kick thanks to Professor Lowenstein’s white paper. There is an entire room in my house hand-painted with antiqued quotations on the walls, in fancy shapes like a question (authority), circles talking about what makes the world go around (passion) and a kitchen utensil pondering what to do when you come upon a fork in the road (take it.)

As quotes go, national Bush-Cheney leader and former State Party Vice Chairman Mario Rodriquez made a strong one today. With the San Francisco Chronicle’s news of a potential entry in next year’s race for California Attorney General, Republicans are faced with a fork in the road. Consider Los Angeles attorney and Bush administration war crimes prosecutor, Pierre Prosper. About Ambassador Prosper, Mario said “Any minority that looks at his credentials and looks at him has to be proud. That definitely shows how open the party is to all people.” Prosper, 42, is black, first generation American born, conservative like the President and a defender of women, the victimized and the most vulnerable in society.

How do I know? Have you seen the movie Hotel Rwanda?

A colleague today said he hadn’t watched the picture show because the atrocities would be too hard to see… and then to try to forget. I’ll bet the Hollywood version of Rwandan Genocide is mild compared to Ambassador Prosper’s memories. The bonus features of that Hotel Rwanda DVD can’t convey the stench of death that was the killing fields of Africa.

Pierre Prosper was the lead prosecutor who sought (and won) convictions on behalf of the U.S., the U.N. and more than a million Tutsis who deserve justice. The first to succeed in obtaining convictions under the Genocide Convention of 1948, Prosper was also the first to seek and obtain international agreement that rape is a crime against humanity -- something women have known since the beginning of time. Prosper has convicted the perpetrators of rape, murder and mayhem in Compton and Inglewood, in California and around the globe.

His reward for these good deeds???

President George W. Bush appointed (and the U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed) California’s own Prosper for a cushy Ambassadorial job at the State Department. Except that it wasn’t. 9-11 happened, Al Qaeda reared its ugly head, Saddam Hussein further terrorized another population. U.S. Ambassador At-Large for War Crimes Issues, Pierre Prosper, was on the front lines for all of these events, creating order where there was chaos, developing Rules of Law where there was anarchy, comforting victims where there was only pain and absolute destruction.

First Lady Abigail Adams believed “we have too many high-sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.” I applaud Pierre Prosper’s willingness to take action. I applaud his willingness to take the fork in the road. And I applaud his willingness to travel from Compton through Rwanda to Washington, D.C. and full circle home again. Once his journey brings him back to California, we will all know he is a man in full.