Dane County Executive Joe Parisi and Madison Mayor Paul Soglin have announced that Everett Mitchell and Carmen Porco are the winners of the combined City-County Humanitarian Award honoring the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The award winners, selected by the City-County Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission, are community members who reflect the values of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I was surprised and humbled at the same time when I found out that I was going to be the recipient of this award,” Mitchell tells Madison 365. “And then to have it partnered with Carmen Porco – who I think is one of the finest, strongest, and most passionate human beings that I have ever come across – made it even better. He has such a great commitment to justice that makes this award even more exciting.”
Mitchell, a well-known advocate for racial justice in Madison, was sworn in as a circuit court judge at the Dane County Courthouse this past summer. He was sworn in by Judge Paul Higginbotham, the first African-American judge elected to office in Dane County. Rev. Mitchell is the Senior Pastor of Christ the Solid Rock Baptist Church in Madison. Mitchell continues to provide pro bono law services to disenfranchised people of Dane County and volunteers to teach young people their legal rights and responsibilities.
Rev. Dr. Porco is a highly respected anti-poverty activist and longtime executive director of Housing Ministries of American Baptists in Wisconsin. He is the founder, developer, and executive director of the Northport, Packers, Greentree and Teutonia, and Plymoth Community Learning centers. Porco works with low-income communities in Wisconsin and over the past 40 years has helped low-income families obtain housing. He owns and operates housing units not as a profit center but as a neighborhood.
The two gentlemen join a list of very distinguished MLK Humanitarian Award winners here in Madison.
“I’ve seen that list and it is outstanding,” Mitchell says. “They are people who are the essence of self-sacrifice and commitment to the community and social change, as well.”
(Abigail Becker / Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism)
The City and County will present the award at the annual City-County Martin Luther King, Jr. Observance on Monday, Jan. 16 at the Overture Center Capital Theater in downtown Madison. The program will begin at 6 p.m.
Mitchell says that Dr. King has always been an inspiration to him and it is an honor to be receiving an award in his name.
“As a young kid, I never saw myself as going to college but during a trip to Atlanta somebody showed me the statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the Morehouse campus and it was of him pointing in a direction that captured my consciousness and imagination,” Mitchell says. “It made me feel like I had a dream or something to fight for.
“All of us are guided by the principles of the ‘beloved community’ and are ‘inescapably intertwined together in a single garment of destiny’ and know that ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,'” continued Mitchell, quoting Dr. King. “Those are not just statements but those are values that I have tried to embody and live out in everyday life.”
The City-County annual award is given to individuals who have made outstanding contributions and exemplified Dr. King’s non-violent philosophy.
“I’m just grateful to be a part of this group of people who are making Dane County a place that is not perfect, but making progress in many different areas,” Mitchell says. “Being the same age as Dr. King was when he was assassinated, it’s always a reminder that you can do so much more with your life. You don’t have to wait until you’re older to give your whole heart and your whole commitment at a younger age.”
