    [United States Statutes at Large, Volume 133, 116th Congress, 1st Session]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    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.

    [[Page 3314]]

    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.
    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.
    DONALD J. TRUMP