Are You Ready For White History Month?

It is Martin Luther King Jr Day. It is a national holiday. It is a day to consider the life and accomplishments of Dr. King and as I prepared for today’s radio show wondering how to approach the topic this year I came across this article online.
It’s from campus reform-dot org and it tells of a monthlong project to come in Portland. http://www.campusreform.org/?ID=7174
The article explains how Portland Community College has designated April "Whiteness History Month" (WHM). HUH? The idea they say is to explore how the "construct of whiteness" creates racial inequality. I’ll say it again. HUH?
To be more specific, the diversity council at PCC says Whiteness does not simply refer to skin color but to an ideology based on beliefs, values, behaviors, habits, and attitudes, which result in the unequal distribution of power and privilege based on skin color."
Do not think this is a "celebratory endeavor like heritage months,” but instead it’s an effort to change the climate on campus.
The article says a subcommittee of PCC’s Cascade Campus Diversity Council noticed "evidence from hiring data, student-¬led research, surveys, focus groups, college-wide emails, and other sources have illuminated the underlying reality of whiteness embedded in the overall college climate."
The group’s concern is that white people gather benefits at the expense of people of color. I wonder if Dr. king would attend such an event if he was still with us, or if he would teach one of the seminars or if he would shake his head and say -- let’s worry less about who did what in 1716 and care more about where we all are headed in 2016.

If this sounds like something you need to know more about, PCC provides a link to a portal on the school library's site listing additional resources.