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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 13 (Wednesday, January 22, 2025)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 7649-7650]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-01600]



                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 13 / Wednesday, January 22, 2025 / 
Presidential Documents

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President

[[Page 7649]]

                Proclamation 10884 of January 17, 2025

                
Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday, 2025

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Today, we honor the life and legacy of the Reverend Dr. 
                Martin Luther King, Jr., an inspirational leader whose 
                moral vision and courage helped bend the arc of history 
                toward justice. And we recommit to building the future 
                he envisioned.

                Dr. King's ministry, movement, and epic struggle for 
                civil rights and voting rights sought to redeem the 
                soul of our Nation. That soul is embodied in the sacred 
                proposition that we are all created equal in the image 
                of God. Dr. King invoked this proposition when, on that 
                day in 1963, he told the Nation about a dream--a dream 
                in which every person in this Nation is guaranteed the 
                unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of 
                happiness. And he helped our country realize this 
                proposition with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 
                1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

                But the battle for the soul of our Nation is 
                perennial--a constant struggle between hope and fear, 
                kindness and cruelty, and justice and injustice. It is 
                a battle that has been waged on battlefields and 
                bridges, and within courthouses and city councils. 
                There is nothing guaranteed about our democracy. Every 
                generation is required to keep it, defend it, and 
                protect it. There is still so much to do to build the 
                ``Beloved Community'' Dr. King envisioned--from 
                securing economic justice and protecting our civil 
                rights and liberties to ensuring everyone has the right 
                to vote and have that vote counted. But I know it is 
                possible because the power to redeem the soul of 
                America has always been in the hands of ``We the 
                People.'' Together, we can do our best to see each 
                other not as enemies but as neighbors; to believe in 
                and practice honesty, decency, and respect; and to 
                fight for freedom, justice and democracy.

                Today, we remember Dr. King as a towering spiritual 
                leader and a lifelong warrior for equality and justice. 
                As we celebrate his legacy, I am reminded of this line 
                from a gospel song: ``We've come too far from where we 
                started. Nobody told me that the road would be easy. I 
                don't believe He brought me this far to leave me.'' Dr. 
                King's story is a reminder that progress is never 
                easy--but it is always possible--and that good things 
                get done on our march toward a more perfect Union. We 
                have never lived up to the ideals of our Nation, but we 
                have never walked away from them either. May we be 
                inspired by Dr. King's path and motivated by his 
                legacy, working together to build a world founded on 
                freedom, equality, and justice for all.

                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 20, 2025, 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 MLKDay.gov 
                to find Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service 
                projects across our country.

[[Page 7650]]

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

[FR Doc. 2025-01600
Filed 1-21-25; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P
```