[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 12 (Thursday, January 18, 1996)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 1207-1208]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-621]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 12 / Thursday, January 18, 1996 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 1207]]
Proclamation 6861 of January 12, 1996
Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday, 1996
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Our country's motto, ``E Pluribus Unum''--out of many,
we are one--charges us to find common values among our
varied experience and to forge a national identity out
of our extraordinary diversity. Our great leaders have
been defined not only by their actions, but also by
their ability to inspire people toward a unity of
purpose. Today we honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
who focused attention on the segregation that poisoned
our society and whose example moved our Nation to
embrace a new standard of openness and inclusion.
From Montgomery to Birmingham, from the Lincoln
Memorial to Memphis, Dr. King led us to see the great
contradiction between our founders' declaration that
``all men are created equal'' and the daily reality of
oppression endured by African Americans. His words have
become such a part of our moral fabric that we may
forget that only a generation ago, children of
different races were legally forbidden to attend the
same schools, that segregated buses and trains traveled
our neighborhoods, and that African Americans were
often prevented from registering to vote. Echoing
Abraham Lincoln's warning that a house divided against
itself cannot stand, Dr. King urged, ``We must learn to
live together as brothers, or we will perish as
fools.''
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s call for American society to
truly reflect the ideals on which it was built
succeeded in galvanizing a political and moral
consensus that led to legislation guaranteeing all our
citizens the right to vote, to obtain housing, to enter
places of public accommodation, and to participate in
all aspects of American life without regard to race,
gender, background, or belief.
But despite the great accomplishments of the Civil
Rights Movement, we have not yet torn down every
obstacle to equality. Too many of our cities are still
racially segregated, and remaining barriers to
education and opportunity have caused an array of
social problems that disproportionately affect African
Americans. As a result, blacks and whites often see the
world in strikingly different ways and too often view
each other through a lens of mistrust or fear.
Today we face a choice between the dream of racial
harmony that Martin Luther King, Jr., described and a
deepening of the rift that divides the races in
America. We must have the faith and wisdom that Dr.
King preached and the convictions he lived by if we are
to make this a time for healing and progress--and each
of us must play a role. For only by sitting down with
our neighbors in the workplace and classroom, reaching
across racial lines in our places of worship and
community centers, and examining our own most deep-
seated beliefs, can we have the honest conversations
that will enable us to understand the different ways we
each experience the challenges of modern life. This is
the peaceful process of reconciliation that Dr. King
fought and died for, and we must do all we can to live
and teach his lesson.
[[Page 1208]]
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim January 15, 1996, as the
Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday. I call upon
the people of the United States to observe this
occasion with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and
activities.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twelfth day of January, in the year of our Lord
nineteen hundred and ninety-six, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and twentieth.
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 96-621
Filed 1-17-96; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P
