Presidential Document2023-02431
National Black History Month, 2023
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
February 3, 2023
Signed
January 31, 2023
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 23 (Friday, February 3, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 23 (Friday, February 3, 2023)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 7349-7351]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-02431]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 23 / Friday, February 3, 2023 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 7349]]
Proclamation 10518 of January 31, 2023
National Black History Month, 2023
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
During National Black History Month, we celebrate the
legacy of Black Americans whose power to lead, to
overcome, and to expand the meaning and practice of
American democracy has helped our Nation become a more
fair and just society. This country was established
upon the profound but simple idea that all people are
created equal and should be treated equally throughout
their lives.
It is an idea America has never fully lived up to, but
it is an idea we have never fully walked away from
either. The struggles and challenges of the Black
American story to make a way out of no way have been
the crucible where our resolve to fulfill this vision
has most often been tested. Black Americans' struggles
for freedom, equal treatment, and the right to vote;
for equal opportunities in education, housing, and the
workplace; for economic opportunity, equal justice, and
political representation; and so much more have
reformed our democracy far beyond its founding. Black
Americans have made a way not only for themselves but
also have helped build a highway for millions of women,
immigrants, other historically marginalized
communities, and all Americans to more fully experience
the benefits of our society.
From the start, the Biden-Harris Administration has
been committed to using the power of the Federal
Government to address the long-standing disparities
that have hampered the progress of Black communities.
On day one of my Presidency, I issued an Executive
Order to advance equity and racial justice in every
policy we pursue. I began by appointing the most
diverse Cabinet in American history. I have continued
to nominate a historic number of Black judges to the
Federal bench--including Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson,
the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
During the height of the COVID-19 crisis, my
Administration provided relief to hardworking families,
which cut the rate of poverty in Black American
communities by nearly a third and cut the rate of
poverty among Black children by more than half. My
health care policies have dramatically increased health
care access and reduced costs for Black American
families and capped insulin bills for seniors at $35
per month per prescription.
We are also working to address centuries of neglected
infrastructure in Black American communities. My
Administration is leading the replacement of lead pipes
embedded in cities across America so that every child
can safely turn on the faucet and drink clean water. We
are expanding public transit and providing high-speed
internet to every neighborhood in the country so
parents can get to work and children can do their
homework in the comfort of their own homes.
We are using every avenue to confront racial
discrimination in housing and in mortgage lending and
to help build generational wealth in Black communities.
We are working to ensure that any housing agency that
receives Federal funds will reach beyond the simple
promise not to discriminate and will instead take
meaningful, affirmative steps to overcome historic
patterns of segregation, giving every person a fair
chance to live where they choose. We are addressing the
negative impacts of redlining and other
[[Page 7350]]
forms of financial discrimination. And we are working
to end a discriminatory system of appraisals that
assigns lesser values to Black-owned family homes than
to similar homes owned by white families.
Additionally, we have invested nearly $6 billion in
Historically Black Colleges and Universities. We have
also taken historic action to ease the burden of
crippling student debt--action which benefits so many
Black students and families. I am proud to have
permanently authorized the Minority Business
Development Agency and to have given it expanded
authority to help grow Black-owned businesses. I have
set a goal to increase the share of Federal contracting
dollars going to small disadvantaged businesses by 50
percent by 2025, which will bring up to an additional
$100 billion in capital to these businesses.
In May 2022, I signed an Executive Order promoting
effective, accountable, and transparent community
policing--delivering the most significant police reform
in decades. Among other important measures that
increase transparency and accountability, it raises
policing standards by banning choke holds, restricting
no knock warrants, and requiring body-worn cameras on
patrols and during searches and arrests. It creates a
new national law enforcement database to track records
of misconduct, and it aims to safely reduce
incarceration, support rehabilitation and reentry, and
address racial disparities in our criminal justice
system. Additionally, I signed three new hate crime
bills, including the Emmett Till Antilynching Act which
finally made lynching a Federal crime.
Equal access to the ballot box is the beating heart of
our democracy. Without it, nothing is possible; with
it, anything is. I restored the Civil Rights Division
of the Department of Justice, appointing top attorneys
to oversee enforcement of civil rights laws, and the
Department has doubled the voting rights enforcement
staff. Every agency of my Administration has been
ordered to expand access to voter registration and
election information. These are all important steps,
but I will continue to push the Congress to repair the
damage to voting rights in this country by passing the
John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement and Freedom to
Vote Acts, to ensure every American has a voice in the
democratic process.
This year, on what would have been Dr. King's 94th
birthday, I was honored to be the first sitting
President to deliver a sermon at Sunday service at his
cherished Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. The life
of Dr. King demonstrates that democracy is an enduring
covenant that must be persistently renewed; nothing
about it is guaranteed. During National Black History
Month, we honor and continue the work of Black
Americans who have created a more fair and inclusive
democracy, helping our Nation move closer to the
realization of its full promise for everyone.
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 February 2023
as National Black History Month. I call upon public
officials, educators, librarians, and all the people of
the United States to observe this month with relevant
programs, ceremonies, and activities.
[[Page 7351]]
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirty-first day of January, in the year of our Lord
two thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of
the United States of America the two hundred and forty-
seventh.
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(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2023-02431
Filed 2-2-23; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F3-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on February 3, 2023.
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