That's Me

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.