[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 23 (Thursday, February 3, 2022)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 6397-6399]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-02456]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 23 / Thursday, February 3, 2022 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 6397]]


                Proclamation 10337 of January 31, 2022

                
National Black History Month, 2022

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Each February, National Black History Month serves as 
                both a celebration and a powerful reminder that Black 
                history is American history, Black culture is American 
                culture, and Black stories are essential to the ongoing 
                story of America--our faults, our struggles, our 
                progress, and our aspirations. Shining a light on Black 
                history today is as important to understanding 
                ourselves and growing stronger as a Nation as it has 
                ever been. That is why it is essential that we take 
                time to celebrate the immeasurable contributions of 
                Black Americans, honor the legacies and achievements of 
                generations past, reckon with centuries of injustice, 
                and confront those injustices that still fester today.

                Our Nation was founded on an idea: that all of us are 
                created equal and deserve to be treated with equal 
                dignity throughout our lives. It is a promise we have 
                never fully lived up to but one that we have never, 
                ever walked away from. The long shadows of slavery, Jim 
                Crow, and redlining--and the blight of systemic racism 
                that still diminishes our Nation today--hold America 
                back from reaching our full promise and potential. But 
                by facing those tragedies openly and honestly and 
                working together as one people to deliver on America's 
                promise of equity and dignity for all, we become a 
                stronger Nation--a more perfect version of ourselves.

                Across the generations, countless Black Americans have 
                demonstrated profound moral courage and resilience to 
                help shape our Nation for the better. Today, Black 
                Americans lead industries and movements for change, 
                serve our communities and our Nation at every level, 
                and advance every field across the board, including 
                arts and sciences, business and law, health and 
                education, and many more. In the face of wounds and 
                obstacles older than our Nation itself, Black Americans 
                can be seen in every part of our society today, 
                strengthening and uplifting all of America.

                Vice President Harris and I are deeply committed to 
                advancing equity, racial justice, and opportunity for 
                Black Americans as we continue striving to realize 
                America's founding promise. That began by building a 
                Federal Government that looks like America: including 
                the first Black Secretary of Defense, the first Black 
                woman to head the Office of Management and Budget, the 
                first Black man to lead the Environmental Protection 
                Agency, the first Black woman to lead the Department of 
                Housing and Urban Development in more than 40 years, 
                the first Black chair of the White House Council of 
                Economic Advisors, a Black Ambassador representing 
                America at the United Nations, and the first Black and 
                South Asian Vice President in our history. We have been 
                proud to appoint accomplished Black Americans to serve 
                in a vast array of roles across our Administration. I 
                am prouder still to have already nominated eight Black 
                women to serve as Federal appellate judges--matching in 
                just 1 year the total number of Black women who have 
                ever served on Federal appeals courts.

                My Administration has worked hard to reverse decades of 
                underinvestment in Black communities, schools, and 
                businesses. Both the American Rescue Plan and the 
                Bipartisan Infrastructure Law are making historic 
                investments in Black America--from vaccine shots in 
                arms to checks in families' pockets

[[Page 6398]]

                and tax cuts for working families with children to a 
                landmark $5.8 billion investment in and support for 
                Historically Black Colleges and Universities. And in my 
                first year in office, the American Rescue Plan provided 
                the full Child Tax Credit to the lower income families 
                of more than 26 million children--who are 
                disproportionately Black--and put us on a path to cut 
                Black child poverty in half.

                As the Infrastructure Law continues to be implemented, 
                we will expand on that progress. Lead service lines 
                that have contaminated the water of too many homes and 
                schools in Black communities will be removed and 
                replaced. We will deliver high-speed internet to every 
                community so that no Black family is left behind in the 
                21st century economy. Historic investments in public 
                transportation will help more people in more 
                neighborhoods get to where good jobs actually are 
                quickly and safely. We will reconnect Black 
                neighborhoods cut off from opportunity by highways that 
                were built to brush them aside. Long-standing 
                environmental injustices that have hit Black 
                communities the hardest will be remediated. We will 
                deliver major investments in Black entrepreneurs and 
                small businesses--including making the Minority 
                Business Development Agency permanent and seeding it 
                with a record $110 million in new resources to help 
                level the playing field for Black businesses.

                But this is only the start. To fulfill America's 
                promise for all, we will work tirelessly in the year 
                ahead to deliver on my Build Back Better agenda, 
                bringing down the costs that families face on child 
                care, housing, education, health care, prescription 
                drugs, and so much more. We will continue to battle the 
                COVID-19 pandemic with equity at the center of our 
                response. We will not rest until we have protected the 
                foundation of our democracy: the sacred right to vote. 
                And we will fight to keep dismantling all of those 
                structural inequities that have served as barriers for 
                Black families for generations.

                As we celebrate National Black History Month, let us 
                all recommit ourselves to reach for that founding 
                promise. Let us continue to fight for the equity, 
                opportunity, and dignity to which every Black American 
                is due in equal measure. Let us carry forward the work 
                to build an America that is, in the beautiful words of 
                the poet Amanda Gorman, ``Bruised, but whole--
                benevolent, but bold, fierce, and free.''

                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 2022 
                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.

[[Page 6399]]

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

[FR Doc. 2022-02456
Filed 2-2-22; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3395-F2-P