A holiday party, with a bit of a political hangover

‘Electeds of Color’ soiree at Parkman House puts some in position of defending gathering

It’s the Boston holiday party heard ‘round the world.

Last week, a group of lawmakers and their significant others gathered at Parkman House, a city-owned mansion on Beacon Hill. There were a few city councilors, some state representatives, a state senator, a sheriff, a district attorney, and the mayor of Boston, who was the host. Warm affirmations were shared among the various pols and their partners. The food was catered from Chinatown. There was no live music. The attire was mostly business; many of the men wore suits.

A seemingly innocuous holiday party is not usually headline news, but this gathering for a local “Electeds of Color” group went viral after an email gaffe for the soiree, which was first reported by The Boston Herald.

Specifically, a City Hall aide mistakenly sent an invitation to the entire Boston City Council, including the body’s seven white members. Shortly after, the aide apologized via e-mail. The party was intended for lawmakers of color.

That faux-pas has provided grist for outrage and garnered international headlines. Much of the wrath hinged on the concept of “reverse racism” and complaints about notions of diversity and equity.

For State Representative Russell Holmes, a Mattapan Democrat who is one of the founders of the “Electeds of Color” group, much of the reaction to the event is underpinned “by pure hatred.”

“This is an annual event that we’ve had,” said Holmes.

Holmes said he formed the “Electeds of Color” group about 13 years ago, along with former city councilor Tito Jackson, and former state representative Carlos Henriquez. The idea was to improve communication and foster collaboration among lawmakers who represent communities of color, said Holmes. He said the Boston-based group came about after the three pols attended a meeting and were unaware of where each was positioned on a certain issue.

Holmes said the group tries to get Boston lawmakers of color on the same

page, whether it’s about a response to police brutality, open political offices, or the redistricting process. “We mentor each other; we care for each other,” said Holmes.

He said that the annual holiday party is not about exclusion of white people, noting that lawmakers’ partners are invited, regardless of their race. He also noted that identity-based political groups are not unusual, that there are Black, Latino, and women caucuses.

“There are pockets of us that want to align around our issues,” he said.

The reality is that Boston is still a segregated place, he said.

“When you hear Mattapan, you think of someone Black; when you hear South Boston, you think of someone white,” he said. “You can literally racialize the entire city.” He added, “The true undergirding of this is the true segregation of the city.”

Outside of City Hall, ethics experts said the party did not violate any ethics or legal rules. In City Hall, it’s hard to find anyone who is willing to say the party was offensive or a problem on the record.

“I don’t have any objection to the mayor hosting a party for electeds of color,” said Councilor Liz Breadon, who is white.

“I have plenty of things to work on and to worry about before the end of the year but this is not one of them,” said Councilor Gabriela “Gigi” Coletta, who also identifies as white.

Councilor Frank Baker, who is white and is considered to be the most conservative member of the body, focused on the blowback directed at the City Hall aide, saying such vitriol was “not proper, not correct.”

Baker did note that Parkman House is a public space where everyone should be welcome, and referenced a part of the city that was for a long time a bastion of the white working class, saying, “If the Southie electeds had a party, everyone would be invited.”

Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune, a Haitian-American who is poised to become the council’s next president, considered the matter to be a non-issue, saying Friday that she is “befuddled and saddened at the extent that this has become a story.” Louijeune, who was in attendance at the party, said that people of color and women are among the groups that have been historically excluded in the halls of power. Glass ceilings in local politics are still being shattered by people from those groups, she said. And it’s important for those groups to carve out spaces where people can “be in community” with one another.

That, she said, is important for “our professional and personal lives.” Structural racism means that there are issues unique to communities of color, she said. Boston itself has a national reputation as a racist place and a long history of segregation that has fostered presentday realities including a stubborn racial wealth gap. People’s grievances over the holiday party, she said, are “misplaced.”

“I’m aghast that this has even become an issue,” she said.

For Councilor Ricardo Arroyo, who was at the party, the reaction to the social gathering was telling. He said the vitriol speaks to the reason behind “creating shared spaces for affirmation and support.”

“This is why the Elected of Color group exists,” he said in a tweet. “This is why policing the joy, togetherness, or a holiday party for members of color, is a telling position to take.”

Another lawmaker who attended the party, state Representative Christopher Worrell, said in a statement that “a well-established caucus of elected officials were celebrating their shared work during the holiday season.”

“There is nothing wrong with that,” he said. “But there is something deeply distressing when words like ‘segregation’ are casually thrown around by national right-wing media to describe contrived outrage.”

State Representative Brandy Fluker Oakley, who also was at the party, said in a statement that she knows “firsthand the need for places to gather in fellowship with other people of color who have shared experience in this role.”

”The backlash to this event is absurd and merely a distraction from the real issues we’re facing in the Commonwealth,” she said.

Meanwhile, Mayor Michelle Wu, on the night of the party this week, said the group offered a “space to build coalitions and represent community,“and said she was proud to host many holiday parties.

For Paul Parara, a local radio host known as Notorious VOG, the fact that Wu, who hosted the party, is the first Bostonian of color and woman elected mayor in the city’s history, explained much of the outrage. Other mayors, as well as Massachusetts governors, have hosted events “specifically for communities of color and it’s never been a problem.”

“It’s the same white grievance card,” he said Friday. “There’s nothing to it.”

‘There is something deeply distressing when words like “segregation” are casually thrown around by national right-wing media.’ CHRISTOPHER WORRELL State representative