A holiday party for racial minority members of Boston’s City Council drew criticism from the public when an email invitation explicitly excluding whites was mistakenly sent to all members.
On Tuesday a city employee invited all city councilors to an ‘Elected of Color Holiday Party‘ on behalf of Mayor Michelle Wu. According to NBC Boston, approximately “15 minutes later, the same staffer sent out an email apologizing for sending out the invite to all city councilors. The mayor said the party is just intended for minority elected officials.”
After the popular account Libs of TikTok shared the unfortunate mistake online, several social media users condemned the mayor’s decision to host a racially segregated holiday party — she, however, defended her decision.
Just hours before the holiday party kicked off on Wednesday, Mayor Wu, who is the city’s first Asian-American mayor, said “There are many, many events that are private events for all different sorts of groups, so we’ve clarified that and look forward to seeing everyone at one of the dozens of other opportunities to celebrate the holidays together.”
“I think we all have been in a position at one point where an email went out and there was a mistake in the recipients, so there was truly just an honest mistake that happened in issuing the invitation,” she told reporters, noting that the race-based party had been held for more than a decade without incident. “We had individual conversations with everyone so people understand that it was truly just an honest mistake that went out in typing the email field,” Wu said.
Boston City Councilor-at-Large, Ruthzee LouijeuneIt, said that the holiday party “is not at all divisive; it is creating spaces for people, and communities, and identities with shared experiences to come together.”
“We are still breaking barriers, and it is so important for us to carve out and create that space,” she added.
One unnamed white city council member told the Boston Herald, however, that the event was “unfortunate and divisive.”
