[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 3, 2024)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 22879-22880]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-07173]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 89 , No. 65 / Wednesday, April 3, 2024 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 22879]]

                Proclamation 10714 of March 29, 2024

                
Arab American Heritage Month, 2024

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                This month, we honor the rich heritage, history, and 
                hopes of the more than 3.5 million Arab Americans 
                across our country who have helped write the American 
                story and move our Nation ever forward embodying the 
                truth that diversity has been and always will be our 
                country's greatest strength.

                People with Arab heritage were among the many 
                immigrants who came to our country's shores with a 
                range of cultures, customs, backgrounds, and beliefs, 
                sharing a common courage to start new chapters in an 
                unfamiliar land. As they built their lives, they helped 
                build America--from fighting for our independence in 
                the Continental Army to serving the cause of freedom 
                during World War II to helping build cities and 
                communities across our Nation, often in the face of 
                discrimination and hate.

                This legacy of courage, resilience, and service lives 
                on today in Arab Americans across our country. We see 
                it in the brave Arab American service members and 
                public servants, who continue to defend our Nation's 
                security and freedom. We see it in the Arab American 
                engineers, scientists, and medical professionals, who 
                are pioneering new breakthroughs and charting a better 
                future for all. We see it in Arab American business 
                owners and entrepreneurs, who are creating jobs and 
                lifting up communities across the Nation. We see it in 
                Arab American teachers and community leaders, who 
                continue to inspire the next generation. And every day, 
                I see it in the Arab Americans serving throughout my 
                Administration, who are helping us build a stronger, 
                more just Nation.

                But as we come together this month to honor these 
                contributions, we must also pause to reflect on the 
                pain being felt by so many in the Arab American 
                community with the war in Gaza. The trauma, death, and 
                destruction in Israel and Gaza have claimed, and 
                continue to claim, far too many innocent lives--
                including family and friends of Arab Americans across 
                our Nation. I am devastated by the suffering of so many 
                and mourn the lives taken, and I pray for the loved 
                ones left behind and for all the innocent men, women, 
                and children living in dire circumstances.

                My Administration is working with partners across the 
                region to respond to the urgent humanitarian crisis, 
                deliver desperately needed aid to Gaza, free the 
                hostages taken during the brutal Hamas terrorist attack 
                on October 7th, and establish an immediate ceasefire 
                that would last at least six weeks, which we would work 
                to build into something more enduring. We are also 
                focused on ensuring that calm is maintained and 
                restored in neighboring states, including Lebanon. We 
                must preserve the space for peace--for a two-state 
                solution with equal measures of security and dignity 
                for both Palestinians and Israelis. We are committed to 
                working with the Arab American community, who remain 
                critical advocates for the Palestinian and Arab people 
                and a just and lasting peace.

                This challenge also reminds us of our responsibility as 
                a Nation here at home. Across our country, Arab 
                Americans remain the target of bias and 
                discrimination--including harassment, hate crimes, 
                racist rhetoric, and violent attacks. In recent months, 
                a Palestinian child was killed in his home, a young man 
                was stabbed near a college campus, and a group of 
                students

[[Page 22880]]

                were shot while just walking down the street--tragic 
                reminders that hate never goes away. It only hides. It 
                is up to all of us to give hate no safe harbor.

                That is why we are fighting against the rise of all 
                forms of hate, including against Arab Americans. On my 
                first day in office, I rescinded the discriminatory 
                Muslim travel ban that prevented individuals from 
                primarily Middle Eastern and African countries from 
                entering the United States. In 2022, my Administration 
                convened the first United We Stand Summit, which 
                brought together interfaith leaders to counter hate-
                motivated violence and foster unity. We are also 
                developing our country's first-ever National Strategy 
                to Counter Islamophobia and Related Forms of Bias and 
                Discrimination in the United States, which will 
                identify concrete ways to address the scourge of hate 
                against Muslim, Sikh, South Asian, and Arab American 
                communities. To ensure Arab Americans are fully 
                represented, my Administration finalized the addition 
                of a new Middle Eastern and North African option for 
                the 2030 census and other forms that ask for people's 
                race and ethnicity--a vital step to ensure that Arab 
                Americans are seen, counted, and valued as new policy 
                is being made.

                America is the only Nation in the world founded on an 
                idea: that we are all created equal and deserve to be 
                treated equally throughout our lives. We have never 
                fully lived up to that promise, but we have never 
                walked away from it either. This month, we vow that we 
                never will. Together, we recommit to this promise of 
                America by honoring and advancing the dignity, equity, 
                and security of Arab Americans across our Nation.

                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 April 2024 as 
                Arab American Heritage Month. I call upon all Americans 
                to learn more about the history, culture, and 
                achievements of Arab Americans and to observe this 
                month with appropriate programs and activities.

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

[FR Doc. 2024-07173
Filed 4-2-24; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P