Greetings Family,
I hope you’re doing well. I know I say that every week, but I genuinely mean it. This year felt like it sprinted to the finish line. We rang in the new year, it was my birthday, summer flew by, Halloween showed up, Thanksgiving passed, and now Christmas is next week. That’s how it felt to me.
All of this happened while we’ve been forced to watch a reality show none of us signed up for called America’s Got a Dictator. We’ve watched with anger and disbelief as people and policies are eliminated en masse. Some of us are fighting back in the best ways we know how. Some of us are simply trying to stay alive, given the dire circumstances. We try to change the channel when it gets overwhelming, but the dictator has a way of showing up everywhere.
The show is loud, and it hates its involuntary viewers. Yet still, in the middle of the noise, we celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, and personal wins. Here we are with just a few days left of 2025. Whether you’re holding on with one good nerve or moving through life with courage and excitement, you made it. That’s huge, and I just wanted to acknowledge that.
Now that we’re in the thick of the holiday season, I want to remind parents, grandparents, aunties, and uncles to make sure Black children’s books are part of the gifts you’re giving the little ones in your life. Before Clever Communities in Action, before the programs and events, there was the Black History Month Youth Book Drive. Where my Day Ones at? You know.
The goal was simple: help Black children enjoy reading and make sure they see themselves positively reflected in books. I don’t end up writing, speaking, or advocating if my Granny, Mrs. Ruth Marie Paulding, didn’t teach me to read at age three, fill our home with books, and take me on those fun visits to the library. That foundation was key.
The selection of Black children’s literature has grown tremendously since we started this work in 2011. So while you’re buying gadgets, toys, and clothes, please make sure books are in the mix. Support your local Black bookstore or find one online. Be the family Book Claus. Create traditions that center on reading because it’s always a great time to read with young people.
And parents, I hope you’re encouraged and not carrying guilt over a Christmas list. It may sound cliché, but it is the love and memories that last. When adults reflect on childhood, it’s not about the toy they didn’t get. It’s about whether they felt loved, protected, and seen.
Family is greater than things. Community is stronger than lack. It is what we make it. Wishing you and your family a joyful holiday season. Give and receive love like your life and this world depend on it. And please have some fun. You deserve it!
Let’s end with a quote from Ed O.G.
“It’s not the presents. It’s the presence and the essence of you being there, and showing your babies that you care.”
In love and solidarity,
Starr Armstrong
Founder | Clever Communities in Action