{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://lacyclay.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/statement-congressman-wm-lacy-clay-d-missouri-regarding-police-murder", "STATEMENT BY  CONGRESSMAN WM. LACY CLAY (D) MISSOURI  REGARDING THE POLICE MURDER OF GEORGE FLOYD", "2020-05-30", "2020", "2020-05", "Democrat", "House", "MO", "William Clay", "C001049", "lacyclay.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "STATEMENT BY \nCONGRESSMAN WM. LACY CLAY (D) MISSOURI\nREGARDING THE POLICE MURDER OF GEORGE FLOYD\n\nST. LOUIS, MO  Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay (D) Missouri made a special statement today regarding the police murder of George Floyd and the systematic racism and excessive force by some local police officers which led to another tragic death of an unarmed, Black citizen.\n\nThe following are excerpts from the Congressman's live remarks delivered at the Urban League's Drive-thru Food Distribution community event in North St. Louis County.\n=============================================================================================\n\nFirst, I want to extend my deepest sympathies to George Floyd's family. It's clear that he was a beloved man who lived his life for others. Like most of you, I am angry beyond words about his murder by a Minneapolis police officer.\n\nThat videotape taken by a brave bystander has revealed to White Americans what Black Americans have witnessed for decades\nRacially driven, excessive force applied by some police officers who view Black citizens as something less than human.\n\nThe video doesn't lie, and the whole world is watching.\n\nGeorge Floyd was not resisting arrest.\n\nHe was resisting strangulation.\n\nAnd while the police officer who pressed his knee into Mr. Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes has been arrested and charged with murder and manslaughter\n\nThe three other officers, who stood by and did absolutely nothing, and the medic who made no effort to save his life, must be charged as accessories to this tragic crime.\n====\n\nGeorge Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery , Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner and our own Mike Brown too. The list of broken black bodies at the hands of local law enforcement keeps growing.\n\nAnd the hate and systematic racism that allows this violence to keep happening has never been fully confronted.\n\nWe need full Justice Department Patterns & Practices and Civil Rights Investigations in Minneapolis.\n\nI hope they result in the same kind of sweeping consent decree that we achieved in Fergusonwhich totally transformed the local government and the police department.\n\nUnless White America finally sees, respects, and is willing to defend our humanity as Black peopleas much as their own\n\nOur country will never healand our nation will never be whole.\n\nMy question to my white brothers and sisters is just this\n\nWhen do the promises of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness apply equally to people who look like me, instead of just people who look like you?\n\nAnd I want to speak directly to my white allies in the progressive movement who regularly expect Black leaders to stand with you to advance your core agenda\n\nWill you stand with us now, or will you remain silent in the face of this evil?\n\nBlack Americans are sick and tired of being systematically deprived of our humanity and dignity by a deeply engrained culture of racially driven excessive force by some police officers who repeatedly make it clear that some lives are worth less than other lives in this country.\n\nThat is an ugly, inescapable truth that every American needs to hear, and then commit to change.\n\nIf George Floyd had been white,\n\nWould he have died on the street like an animal, begging for mercy while he struggled to breathe?\n\nYou already know the answer.\n\nSo, I pray for George Floyd and his family, and for the soul of our nation as well.\n\nI hope the pain that we feel today can lead us to a future where systematic racism is replaced by universal respect and equality for all.\n\nVIDEO LINK OF CONGRESSMAN CLAY's STATEMENT\n\nhttps://www.facebook.com/CongressmanClayMO1/videos/650126302237334/", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://lacyclay.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/statement-congressman-wm-lacy-clay-d-missouri-regarding-police-murder"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 469.8203136213124, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}