白宫
华盛顿特区
2022年1月14日
2022年马丁·路德·金联邦假日
美利坚合众国总统公告

1963年夏末的一天，牧师马丁·路德·金（Martin Luther King, Jr.）博士站在国家大草坪，面向为争取自由、公正和平等而聚集在这里的几十万游行示威者。金博士在那一天与人们分享了至今仍在激励这个国家的梦想：让不公正的地方实现公正，让受压迫的地方获得自由，给暴力的地方带来和平，使贫困的地方获得机会。今天，来自各种背景的人正在继续那天的游行——他们对滥权行为大声疾呼，向仇恨和歧视发出挑战，保护投票权利以及有质量的就业和医疗、住房及受教育机会。今天，我们要缅怀这位向我们国家和世界良知发乎呼吁的人的业绩。
金博士促使我们对彼此建立同理心，认识到我们“注定互为一体，命运相系与共”。他提醒人们，我们有责任维护建国的理想和为完善这个国家而努力。通过罢乘、餐厅静坐、自由乘车和游行活动，金博士帮助带领进行了以非暴力示威和文明抵制方式争取正义的运动。虽然他的这些努力使他几十次身陷囹圄，但他的决心从未动摇。他在伯明翰狱中提醒我们，“人类的进步从来不是一种必然的车轮滚动……根除不公正必须靠有力、不懈和坚定的行动”。
继承金博士的业绩以及他对我们国家可以实现的目标的信念不仅需要通过反思，而且需要通过行动。我们必须保护他帮助经过艰苦奋斗而取得的成就，并继续他未竟的事业。正是基于这个原因，国会必须批准联邦立法，保护投票权利——这项权利正在受到压制选民和颠覆选举这两股势力的险恶联合攻击。我们必须对抗种族主义和白人至上主义的祸害——这是我国的一个污点——并且不让仇恨在美国有安身之地。我们必须努力不仅实现政治平等，而且实现经济平等，从而让劳工能够挣得体面的生活，学生能够平安地学习，病患能够得到医护，贫困人能够走出贫困，老年人能够有有尊严地度过晚年，美国的所有人都能够不受歧视和没有恐惧地生活。
正如在金博士的时代一样，现在有些人认为，变化会带来太大震荡，这些迫切的需要可以等待。但是，我们必须拒绝满足现状，必须唤起新的决心，把自由和机会的事业向前推进，为使人间道德之弧伸向公正而尽我们的努力。这是我们这个时代的事业。我们正位于历史的转折点——处于事关国家灵魂本色的斗争中。我们所有人都必须拿出勇气把我们的斗争向前推进，力争实现金博士所梦想的一个更自由、更公平和更公正的社会。我们必须继续坚持对那项正义的事业——以及对彼此——的信念。
为此，我，美利坚合众国总统约瑟夫·拜登（JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.），谨以美国宪法和法律赋予我的权力特此宣告，2022年1月17日星期一为马丁·路德·金联邦假日（Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday）。我鼓励所有美国人在这一天以适当的公民、社区和服务项目纪念金博士，并到www.MLKDay.gov网站了解全国各地的马丁·路德·金服务纪念日（Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service）项目。
我谨于公元两千零二十二年，即美利坚合众国独立二百四十六年之一月十四日，亲笔在此签名为证。
约瑟夫·R·拜登

A Proclamation on Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday, 2022

JANUARY 14, 2022•PRESIDENTIAL ACTIONS
On a late summer day in 1963, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., stood on the National Mall before hundreds of thousands of demonstrators who had gathered to march for freedom, justice, and equality.  On that day, Dr. King shared a dream that has continued to inspire a Nation:  To bring justice where there is injustice, freedom where there is oppression, peace where there is violence, and opportunity where there is poverty.  Today, people of all backgrounds continue that march — raising their voices to confront abuses of power, challenge hate and discrimination, protect the right to vote, and access quality jobs, health care, housing, and education.  On this day, we reflect on the legacy of a man who issued a call to the conscience of our Nation and our world.
Dr. King pushed us to see ourselves in one another, recognizing that we are “caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”  He reminded us that we have a duty to uphold our founding ideals and work to perfect our Union.  Through bus boycotts, restaurant sit-ins, freedom rides, and marches, the movement that Dr. King helped lead used non-violent protest and civil disobedience to advance the call for justice. He was jailed dozens of times for his efforts, but Dr. King’s commitment to justice never wavered.  From a Birmingham jail, he reminded us that “human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability…injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent, and determined action.”
Living up to his legacy, and what Dr. King believed our Nation could become requires more than just reflection — it requires action.  We must protect the hard-fought gains he helped achieve and continue his unfinished struggle.  That is why the Congress must pass Federal legislation to protect the right to vote — a right that is under attack by a sinister combination of voter suppression and election subversion.  We must confront the scourge of racism and white supremacy — a stain on our Nation — and give hate no safe harbor in America.  We must strive to achieve not just political equality but also economic justice so that workers can earn a decent living, students can learn safely, the sick can access health care, the poor can climb out of poverty, the elderly can age with dignity, and everyone in America can live without discrimination or fear.
Just as in Dr. King’s time, there are those who now say that change would be too disruptive and that these urgent needs can wait. But we must resist complacency, summon new resolve to advance the cause of freedom and opportunity, and do our part to bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice.  This is the cause of our time.  We are at an inflection point in our history — in the midst of a battle for the very soul of our Nation.  We all must find the courage to keep pushing forward in our struggle to realize Dr. King’s dream for a freer, fairer, and more just society.  We must keep the faith in that righteous cause — and in each other.
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 Monday, January 17, 2022, as the Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday.  I encourage all Americans to observe this day with appropriate civic, community, and service projects in honor of Dr. King and to visit www.MLKDay.gov to find Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service projects across our country.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fourteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-sixth.
                             JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.