Arab American Heritage Month, 2024
| Published date | 03 April 2024 |
| Record Number | 2024-07173 |
| Citation | 89 FR 22879 |
| Court | Executive Office Of The President |
| Section | Presidential Documents |
Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 65 (Wednesday, April 3, 2024)
[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 3, 2024)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 22879-22880]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-07173] Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 89 , No. 65 / Wednesday, April 3, 2024 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 22879]]
Proclamation 10714 of March 29, 2024
Arab American Heritage Month, 2024
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
This month, we honor the rich heritage, history, and
hopes of the more than 3.5 million Arab Americans
across our country who have helped write the American
story and move our Nation ever forward embodying the
truth that diversity has been and always will be our
country's greatest strength.
People with Arab heritage were among the many
immigrants who came to our country's shores with a
range of cultures, customs, backgrounds, and beliefs,
sharing a common courage to start new chapters in an
unfamiliar land. As they built their lives, they helped
build America--from fighting for our independence in
the Continental Army to serving the cause of freedom
during World War II to helping build cities and
communities across our Nation, often in the face of
discrimination and hate.
This legacy of courage, resilience, and service lives
on today in Arab Americans across our country. We see
it in the brave Arab American service members and
public servants, who continue to defend our Nation's
security and freedom. We see it in the Arab American
engineers, scientists, and medical professionals, who
are pioneering new breakthroughs and charting a better
future for all. We see it in Arab American business
owners and entrepreneurs, who are creating jobs and
lifting up communities across the Nation. We see it in
Arab American teachers and community leaders, who
continue to inspire the next generation. And every day,
I see it in the Arab Americans serving throughout my
Administration, who are helping us build a stronger,
more just Nation.
But as we come together this month to honor these
contributions, we must also pause to reflect on the
pain being felt by so many in the Arab American
community with the war in Gaza. The trauma, death, and
destruction in Israel and Gaza have claimed, and
continue to claim, far too many innocent lives--
including family and friends of Arab Americans across
our Nation. I am devastated by the suffering of so many
and mourn the lives taken, and I pray for the loved
ones left behind and for all the innocent men, women,
and children living in dire circumstances.
My Administration is working with partners across the
region to respond to the urgent humanitarian crisis,
deliver desperately needed aid to Gaza, free the
hostages taken during the brutal Hamas terrorist attack
on October 7th, and establish an immediate ceasefire
that would last at least six weeks, which we would work
to build into something more enduring. We are also
focused on ensuring that calm is maintained and
restored in neighboring states, including Lebanon. We
must preserve the space for peace--for a two-state
solution with equal measures of security and dignity
for both Palestinians and Israelis. We are committed to
working with the Arab American community, who remain
critical advocates for the Palestinian and Arab people
and a just and lasting peace.
This challenge also reminds us of our responsibility as
a Nation here at home. Across our country, Arab
Americans remain the target of bias and
discrimination--including harassment, hate crimes,
racist rhetoric, and violent attacks. In recent months,
a Palestinian child was killed in his home, a young man
was stabbed near a college campus, and a group of
students
[[Page 22880]]
were shot while just walking down the street--tragic
reminders that hate never goes away. It only hides. It
is up to all of us to give hate no safe harbor.
That is why we are fighting against the rise of all
forms of hate, including against Arab Americans. On my
first day in office, I rescinded the discriminatory
Muslim travel ban that prevented individuals from
primarily Middle Eastern and African countries from
entering the United States. In 2022, my Administration
convened the first United We Stand Summit, which
brought together interfaith leaders to counter hate-
motivated violence and foster unity. We are also
developing our country's first-ever National Strategy
to Counter Islamophobia and Related Forms of Bias and
Discrimination in the United States, which will
identify concrete ways to address the scourge of hate
against Muslim, Sikh, South Asian, and Arab American
communities. To ensure Arab Americans are fully
represented, my Administration finalized the addition
of a new Middle Eastern and North African option for
the 2030 census and other forms that ask for people's
race and ethnicity--a vital step to ensure that Arab
Americans are seen, counted, and valued as new policy
is being made.
America is the only Nation in the world founded on an
idea: that we are all created equal and deserve to be
treated equally throughout our lives. We have never
fully lived up to that promise, but we have never
walked away from it either. This month, we vow that we
never will. Together, we recommit to this promise of
America by honoring and advancing the dignity, equity,
and security of Arab Americans across our Nation.
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 April 2024 as
Arab American Heritage Month. I call upon all Americans
to learn more about the history, culture, and
achievements of Arab Americans and to observe this
month with appropriate programs and activities.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
eighth.
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2024-07173
Filed 4-2-24; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P
