[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 218 (Monday, December 21, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1196-E1197]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  THE UNFINISHED BUSINESS OF CONGRESS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. KWANZA HALL

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, December 21, 2020

  Mr. HALL. I rise today to include in the Record a statement on behalf 
of my predecessor John Lewis and constituents of Georgia's Fifth 
Congressional District. We have some unfinished business, and I call on 
Congress to:
  1. expunge all records for nonviolent offenders impacted by the war 
on drugs;
  2. permit those individuals who were previously incarcerated to vote 
and end the practice of disenfranchisement on these bases;
  3. make it more difficult for police to escape accountability when 
the rights of law-abiding Americans are violated;
  4. pass legislation that once and for all bans the box and prevents 
employment discrimination against those previously incarcerated 
individuals;
  5. establish the John Lewis Institute with an allocation of money 
from Congress to support this endeavor;
  6. support the Prince Hall Masons Building;
  7. support the renovation and the restoration of Dr. King's office; 
and
  8. support funding for the John Lewis TOD loop which can be a 
national Pilot and model similar to our esteemed Beltline, without 
displacing long-time residents.
  I challenge my colleagues in this body to pass these pieces of 
legislation and deliver on the unfinished business of Georgia's Fifth 
Congressional District.
  I would also like to take a moment to thank leadership in the House 
and their staff for welcoming me with open arms but more importantly 
for their leadership in these very challenging times. Their commitment 
to getting results on behalf of American people is laudable, and the 
work over the last few years to keep this giant ship on course and to 
get it back on normal course.
  We also need to adapt to the changing times. The post-World War II 
economy is not coming back. The gig economy is here to stay.
  The gig economy is upon us and to remain competitive we have to 
invest in and reinvest in strategies of empowering people at all 
stations in life to be their best selves and own their own futures.
  As more Americans choose independent and flexible work, this coverage 
gap will only get bigger, which is why our lawmakers need to update our 
safety net as soon as possible.
  That is why I am proud that today's Coronavirus relief bill delivers 
$900 billion in much-needed aid but this is not enough. We need to pass 
another round of stimulus checks and we need to ensure that state and 
local governments--which are at the forefront and bearing the impact of 
paying for this pandemic--are reimbursed.
  And, I would like to close on a point of personal privilege.
  I have a picture of a man who was a straight-A student at George 
Washington Carver High School in Montgomery, Alabama who was pushed out 
of the educational system because he chose to stand up for justice and 
equality for all in the 1960s.
  He was a peaceful and law-abiding student who organized hundreds of 
other students to participate in the Selma to Montgomery March. It was 
only a few years ago that I found out who he was. I was reflecting with 
my mother on her photo collection from the civil rights movement one 
day, and to my astonishment she stated that the peaceful protestor 
being dragged on the ground by a police officer in 1965 was my father.
  His name was Leon Hall and he was the youngest staff member of the 
Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and aide to Dr. Martin Luther 
King, from 1963 to 1968. He was a foot soldier in the fight for justice 
along with Hosea Williams, who stood on the Edmund Pettus bridge next 
my predecessor John Lewis. All three of them were beaten, verbally 
abused, and illegally incarcerated countless times, just as we see 
today with Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and others. This 
has been an unfortunate reality in the U.S. and around the world for 
millions of black and brown people for far too long--injustice and 
unlawful treatment by those responsible for upholding the law has to 
end and it has to end now.
  While I have seen this picture for my entire life, before that 
conversation with my mother I never realized that the individual in it 
was my father.
  The picture was taken in 1974 and showed my father. Leon Hall, a 
board member of the

[[Page E1197]]

Southern Regional Council, testifying before this very body about the 
issues related to education and students being pushed out of education 
systems, much as he was. Our Majority Whip Representative Clyburn and 
Representative Bennie Thompson were also board members of the SRC at 
that time.
  The body of work they established at that time is the scholarship we 
now refer to as the school to prison pipeline. Some of America's 
greatest talents, our most brilliant minds--capable of creating 
inventions, innovations, or great companies that can employ thousands 
and provide cures to ailments--are languishing in prison due to an 
unjust legal system. Many of them were brutalized on a traffic stop or 
walking innocently down the street.
  I rise to bring attention to the need for justice reform and to 
explain the import of why I support justice ref arm projects, like the 
last prisoner project, the innocence project, banning the box for 
reentry to work. I support the overall evolution of the way we work, 
who works, and how we contribute and provide value to a future society 
that truly is just for all.
  Young people who fill prisons should be empowered to create and build 
our companies as knowledgebased workers with or without a college 
degree doing jobs that require new tech skills that they have, and 
those in jails for nonviolent offenses should be released and given 
training to do the same. That's why I support the MOREs act and SAFE 
act. But the critical component of this is the categorical expungement 
of records and wholesale investment in the creation of companies with, 
for, and by citizens reentering the economy--companies that will pay 
taxes and keep people off the streets. The SAFE Act should have 
minority- and women-led financial institutions at the center of the 
transition that we need to move our country forward in a uniformed 
fashion.
  We need a comprehensive solution to end these injustices. I believe 
in second chances and the power of redemption. People returning from 
incarceration should have opportunities and pathways to succeed and 
contribute to society in a meaningful way without stigma from the 
wrongs they've done in the past. This same principle is applicable to 
Congress too.
  I would end on the following observation. The country was built on 
the backs of African descendants of slaves, indigenous people and other 
immigrants including Chinese, Irish, Italians, Mexican and Central 
Americans, those from South Asia and people from all over the world. We 
need a country that functions without regard to where your ancestors 
come from. We need opportunity mindful of that. We need a justice 
system mindful of that. Only then can we begin to end the divisions of 
our country and begin to unite.
  Tough times bring out the worse or the best in people and we need to 
standup and ensure that we not let the COVID crisis continue to bring 
out the worse but rather take the next few weeks of this administration 
and first 100 days to 6 months to get something right in this country 
and get the country back on course.

                          ____________________