[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 23 (Friday, February 3, 2023)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 7349-7351]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-02431]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 23 / Friday, February 3, 2023 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 7349]]


                Proclamation 10518 of January 31, 2023

                
National Black History Month, 2023

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                During National Black History Month, we celebrate the 
                legacy of Black Americans whose power to lead, to 
                overcome, and to expand the meaning and practice of 
                American democracy has helped our Nation become a more 
                fair and just society. This country was established 
                upon the profound but simple idea that all people are 
                created equal and should be treated equally throughout 
                their lives.

                It is an idea America has never fully lived up to, but 
                it is an idea we have never fully walked away from 
                either. The struggles and challenges of the Black 
                American story to make a way out of no way have been 
                the crucible where our resolve to fulfill this vision 
                has most often been tested. Black Americans' struggles 
                for freedom, equal treatment, and the right to vote; 
                for equal opportunities in education, housing, and the 
                workplace; for economic opportunity, equal justice, and 
                political representation; and so much more have 
                reformed our democracy far beyond its founding. Black 
                Americans have made a way not only for themselves but 
                also have helped build a highway for millions of women, 
                immigrants, other historically marginalized 
                communities, and all Americans to more fully experience 
                the benefits of our society.

                From the start, the Biden-Harris Administration has 
                been committed to using the power of the Federal 
                Government to address the long-standing disparities 
                that have hampered the progress of Black communities. 
                On day one of my Presidency, I issued an Executive 
                Order to advance equity and racial justice in every 
                policy we pursue. I began by appointing the most 
                diverse Cabinet in American history. I have continued 
                to nominate a historic number of Black judges to the 
                Federal bench--including Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, 
                the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.

                During the height of the COVID-19 crisis, my 
                Administration provided relief to hardworking families, 
                which cut the rate of poverty in Black American 
                communities by nearly a third and cut the rate of 
                poverty among Black children by more than half. My 
                health care policies have dramatically increased health 
                care access and reduced costs for Black American 
                families and capped insulin bills for seniors at $35 
                per month per prescription.

                We are also working to address centuries of neglected 
                infrastructure in Black American communities. My 
                Administration is leading the replacement of lead pipes 
                embedded in cities across America so that every child 
                can safely turn on the faucet and drink clean water. We 
                are expanding public transit and providing high-speed 
                internet to every neighborhood in the country so 
                parents can get to work and children can do their 
                homework in the comfort of their own homes.

                We are using every avenue to confront racial 
                discrimination in housing and in mortgage lending and 
                to help build generational wealth in Black communities. 
                We are working to ensure that any housing agency that 
                receives Federal funds will reach beyond the simple 
                promise not to discriminate and will instead take 
                meaningful, affirmative steps to overcome historic 
                patterns of segregation, giving every person a fair 
                chance to live where they choose. We are addressing the 
                negative impacts of redlining and other

[[Page 7350]]

                forms of financial discrimination. And we are working 
                to end a discriminatory system of appraisals that 
                assigns lesser values to Black-owned family homes than 
                to similar homes owned by white families.

                Additionally, we have invested nearly $6 billion in 
                Historically Black Colleges and Universities. We have 
                also taken historic action to ease the burden of 
                crippling student debt--action which benefits so many 
                Black students and families. I am proud to have 
                permanently authorized the Minority Business 
                Development Agency and to have given it expanded 
                authority to help grow Black-owned businesses. I have 
                set a goal to increase the share of Federal contracting 
                dollars going to small disadvantaged businesses by 50 
                percent by 2025, which will bring up to an additional 
                $100 billion in capital to these businesses.

                In May 2022, I signed an Executive Order promoting 
                effective, accountable, and transparent community 
                policing--delivering the most significant police reform 
                in decades. Among other important measures that 
                increase transparency and accountability, it raises 
                policing standards by banning choke holds, restricting 
                no knock warrants, and requiring body-worn cameras on 
                patrols and during searches and arrests. It creates a 
                new national law enforcement database to track records 
                of misconduct, and it aims to safely reduce 
                incarceration, support rehabilitation and reentry, and 
                address racial disparities in our criminal justice 
                system. Additionally, I signed three new hate crime 
                bills, including the Emmett Till Antilynching Act which 
                finally made lynching a Federal crime.

                Equal access to the ballot box is the beating heart of 
                our democracy. Without it, nothing is possible; with 
                it, anything is. I restored the Civil Rights Division 
                of the Department of Justice, appointing top attorneys 
                to oversee enforcement of civil rights laws, and the 
                Department has doubled the voting rights enforcement 
                staff. Every agency of my Administration has been 
                ordered to expand access to voter registration and 
                election information. These are all important steps, 
                but I will continue to push the Congress to repair the 
                damage to voting rights in this country by passing the 
                John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement and Freedom to 
                Vote Acts, to ensure every American has a voice in the 
                democratic process.

                This year, on what would have been Dr. King's 94th 
                birthday, I was honored to be the first sitting 
                President to deliver a sermon at Sunday service at his 
                cherished Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. The life 
                of Dr. King demonstrates that democracy is an enduring 
                covenant that must be persistently renewed; nothing 
                about it is guaranteed. During National Black History 
                Month, we honor and continue the work of Black 
                Americans who have created a more fair and inclusive 
                democracy, helping our Nation move closer to the 
                realization of its full promise for everyone.

                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 2023 
                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 relevant 
                programs, ceremonies, and activities.

[[Page 7351]]

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

[FR Doc. 2023-02431
Filed 2-2-23; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F3-P