Yesterday evening, Enough Co-Founder John Prendergast was presented with the nationally recognized Lyndon Baines Johnson Moral Courage Award by Holocaust Museum Houston for his commitment to ending violence and human rights abuses across Africa. The award, established in 1994 in memory of President Johnson, is given to individuals who exhibit moral courage, individual responsibility, and the willingness to take action against injustice
“John Prendergast has spent most of his adult life working to end genocide in our world, and as such, he epitomizes one of the vital missions of our Museum, which is to teach the dangers of hatred, prejudice, and apathy,” said museum chairman Michael S. Goldberg. “The world promised ‘never again’ after the Holocaust, but that has now become ‘again and again.’ Prendergast has traveled the world to argue that, now, enough is enough.”
NBC national news correspondent Janet Shamlian presented Prendergast with the award at last night’s annual museum dinner, themed “On Our Watch.” More than 700 people attended the event, including Houston Mayor Annise Parker and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.
Tribute video from the award ceremony
The Moral Courage Award recognized Prendergast’s many years dedicated to preventing and resolving conflict in Africa as co-founder of the Enough Project, director of African Affairs at the National Security Council, and a State Department special advisor under the Clinton administration. He has also worked for members of Congress, the United Nations, humanitarian aid agencies, human rights organizations, and think tanks, and he has written eight books on Africa.
At a particularly moving moment of the ceremony, Holocaust survivor Helen Colin thanked Prendergast on behalf of the Houston survivors. Colin lost her mother, father, sister, and brother in the Holocaust, and she told Prendergast, “As we sit here tonight, I can only think of how different my life with my family might have been if there had only been more people like John back in 1939 – more people willing to take a stand.”
Previous recipients of the LBJ Moral Courage Award include Senator John McCain, journalist Daniel Pearl, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Miep Gies, who helped hide Anne Frank and her family during the Holocaust.