Not in Boston…you may not know about this if you get all your news from NPR.
Michelle Wu (Mayor of Boston) drew criticism Wednesday after her aide sent a holiday party invite to all members of the Boston City Council for an “Electeds of Color Holiday Party,” even though seven of the officials are White.
Wu told reporters on Wednesday that the invite was not meant to be sent to White council members, who had their invitations rescinded about 15 minutes after the original email was sent.
Something similar went on back when Stoker was working for the library, although no racism or sexism was involved. Back then the discrimination was based on whether someone was a ‘professional’ librarian with an Master of Library Science degree.
The library director hosted an annual Christmas party at her north Stockton condo. But only the ‘professional’ staff and their guests were invited. This strategy left almost everyone unhappy. The uninvited library aides were resentful at being snubbed, while the MLS holders felt pressured to attend an event and talk shop on a Saturday night when they would much rather have been somewhere else.
The director’s excuse for the exclusion was that she didn’t have enough space, but in reality it was just to make a kind of caste distinction.
Since I wanted to help Stoker keep on her boss’s good side, I always went along and made nice, playing my ‘simple farmer’ role. That is the same persona I used with the county ag people checking me for compliance with the regulations that are so fruitful and multiply every year. I never got fined, so I guess it worked. And of course I avoided any speech that could be considered in the least political. Other than Stoker it was a completely Blue crowd.
Ms. Wu’s party is a little disturbing. She is assuming that ‘Electeds of Color’ share some special bond that makes having a separate event without un-colored ‘Electeds’ appropriate. And she says the leak and coverage of the non-white event was politically motivated. As if her endorsement of such a party is a non-political act!
On Brumby Road we are concerned with people’s character and intelligence, not the amount of melanin in their bodies. Would it were so everywhere…
Rich Freggiaro Cycling Blog 