Boston Mayor Michelle Wu defended holding a holiday party for “people of color” just hours before hosting a controversial rally inside the city’s official celebration hall on Wednesday.
Wu acknowledged it was a mistake that every Boston City Council member accepted an invitation to the controversial holiday party, and has already spoken to those who were not invited.
“We’re having individual conversations with everyone so people understand that it’s really just an honest mistake that happened in typing the email field,” Wu told reporters.
Wu, Boston’s first woman of color and Asian American mayor, drew criticism when the City Council’s director of communications, Denise DosSantos, sent out exclusive party invitations to all City Council members instead of just a select few.
The Boston City Council consists of six minority and seven white members.
All the white members canceled their invitations about 15 minutes after the original email was sent.
“I want to apologize for my previous email regarding the Holiday Party for tomorrow,” DosSantos wrote in his follow-up. “I sent it to everyone by accident, and I apologize if my email may have offended or come across as such. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused.”
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Wu justified Wednesday’s party by claiming it had become an annual tradition over the past decade, where members of “diverse” groups took turns hosting the party.
“I’ve been part of a group that has come together, representing elected officials of color across all different levels of government in Massachusetts,” Wu said, according to WCVB. “A group that’s been around for over a decade, and an opportunity to create a space for people to celebrate and rotate who’s the host.”
The mayor added there will be another gathering for all elected officials to attend, saying he “can’t wait to celebrate with everyone at the holiday party we have besides this one as well.”
Wu City Council director of communications, Denise DosSantos, sent invitations to the exclusive party to all City Council members instead of just a select few.
Wu insisted that the misguided invitation was not intended to cause any harm and that he wanted to continue to unite all the different backgrounds working in the city.
“It is my wish that we can, once again, be a city that practices our values and creates space for all kinds of communities to come together
“I think we’ve all been in a position at some point where an email goes out, and there’s an error in the recipient,” Wu added.
When news of the holiday party broke, New Englanders took to social media to express their outrage.
Wu swears in Boston City Councilors during their inauguration outside Boston City Hall on January 4, 2022. City of Boston
“Mayor Wu is NOT dreaming of a white Christmas. And he will NOT be serving white wine tonight. Or white meat chicken. No pale faces invited to the Parkman House powwow!” New England radio host Howie Carr poked fun at X.
“So in Boston, you can’t attend the mayor’s holiday party if you’re white. How much longer will the American people put up with this left wing racist bullshit?” conservative X user Rod Dreher writes.
While some were disgusted by the idea of a party excluding whites, others defended it, including city councilman Frank Baker who was originally invited before it was canceled.
Wu insisted that the misguided invitation was not intended to cause any harm and that he wanted to continue to unite all the different backgrounds working in the city. MediaNews Group via Getty Images
“I’m not too easily offended,” Baker, a white Democrat, told the Boston Herald. “To offend me, you have to do more than not invite me to a party.”
“I think unfortunately with the temperature like that, we will continue the division,” he added.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
