[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.

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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