Elijah Cummings: “It gives me great honor this evening to talk about my good friend and mentor, former Congressman Parren Mitchell. I said…”

“It gives me great honor this evening to talk about my good friend and mentor, former Congressman Parren Mitchell. I said today at his memorial service that Parren Mitchell was without a doubt a man of great humility. He was a mentor of mine; and many, many years ago we came in contact with each other. One of the things that he made clear was that being in elected office is not about seeking to be a celebrity. It must be about service. He was one who made it his business to serve his constituents to the nth degree. If you were to ride around the 7th Congressional District, much of which is in the inner city of Baltimore, you would hear people, from presidents of corporations to the folks working in the markets to the bank tellers, call him PJ. They called him PJ not out of disrespect. They called him PJ because of their love for him and because of his humble spirit. It was not unusual for Parren Mitchell to show up at a church or show up at a funeral or show up at somebody's Eagle Scout ceremony. He was the kind of guy who spent his lifetime trying to lift up other people.”