Whiteness History Month coming to Portland Community College in April

Whiteness History Month won't focus on whites as a group of people, according to PCC spokeswoman Kate Chester. The discussions will center on "whiteness as a social construct."

Chester said the school planned to publicize the month-long agenda once it was completed in early February. But some conservative news organizations picked up the story Monday, Martin Luther King Jr Day, and the story went viral with headlines saying the school planned a month of "whiteness-shaming."

PCC said that's not the case. "There's a difference between white and whiteness," Chester said in an interview, "and that might be what some of the conservative bloggers don't understand."