Saturday, December 20, 2025

Rebranding Christmas from Presents to Presence

By Eric Stradford, U.S. Marine Corps, Retired




AMWS, December 21, 2025, Washington, DC – The U.S. Presidency may have forfeited America’s last chance to stand for Christ at Christmas.  The U.S. president, satirized across the African Diaspora as “The Grinch who stole Christmas,” is certain to face daunting truths in the phrase "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

As 2.4 billion followers of Jesus The Christ celebrated Advent through demonstrations of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love, free Africans are waking up to their reality as an endowed community. Little children throughout the global village will find their stockings stuffed with more than their little hearts could stand. 

In this year, dubbed the "Year of Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations,"  The traditional Christmas narrative, translated by King James of England, has taken its last queue from wanna-be kings. 

Seven aspirations coming out of the African Union to its recently constitutionalized State of African Diaspora  “are rebranding the Triple-Evils of racism, poverty and war with renewed hope for “shared prosperity and well-being, for unity and integration, for a continent of free citizens and expanded horizons, where the full potential of women and youth are realized, and with freedom from fear, disease and want.”

In 2025, Free Africans in the United States engaged in internal reparations by reclaiming stolen peoples equity.  They learned KA TUMELO RE LELAPA (By FAITH we are FAMILY).  The name Africa replaced #Alkebulan largely due to historical processes involving Roman conquest, European colonization, and the spread of Latin-based terminology.   Before European influences, As-salam alaikum!  is a blessing by #BlackJesus and the Islamic greeting meaning “Peace be upon you”, and the response means “And peace be upon you too.”

​​"Partnership produces progress, and nothing else does. Marylanders are coming together across all levels of society to end child poverty in our state," said Maryland Governor Wes Moore.  To amplify the impact of Maryland’s ENOUGH Act, philanthropic and private sector institutions are coming together with an initial commitment of more than $100 million calling on other institutions to join their efforts.

For two or three Black preachers, your seven-minute Christmas tidings of comfort and joy may prove to be less comfortable to some than others. Choose your text in “carrying out the spirit of the original Free African Society.

Luke 24:36: "Peace be unto you."

Luke 10:5: "And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house."

John 20:19: "Peace be unto you."

John 20:21: "Again Jesus said, Peace be with you!"

John 20:26: "Peace be with you."

 

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