[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 82 (Wednesday, May 12, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H2209]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               ENSURING PAST INJUSTICES ARE NOT FORGOTTEN

  (Ms. BOURDEAUX asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Ms. BOURDEAUX. Madam Speaker, as we continue to grapple with the 
issues of race and justice in our country, I rise today to share a 
story of tragedy and progress from my own district.
  More than a century ago, Charlie Hale, a young African-American male 
in Lawrenceville, Georgia, was abducted, brought into the city square, 
strung up, and shot simply because of the color of his skin. No arrests 
were ever made in his murder.
  Decades passed. Charlie's name was forgotten, and in a cruel twist of 
irony, a Confederate monument was erected mere steps away from the site 
of his murder. And so it stood for decades, until now.
  That Confederate monument stands no longer. It was removed following 
our country's long-overdue racial reckoning this past year. In its 
place will stand a memorial to the life and death of Charlie Hale.
  I want to recognize the leadership of Marlene Taylor-Crawford and her 
work with the Gwinnett Remembrance Coalition Project, the Gwinnett 
Historical Restoration and Preservation Board, and all the activists 
who pushed for this change for years.
  The dirt where his blood was spilled will be collected and displayed 
in perpetuity in Gwinnett County, as well as the Legacy Museum and the 
National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery.
  I want to be clear: Even more than a century later, this does not 
make things right by Charlie Hale or those who loved him and lost him. 
But it does take an important step to ensure the injustices of the past 
are not forgotten.

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