Yeah, I'm a sucker.Even after I say I'm through with the hood and that I'm getting out - like Micheal Corleone in The Godfather, they always pull me back in.
This past Sunday, it rained.
A lot.
While picking through the charred remains of a duplex and a sharpshooter, one of my young cousins and I happened upon an old man, his three legged dog and the man's mother sitting in the ashes of what was once their shared home.
Since the old man on another property had recently passed away - I had a vacant home with which to shelter these two cold, wet and homeless people.
The old man had had a cabinet full of food, dry clothes and beds, and electrical service jacked from a nearby security light.
After letting the man and his mother enter the home (but only until the weather warms) - "I hate Black people, but you're a cool Nigger.", the man's mother would say.
What...?
Wait...
Did she just say...?
As I began to laugh out loud, my young cousin asked, "You're not mad?".
"Dude, they're begging from us.", is all I could reply.
On the ride home I explained that these people didn't hate me, that they only resented me.
They resented the fact that a lowly Nigger was the one from whom they had to seek assistance.
They resented the fact that I didn't get hurt by their half-hearted compliment.
They resented the fact that we were going to where they had been taught to assume they themselves belonged - while they had to settle for what we left behind.
Now, I've been called;
"A Smart Nigger", after I had to school a lady in one subject or another and then telling her that she wasn't smart enough to even have that discussion with me.
"A Good Nigger", after beating one person or another in something.
"A Cool Nigger."?
Damn...
That ish is funny as hell.
6 comments:
It is kind of comical considering the source, the recipient, and the situation. What kind of power do you have when even your racial slurs do not elicit the desired rise out of your intended victim? The life of that mother must be sad indeed, for things to have come to this.
If we keep working at it, that word
Nigger will lose all its power, then what will they do?
LOL... man...
My freshman year in college, I had some guys I hung out with occasionally come in my room one night. The "leader" said, "know Dwane we were talking, and we think your a great guy. You're ___{fill in with assorted compliments}___, not like other black guys. Dwane... you're the nicest nigger we ever knew!!!" They all offered agreement and hugged me, and one of them even had tears in his eyes. I was in shock, and my roommate tried to hide under the covers in case I went off.
When the shock wore off, I called my best friend back in NY and told him he needed to bring the boys down south 'cause some guys just called me a nice nigger, and we had to do work. But after I thought about who said it, and how they were as people, I realized that "that" was the best that they could do. They just weren't any better than that. At that moment, the word lost all power with me. I'm still a little in shock thirty years later, but its gotten funnier as the years have gone by because I see the people who still say it just aren't any better than that.
Man I'm not you! I hope one day I can learn to see the bigger picture. It's not the Ni99er part as much as biting the hands that feeds you. I would've kicked her square in the shoulder blades and urinated on her.
I get the lesson of the post but that would've been too much for young Freeman to handle. It's not even the word Ni99er as if they would've called me a Punk I would've kicked their ass. You are a special person UBJ, NOT ME NOT YET!
Man, you obviously realize that one can only maintain moral authority from the high ground. Stooping only reenforces the wrong ideas.
That being said, I, who have never been in a fight (outside a ring or on a playing field) have long wished for someone to unwittingly use that word in my presence. I told myself that if and when this happens they will get one warning, just to make sure it is a fighting not teaching opportunity, then I would unload 30ish years of pent up aggression on some deserving sap.
Unfortunately it has only happened three times.
The first guy almost wet himself apalogizing after his "warning", the second was the largest SOuth African I have ever seen, causing me to almost wet myself during the "Warning" (he apolagized).
and the last guy who was unrepentent was also probably 95 years old.
I couldn't punch a 95 year old with glasses.
So I continue untested... for now.
I really liked what broahammas said, "one can only maintain moral authority from the high ground."
At the same time, John, I would've been pissed. But you know what? Haters thrive on stressing out others, so you won... although I'd have probably returned the next day and given them the boot.
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