Well, if you looked at me you might say that, if you misunderstood the usage of the word “overtly.” My heritage is from the British isles, with a bit of Dutch thrown in. OK, I’ve got semitic blood in me from Lebanese ancestors, and some Cherokee as well, but if you looked at me you’d say I’m white. “Overtly” white, if you must. I listen to white music, and while I live in a realtively mixed neighborhood, I grew up as white as could be, with boy scouts and soccer and volleyball. I even grew up eating Wonder bread. How overtly white can you be? Leave off the notion that I’m a self-confessed liberal who will be teaching Harlem Rennaissance poetry in the next course I teach. Leave off the fact that I volunteer in neighborhoods that are very much African American. I’m white. It’s just that I’m not sure about that “overtly.” …

OK, maybe it is the English teacher in me, but that “overtly” is bugging me. I found it in this usage in the Washington Post this morning, in a quotation from a White Supremacist. The Post article is about the explosion of activity by racist groups on the internet in the last year or two, and how that explosion is being spurred by the candidacy of Barack Obama. Here’s the quote from the WaPo:

Neo-Nazi, skinhead and segregationist groups have reported gains in numbers of visitors to their Web sites and in membership since the senator from Illinois secured the Democratic nomination June 3. His success has aroused a community of racists, experts said, concerned by the possibility of the country’s first black president.

“I haven’t seen this much anger in a long, long time,” said Billy Roper, a 36-year-old who runs a group called White Revolution in Russellville, Ark. “Nothing has awakened normally complacent white Americans more than the prospect of America having an overtly nonwhite president.”

What the heck does that mean? If I’m having a hard time figuring out what “overty white” means, I’m having the devil of a time figuring out what “overtly nonwhite” means, especially as concerns Barack Obama. Let’s not parse this too much, but Obama is just as much white as he is black. Is that What Roper refers to, afraid that people will come back at him with the line I just used? “Overtly nonwhite,” then, means to him the mere color of his skin? Well, duh! That’s exactly what Roper means as he mangles the language, something the Harvard educated Obama is not likely to have done.

Oh, yes, we must condemn people like Billy Roper. Surely we can make fun of his web site upon which he writes his inanities and complexly wacky linguistic formulations. And there’s lots to make fun of there. I particularly think Billy Roper’s short essay about how racism is justified because the races are like families, and it’s only about protecting and advocating for one’s family. The picture of the little girl and boy attached to his numbingly stupid screed is ripe for satire.

I can’t bring myself to spend time making fun of Billy Roper, though. Because I can’t figure it out. Am I “overtly white?” If so, does this mean I can’t vote for Barack Obama?

All in all, this phenomenon of racist groups getting more and more active is a phenomenon that we should condemn. Indeed, this is a phenomenon I’d say makes me less than proud of America. Yeah, racism exists, and the leadership of the country has done some work to combat it, but needs to do far, far more, and constantly.