Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 111 Part 3.djvu/920

 Ill STAT. 3008 PROCLAMATION 7050—NOV. 7, 1997 all of our Nation's school districts. These funds will help communities protect students from violence. My Administration also proposed funding for after-school initiatives in communities across the country to give our young people something positive to say yes to, to keep them off the streets, and to keep them out of trouble. Through our Anti-Gang and Youth Violence Strategy, we are working to provide for more prosecutors and probation officers, tougher penalties, and better gang prevention efforts. But government alone cannot guarantee our children will grow up free from violence and fear. Parents, teachers, religious and community leaders, businesses, youth organizations, and especially young people themselves have a vital part to play. Parents and other adults must set a good example for the children in their care and teach them right from wrong. Adults who own a gun have a responsibility to keep that weapon out of the hands of our youth. Communities must unite to keep schools safe and to provide young people with positive, fulfilling activities after school and during summers and holidays. Most important, young people themselves have a duty to learn that violence solves nothing; to act responsibly when confronted by peer pressure by rely- ing on their own good judgment, and to encourage their friends and classmates to resolve conflicts peacefully. I am heartened by the knowledge that hundreds of thousands of yoimg Americans across the country will have an opportunity on this National Day of Concern to sign the Student Pledge Against Gun Violence. By making this earnest promise never to take a gun to school, never to use a gun to settle a dispute, and to use their influence to keep their friends from using guns, these young people will take a giant step toward a brighter, safer future. 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 November 6, 1997, as a National Day of Concern About Young People and Gun Violence. On this day, I call upon young Americans in classrooms and communities across the country to make a solemn decision about their future by signing the Student Pledge Against Gun Violence. I further urge all Americans to help our Nation's young people avoid violence and grow up to be healthy, happy, productive adults. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety- seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-second. WILLIAM J. CLINTON Proclamation 7050 of November 7, 1997 Veterans Day, 1997 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Americans have always looked to the future. Planning for next week, next month, or next year, we rarely dwell on the past, but rather look

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