[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 17 (Friday, January 25, 2019)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 365-366]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-00222]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 84 , No. 17 / Friday, January 25, 2019 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 365]]


                Proclamation 9839 of January 18, 2019

                
Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday, 2019

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                One hundred years after President Abraham Lincoln 
                issued the Emancipation Proclamation, the great 
                Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., took to the steps 
                of the Lincoln Memorial and shared his vision of an 
                America lifted from the ``quicksands of racial 
                injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.'' His 
                extraordinary message that momentous day in August of 
                1963 stirred to action Americans of every race and 
                creed, and it continues to reverberate in the hearts 
                and minds of patriotic citizens across our great land. 
                Today, as we pause to mark the life and legacy of Dr. 
                Martin Luther King, Jr., we recommit ourselves to the 
                advancement of equality and justice for all Americans, 
                and to the full realization of his worthy dream.

                In the United States of America, every citizen should 
                have the opportunity to build a better and brighter 
                future, and, as President, I am committed to expanding 
                opportunity for all Americans. We have added more than 
                5 million new jobs to the economy over the past 2 years 
                and unemployment rates for African Americans, Hispanic 
                Americans, Asian Americans, and Americans without a 
                high school degree have reached record lows.

                Importantly, we have also worked tirelessly to reform 
                our Nation's criminal justice system, so that those who 
                have been incarcerated and paid their debt to society 
                are given a second chance at life. Last year, I was 
                proud to sign into law the First Step Act, which will 
                prepare inmates to successfully rejoin society and 
                effect commonsense reforms to make our justice system 
                fairer for all Americans. Through recidivism reduction 
                programs that provide vocational training, education, 
                and mental healthcare, non-violent offenders can have a 
                chance at redemption and an opportunity to fulfill a 
                better destiny.

                We have also made great strides as a Nation, but we 
                acknowledge that more work must be done for, in the 
                words of Dr. King, ``justice to roll down like waters 
                and righteousness like a mighty stream.'' United as one 
                American family, we will not rest--and we will never be 
                satisfied--until the promise of this great Nation is 
                accessible to each American in each new generation. 
                More than half a century after Dr. King's March on 
                Washington for Jobs and Freedom, our Nation is mindful 
                of its past, and we look forward to the future with 
                unwavering optimism, inspired by the legacy of Dr. King 
                and informed by his wisdom and vision. May the memory 
                of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the efforts we have 
                made to fully effectuate his dream, remind us that 
                faith and love unite us together as one great American 
                family.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the 
                United States of America, by virtue of the authority 
                vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the 
                United States, do hereby proclaim January 21, 2019, as 
                the Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday. On this 
                day, I encourage all Americans to recommit themselves 
                to Dr. King's dream by engaging in acts of service to 
                others, to their community, and to our Nation.

[[Page 366]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                eighteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand nineteen, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                third.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2019-00222
Filed 1-24-19; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3295-F9-P