One of the alleged qualities Democrats love to brag about is their supposed commitment to “inclusion” and “diversity,” which one would think would mean not excluding certain types of people from official government functions based on physical characteristics.
Except that’s exactly what happened at a recent holiday party put on by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu in which only certain members of the city council and their spouses were invited.
Wu was elected in 2021 in a blaze of glory, with the mainstream media and Democrats salivating over the fact that Wu was the first woman and first person of color elected to lead Beantown.
A focal point of Wu’s two terms in office has been “inclusion, diversity, and equity,” but one is hard-pressed to understand how holding government-funded segregated holiday parties fits into the “inclusion” part of that equation.
The segregated part came courtesy of an email invite sent out by Wu staffer Denise DosSantos, who cheerfully announced the “Electeds of Color” holiday party would be held later in the week.
Except the invite didn’t go out to just the persons of color on the city council. It went out to all members, which includes seven white people and six people of color.
An apology email followed, but not for the party that excluded city council members based solely on their race. The apology was for the “confusion” and “offense” it might have caused.
“I wanted to apologize for my previous email regarding a Holiday Party for tomorrow,” DosSantos wrote, according to a report from the Boston Herald.
“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,” DosSantos went on to say.
The members of the city council who were supposed to get the “Electeds of Color” party invited also defended the party, with one strangely claiming that such an exclusive event actually went a long way towards “breaking barriers.”
When Wu was confronted over the issue in an interview, even she was unapologetic, pretending to be a model of inclusiveness while defending the practice of providing “spaces” that excluded white people.
“I’ve been a part of a group that gathers, representing elected officials of color across all different levels of government in Massachusetts,” she told Boston news outlet 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.”
Wu admitting that the “Electeds of Color” holiday party had been a thing in Boston for over ten years certainly had to be news to residents.
Let’s state for the record that we have a right to freedom of association in this country and if a group of men or black people or transgender people want to get together, there’s nothing wrong with that.
But we’re talking about an official government function here held by an administration that has been heralded by The Usual Suspects over the years for her “big tent” approach to including and listening to all voices.
This party most definitely would not have flown had it been organized for white members of the city council only, and the one organized solely for the council members of color should not have flown, either, regardless of how long it has allegedly been going on.
But leftist double standards being what they are, electeds of color-only parties are okay, I guess, as long as they are cloaked in wokeness.
North Carolina native Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah and is a media analyst and regular contributor to RedState and Legal Insurrection.