[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 12 (Wednesday, January 20, 1999)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 2991-2992]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-1374]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 12 / Wednesday, January 20, 1999 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 2991]]


                Proclamation 7163 of January 15, 1999

                
Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday, 1999

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                January 15 would have marked the 70th birthday of Dr. 
                Martin Luther King, Jr., a man of great vision and 
                moral purpose whose dream for our Nation set into 
                motion such powerful, sweeping changes that their 
                impact is still being felt today. While he was taken 
                from us too soon, we still have with us the gifts of 
                his vision, convictions, eloquence, and example. We 
                still hear the echo of his voice telling us that 
                ``Life's most persistent and urgent question is, `What 
                are you doing for others?'''

                We know what Dr. King did for others. He energized and 
                mobilized a generation of Americans, black and white, 
                to join in the struggle for civil rights, to respond to 
                violence, hatred, and unjust incarceration with the 
                spirit of peace, love, and righteousness. He taught us 
                that we could not claim America as the land of justice, 
                freedom, and equality as long as millions of our 
                citizens continually and systematically faced 
                discriminatory and oppressive treatment. He challenged 
                us to recognize that the fundamental rights of all 
                Americans are forever interconnected, for ``we are 
                caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in 
                a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one 
                directly, affects all indirectly.''

                Martin Luther King, Jr., awakened America's conscience 
                to the immorality of racism. He was the driving force 
                behind the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the 
                Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 
                1968. For African Americans, this landmark legislation 
                meant that the opportunity for a quality education 
                would no longer be impossible, the levers of the voting 
                booth would no longer be out of reach, and the purchase 
                of a dream home would no longer be unattainable. 
                Millions of Americans--of every race and background and 
                culture--live brighter lives today because of Martin 
                Luther King, Jr.

                Dr. King's dream of unity for America did not die with 
                him. Today, as our Nation becomes increasingly 
                multiracial and multiethnic, his compelling vision is 
                more important than ever, and the means for realizing 
                it are now within our reach. This past year, as part of 
                my Initiative on Race, Americans across the country 
                participated in thousands of honest and open 
                conversations about race in a sincere effort to heal 
                our divisions and move toward genuine reconciliation. 
                We learned much about the roots of prejudice; but more 
                important, we learned much about how to overcome it. In 
                community after community, in every field of endeavor 
                from sports and education to business and religion, we 
                discovered organizations and programs that have 
                succeeded in bridging gaps between people of different 
                races and cultures. These promising practices offer us 
                both realistic guidelines for everyday action and 
                genuine hope that we can respect one another's 
                differences and embrace the values that unite us.

                Now it is our turn to answer the question, ``What are 
                you doing for others?'' As part of our response, each 
                year since 1994 we have made the Martin Luther King, 
                Jr., Federal Holiday a national day of service, a day 
                on which to honor Dr. King's legacy through service 
                projects across our country. Instead of taking a day 
                off, millions of our fellow Americans respond to the 
                needs of their communities, through activities like 
                tutoring children,

[[Page 2992]]

                sheltering the homeless, making schoolyards safer, or 
                making public parks more inviting.

                Let us make this year's observance the beginning of a 
                broader effort to improve our communities and the lives 
                of our fellow Americans, to make the personal choices 
                and take the personal actions that will bridge the 
                gaps--racial and otherwise--that keep us from becoming 
                the people we were meant to be. Working together, 
                joining our hearts and our hands, we will succeed in 
                building One America for the 21st century and in 
                fulfilling the dream of Martin Luther King, Jr.

                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 Monday, January 18, 1999, as 
                the Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday. I call 
                upon all Americans to observe this occasion and to 
                honor Dr. King's legacy with appropriate programs, 
                ceremonies, and activities.

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

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 99-1374
Filed 1-19-99; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P