BY NIGERIAN AUTHOR AMARA CHIDINMA EZEDINIRU

The historical rise of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court–a new first in Black History after Barack Obama’s rise to the presidency in 2009–reverberated all over the world, including Africa where we all started. Writing from Abuja, Nigerian author Amara Chidinma Ezediniru, a regular contributor to “The African Magazine,” befittingly takes the celebration to a spiritual level, in her delightful poetical style our readers adore.

Many years ago, my childish mind could not understand the fierce preacher’s ranting – hope maketh not ashamed. He was quoting from the ancient book that many a Christian revere. I doubt the sentence had any meaning to me the first day I heard it. As I grew older, more pastors in my Pentecostal community reiterated the quote. This time, many of them had deviated from the agelong King James version of translation, They each shouted at the top of their voice – hope does not disappoint.

Hope does not disappoint? What exactly does this assertion mean? I soliloquized for many a day.

Over time, I was on the podium, being groomed to become a pastor. I joined in the chant of “hope does not disappoint.” I said it because I had been made to believe the contents of the book hook, line and sinker. My voice was so loud that you would think I was the quote’s author.

Hope does not disappoint, does it? The internal little voice once probed me. We got into an argument that I may not have won.

“How do you know hope does not disappoint?” it asked

“Because it is written” I answered

“Written by who?” it asked again

“Written in the book” I responded

“Any examples of the veracity of this claim?” it queried

“Many of them are written in the book” I retorted

“Forget about the book, in our world today, are there examples?” it continued

“There should be, there will be, let me search …” I broke the discussion

“Why not start with your life, your immediate family, any proof? it made to continue

I have long won the arguments with many events that have happened to me. All we need is to keep hope alive, it becomes tangible eventually.

With the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson as a US Supreme court judge, I went looking for my accuser’s voice, it was nowhere. I laughed. The voice has been silenced. I laughed again. What more examples need I give anyone about hope?

A child of teachers who attended segregated primary schools, Ketanji may not have seen her future this way. An achiever per excellence, despite being discouraged from setting ‘sights so high’ by a guidance counsellor in high school, Ketanji’s feat is indeed hope made tangible.

There are many lessons for the black skin in this. Nothing is keeping us down anymore. The hope we’ve hoped can be heard, be seen, smelt, tasted and touched. Our hope is tangible!

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The world now knows we have all it takes to be up. Between Oprah Winfrey setting the stage and Barack Obama’s presidency, there were many firsts for the black skin. Today, Ketanji joins in. Who can stop the black skin?

Hope does not disappoint; we only need to keep it burning. Hope comes like a little light; it is set up in our hearts by the forces of equality that the universe represents. Ours is to fan its ambers into flame. It should no longer take so many years to give us fire. All jinx has been broken. From now, it is now a norm that Black is capable. Black can occupy any office, Black can do anything. Black is as able as any other skin tone.

Our Ketanji is hope made tangible.

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About the author

With a background in marketing and management, Amara worked in various IT companies before settling for the sales of educational books. She proceeded for a post graduate degree in education and spent many years in the classroom working with early years and primary school children. A certified personnel manager and neuro linguistics programming coach, a writer and a management consultant, when Amara isn’t in the boardroom, she’s in the classroom or in her writing room.