{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://foster.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/foster-calls-for-justice-for-laquan-mcdonald", "Foster Calls For Justice For Laquan McDonald", "2015-12-02", "2015", "2015-12", "Democrat", "House", "IL", "Bill Foster", "F000454", "foster.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, DC Today, Congressman Bill Foster spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives to call for justice for Laquan McDonald.\nVideo of Fosters speech can be found here.\nText of Fosters remarks as prepared is below:\nMr. Speaker, weve seen an uproar over the death of Laquan McDonald, and rightfully so. \nBut sadly the injustice for Laquan goes much deeper. \nLaquan McDonald suffered more tragedy in his short life than anyone should have to bear.\nAs a child, Laquan was abused at home. He was then handed over to the Department of Children and Family Services where he was sexually molested not just once, but in two different foster homes. \nAt 17 years old, Laquan was shot 16 times by an on-duty police officer.\nEven after death the injustice continued  it took 400 days before the officer who shot Laquan faced charges. \nWe should all be ashamed of how our society failed Laquan McDonald.\nMr. speaker I rise today to remind my colleagues that black lives matter, that Laquan McDonalds life matters, and justice matters.\nWe should all be working to ensure that Laquan gets the justice that he has been denied for so long and to end the cycle of poverty, abuse, and injustice that shaped his life. \nThank you and I yield back.\n###", 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": ["http://foster.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/foster-calls-for-justice-for-laquan-mcdonald"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.9392669200897217, "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"}