[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 24 (Monday, February 8, 2021)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 8539-8540]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-02676]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 24 / Monday, February 8, 2021 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 8539]]


                Proclamation 10146 of February 3, 2021

                
National Black History Month, 2021

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                This February, during Black History Month, I call on 
                the American people to honor the history and 
                achievements of Black Americans and to reflect on the 
                centuries of struggle that have brought us to this time 
                of reckoning, redemption, and hope.

                We have never fully lived up to the founding principles 
                of this Nation--that all people are created equal and 
                have the right to be treated equally throughout their 
                lives. But in the Biden-Harris Administration, we are 
                committed to fulfilling that promise for all Americans.

                I am proud to celebrate Black History Month with an 
                Administration that looks like America--one that 
                reflects the full talents and diversity of the American 
                people and that heralds many firsts, including the 
                first Black Vice President of the United States and the 
                first Black Secretary of Defense, among other firsts in 
                a cabinet that is comprised of more Americans of color 
                than any other in our history.

                It is long past time to confront deep racial inequities 
                and the systemic racism that continue to plague our 
                Nation. A knee to the neck of justice opened the eyes 
                of millions of Americans and launched a summer of 
                protest and stirred the Nation's conscience.

                A pandemic has further ripped a path of destruction 
                through every community in America, but we see its 
                acute devastation among Black Americans who are dying, 
                losing jobs, and closing businesses at disproportionate 
                rates in the dual crisis of the pandemic and the 
                economy.

                We saw how a broad coalition of Americans of every race 
                and background registered and voted--more people than 
                in any other election in our Nation's history--to heal 
                these wounds and unite and move forward as a Nation.

                But also less than 1 month after the attack on the 
                Capitol, on our very democracy, by a mob of 
                insurrectionists--of extremists and white 
                supremacists--a bookend of the last 4 years and the 
                hate that marched from the streets of Charlottesville, 
                and that shows we remain in a battle for the soul of 
                America.

                We must bring to our work a seriousness of purpose and 
                urgency. That is why we are putting our response to 
                COVID-19 on a war footing and marshalling every 
                resource we have to contain the pandemic, deliver 
                economic relief to millions of Americans who 
                desperately need it, and build back better than ever 
                before.

                That is why we are also launching a first-ever whole-
                government-approach to advancing racial justice and 
                equity across our Administration--in health care, 
                education, housing, our economy, our justice system, 
                and in our electoral process. We do so not only because 
                it is the right thing to do, but because it is the 
                smart thing to do, benefitting all of us in this 
                Nation.

                We do so because the soul of our Nation will be 
                troubled as long as systemic racism is allowed to 
                persist. It is corrosive. It is destructive. It is 
                costly. We are not just morally deprived because of 
                systemic racism, we are also less prosperous, less 
                successful, and less secure as a Nation.

[[Page 8540]]

                We must change. It will take time. But I firmly believe 
                the Nation is ready to make racial justice and equity 
                part of what we do today, tomorrow, and every day. I 
                urge my fellow Americans to honor the history made by 
                Black Americans and to continue the good and necessary 
                work to perfect our Union for every American.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., 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 February 2021 
                as National Black History Month. I call upon public 
                officials, educators, librarians, and all the people of 
                the United States to observe this month with 
                appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.

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

[FR Doc. 2021-02676
Filed 2-5-21; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3295-F1-P