Boston’s mayor has defended the choice to exclude white people from a holiday party.
“We host many holiday parties in the season. And there are multiple opportunities for people to celebrate and come together,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu told reporters on Dec. 13. “I’ve been a part of a group that gathers representing elected officials of color across all different levels of government in Massachusetts, a group that has been in place for more than a decade, and the opportunity to create a space for people to celebrate and rotate who hosts and where it is, you know, kind of passes around. And so this year, I drew the straw to be the host of that, and it will be at the Parkman House, and we will have a wonderful time.”
But was it appropriate to hold a party that deliberately excluded some officials?
“Again, there are multiple ways that we celebrate with everyone. There are several holiday parties that the entire city council and all of our elected colleagues have been invited to,” Ms. Wu said. “And I look forward to seeing everyone who can make it at all of those. If anything, there are probably more invitations that have gone out than people can all make it to. But I’m very grateful to have spaces.”
Ms. Wu, of Asian descent, was speaking after an aide, who is black, sent an invitation to all city councilors inviting them to an “electeds of color holiday party.”
Some of the city councilors are white.
In a follow-up message sent the same day, the aide apologized for the email.
“I did send that to everyone by accident, and I apologize if my email may have offended or came across as so. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused,” the aide wrote, the Boston Herald reported.
Ms. Wu said that sending the email to people who weren’t actually invited was “an honest mistake.”
City councilors who were actually invited defended the party.
“Just like there are groups that meet based on shared interests or cultural backgrounds, it’s completely natural for elected officials of color to gather for a holiday celebration,” Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson, who is black, said.
“Never let facts get in the way of some manufactured outrage,” Councilor Ricardo Arroyo wrote on X. “Electeds of Color has existed for over a decade, and the holiday party is an annual tradition. Wait until someone tells them about the Congressional Black Caucus or MA Black and Latino Legislative Caucus. The horror!!”
Councilor Frank Baker, who is white, told the Herald that not inviting all councilors was “unfortunate and divisive,” and former Councilor Michael McCormack said past administrations would not have excluded councilors.
“It’s not something that anyone in the mayor’s office should be proud of,” he said.
“What if the reverse had happened—what if a white mayor had held a whites-only party at a city-owned building after specifically disinviting all the non-white members of the City Council?” Howie Carr, a local columnist, wrote in a column.
Nearly all the Boston councilors are Democrats, like Ms. Wu.
Ms. Wu, 38, was previously a city councilor before becoming mayor in 2021.
The picture did not appear to include any white people. It showed councilors and others sitting around a table after having eaten.
“Not too long ago in Boston, we didn’t need such a big table to fit electeds of color,“ Ms. Wu said. ”But over my time as a city councilor and now mayor, following so many leaders who have paved the way, I’ve proudly watched this group grow and create space for mentorship and fellowship among many who are breaking down barriers while holding the weight of being the first or only.”
