Boston Mayor Michelle Wu Defends Excluding White City Council Members from ‘Electeds of Color’ Party

Michelle Wu
Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Olivia Rondeau

Boston, Massachusetts, Mayor Michelle Wu (D) is defending her holiday party that excluded white city council members after receiving backlash when an invitation leaked online.

Seven out of the 13 council members are white and were “uninvited” from Wu’s “Electeds of Color” gathering after they were mistakenly emailed an invitation, the New York Post reported.

Wu admitted that white council members were accidentally invited to the party, which was meant to exclude them, but said it was an “honest mistake.”

“We’ve had individual conversations with everyone so people understand that it was truly just an honest mistake that went out in typing the email field,” she told reporters.

Wu, Boston’s first non-white female and Asian American mayor, became the subject of criticism when Director of City Council Relations Denise DosSantos accidentally sent the invitation to all council members instead of just the racial minorities.

Just 15 minutes after the initial invitation was sent, the white members had theirs revoked.

“I wanted to apologize for my previous email regarding a Holiday Party for tomorrow,” DosSantos wrote in another 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.”

It did not take long for screenshots of the exclusionary party’s invitation to make rounds online, with many social media users offended at the apparent segregation.

According to the Boston Accountability Network, Wu had even scheduled the “Electeds of Color” party for the same day as the city council’s holiday party.

Wu justified the separate-but-equal-esque parties by claiming that the “of color” party had been a years-long tradition.

“I’ve been a part of a group that gathers, representing elected officials of color across all different levels of government in Massachusetts,” Wu said, according to WCVB. “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.”

The mayor added that she “looked forward to celebrating with everyone at the holiday parties that we have besides this one, as well.”

“I think we’ve all been in a position at one point where an email went out, and there was a mistake in the recipient,” she noted.

Comments on X pointed out Wu’s apparent hypocrisy, revealing that her own husband would not even be able to attend the “Electeds of Color” gathering.

​”Boston Mayor, Michelle Wu, sent out invitations to a Christmas Party, and racially segregated WHITES, calling it a statewide ‘Electives of Color Holiday Party.’ No whites invited!  What total hypocrisy! Take a look at her husband Conor Pewarski!” one user wrote.

“Democrat mayor Michelle Wu of Boston has a holiday party that whites were not allowed. Her husband is white,” pointed out another poster.

While some people were disgusted at the color-only party, white city council member Frank Baker, a Democrat, said he was not offended.

“I don’t really get offended too easily,” Baker told the Boston Herald. “To offend me, you’re going to have to do much more than not invite me to a party.”

“I find it unfortunate that with the temperature the way it is, that we would further that division,” he added.

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