Markel Hutchins

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The Reverend Markel Hutchins is an American civil rights leader and a minister at Philadelphia Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. He is also Chairman and CEO of Markel Hutchins Ministries. In 1997 he established the Atlanta-based National Youth Connection, which has been characterized as a contemporary Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. Hutchins is a former Methodist pastor who received an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity degree. After leaving the African Methodist Episcopal Church he affiliated with numerous Baptist denominations. [1]

On February 20, 2008, Hutchins announced his bid to unseat 11-term congressman and civil rights luminary, John Lewis. (http://www.markelhutchins.com/) Hutchins has cited the "winds of change" that are blowing across the country principally resulting from Senator Barack Obama's presidential bid. Hutchins claims that Lewis' "political indebtedness" to Bill and Hillary Clinton and his disconnectedness from the pulse of his constituents, who voted overwhelmingly for Obama in the presidential primary despite Lewis' obstinate support of Clinton's White House bid, was the mitigating factor that swayed his decision to challenge Lewis. However, Hutchins maintains that his primary reason for challenging Lewis is the 22-year incumbent's propensity for lending his name and iconic status to special interests and their causes around the country rather than focusing on the acute needs of his own congressional district. Specific examples of this dereliction of duty include Lewis' failure to secure resources for his district's massive infrastructure needs. In a January 28, 2008 article, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted that in the midst of Atlanta’s critical sewer and water pipe crisis, "In the $555 billion spending bill that President Bush signed last month, Georgia received just $1.6 million in federal "earmarks" from a fund that helps local governments improve sewer systems and replace aging water pipes. An analysis shows that 33 states received more funding, including far smaller ones such as West Virginia, Indiana and Kentucky." (http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro/stories/2008/01/27/congdrought_0128.html)

"Rev. Markel," as he refers to himself, was born in Decatur, Georgia, and is the youngest of three children. Hutchins is a product of DeKalb County, Georgia schools and a 1995 graduate of Stone Mountain High School. While in high school, Markel was the co-captain of the basketball team and led the school choir. In fact, he was the first African American to serve as president of the student government/council in the ninety-year history of the school. The city of Stone Mountain is infamous as a Ku Klux Klan stronghold. Upon graduation, Hutchins enrolled in Morehouse College where he was active in local civil rights causes and volunteered with Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, Congressman John Lewis, and several other political campaigns. [2]

Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. Most recently, he has stepped down from his post as CEO of the National Youth Connection. In 2007, Hutchins accused Andrew Young of using his status as a civil rights leader to defend the business practices of Wal-Mart.[3]