[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 12 (Thursday, January 18, 1996)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 1207-1208]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-621]



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                         Presidential Documents 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 12 / Thursday, January 18, 1996 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 1207]]

                Proclamation 6861 of January 12, 1996

                
Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday, 1996

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Our country's motto, ``E Pluribus Unum''--out of many, 
                we are one--charges us to find common values among our 
                varied experience and to forge a national identity out 
                of our extraordinary diversity. Our great leaders have 
                been defined not only by their actions, but also by 
                their ability to inspire people toward a unity of 
                purpose. Today we honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 
                who focused attention on the segregation that poisoned 
                our society and whose example moved our Nation to 
                embrace a new standard of openness and inclusion.

                From Montgomery to Birmingham, from the Lincoln 
                Memorial to Memphis, Dr. King led us to see the great 
                contradiction between our founders' declaration that 
                ``all men are created equal'' and the daily reality of 
                oppression endured by African Americans. His words have 
                become such a part of our moral fabric that we may 
                forget that only a generation ago, children of 
                different races were legally forbidden to attend the 
                same schools, that segregated buses and trains traveled 
                our neighborhoods, and that African Americans were 
                often prevented from registering to vote. Echoing 
                Abraham Lincoln's warning that a house divided against 
                itself cannot stand, Dr. King urged, ``We must learn to 
                live together as brothers, or we will perish as 
                fools.''

                Martin Luther King, Jr.'s call for American society to 
                truly reflect the ideals on which it was built 
                succeeded in galvanizing a political and moral 
                consensus that led to legislation guaranteeing all our 
                citizens the right to vote, to obtain housing, to enter 
                places of public accommodation, and to participate in 
                all aspects of American life without regard to race, 
                gender, background, or belief.

                But despite the great accomplishments of the Civil 
                Rights Movement, we have not yet torn down every 
                obstacle to equality. Too many of our cities are still 
                racially segregated, and remaining barriers to 
                education and opportunity have caused an array of 
                social problems that disproportionately affect African 
                Americans. As a result, blacks and whites often see the 
                world in strikingly different ways and too often view 
                each other through a lens of mistrust or fear.

                Today we face a choice between the dream of racial 
                harmony that Martin Luther King, Jr., described and a 
                deepening of the rift that divides the races in 
                America. We must have the faith and wisdom that Dr. 
                King preached and the convictions he lived by if we are 
                to make this a time for healing and progress--and each 
                of us must play a role. For only by sitting down with 
                our neighbors in the workplace and classroom, reaching 
                across racial lines in our places of worship and 
                community centers, and examining our own most deep-
                seated beliefs, can we have the honest conversations 
                that will enable us to understand the different ways we 
                each experience the challenges of modern life. This is 
                the peaceful process of reconciliation that Dr. King 
                fought and died for, and we must do all we can to live 
                and teach his lesson. 
                
[[Page 1208]]


                NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the 
                United States of America, by virtue of the authority 
                vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United 
                States, do hereby proclaim January 15, 1996, as the 
                Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday. I call upon 
                the people of the United States to observe this 
                occasion with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and 
                activities.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twelfth day of January, in the year of our Lord 
                nineteen hundred and ninety-six, and of the 
                Independence of the United States of America the two 
                hundred and twentieth.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 96-621
Filed 1-17-96; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P