Come to the Holiday Party! Except for White People

[thebeave]

Boston mayor defends decision to host a holiday party for elected officials of color

BOSTON (AP) — Boston’s first Asian American mayor, Michelle Wu, is defending her decision to host a holiday party for elected officials of color.

Wu said the “Electeds of Color Holiday Party” held on Wednesday has been a fixture in Boston politics for more than a decade without any complaints.

Earlier this week, a member of Wu’s staff mistakenly sent the entire city council an invitation to the party at the city-owned Parkman House near the Massachusetts Statehouse. A short time later, a second email was sent out apologizing for the initial email. About half of the 13 people on the council aren’t white.

I found this kind of interesting, and I'm wondering how it relates to DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) initiatives in education, government and business that we have been hearing so much about lately. Is this an example showing why there's a need to establish and fund DEI intiatives or is this (through some twist of logic) the kind of thing that DEI would approve and/or advocate? I can't even imagine sending out a party invitation that specifically excludes people of a particular ethnic background. To me, this is all just very strange. I wonder if spouses are invited to the party, and if they are white, are they forbidden from attending? Must make for an awkward situation.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Boston mayor defends decision to host a holiday party for elected officials of color

BOSTON (AP) — Boston’s first Asian American mayor, Michelle Wu, is defending her decision to host a holiday party for elected officials of color.

Wu said the “Electeds of Color Holiday Party” held on Wednesday has been a fixture in Boston politics for more than a decade without any complaints.

Earlier this week, a member of Wu’s staff mistakenly sent the entire city council an invitation to the party at the city-owned Parkman House near the Massachusetts Statehouse. A short time later, a second email was sent out apologizing for the initial email. About half of the 13 people on the council aren’t white.

I found this kind of interesting, and I'm wondering how it relates to DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) initiatives in education, government and business that we have been hearing so much about lately. Is this an example showing why there's a need to establish and fund DEI intiatives or is this (through some twist of logic) the kind of thing that DEI would approve and/or advocate? I can't even imagine sending out a party invitation that specifically excludes people of a particular ethnic background. To me, this is all just very strange. I wonder if spouses are invited to the party, and if they are white, are they forbidden from attending? Must make for an awkward situation.

So dumb. How do they establish what a "person of color is". I'm very light skinned for an indian. My brother is very dark skinned. We have the same parents. He gets in, I don't?

 

[ideologyhunter]

"White people, black people, brown people, yellow people: get rid of 'em all. All we need is a voluntary, free spirited, open-ended program of procreative racial deconstruction. Everybody just gotta keep fuckin' everybody til they're all the same color."
Bulworth (1998)

 

[Rhea]

There’s a lot that’s unclear in this…. and without understanding exactly how it is carried out, it’s hard to make a judgment.

If it is a *focus,* that feels helpful. Like a party to celebrate and elevate electeds of color. Everyone invited, but this is ABOUT celebrating the people of color who have gotten past the barriers. The people who do not support diversity will likely not want to or try to attend. *

If it is exclusive and exclusionary, that feels unhelpful. And raises all the questions above about how to decide who can come and who will be told to leave.

* will not try to attend, excepting those small minded people who will insist on going because they feel entitled to be the center of everything and will try to change the meaning of the event to center thmeselves. They will always exist. Assign the white allies the job of sitting with them and ‘Splaining what “celebration” means.

 

[thebeave]

Boston mayor defends decision to host a holiday party for elected officials of color

BOSTON (AP) — Boston’s first Asian American mayor, Michelle Wu, is defending her decision to host a holiday party for elected officials of color.

Wu said the “Electeds of Color Holiday Party” held on Wednesday has been a fixture in Boston politics for more than a decade without any complaints.

Earlier this week, a member of Wu’s staff mistakenly sent the entire city council an invitation to the party at the city-owned Parkman House near the Massachusetts Statehouse. A short time later, a second email was sent out apologizing for the initial email. About half of the 13 people on the council aren’t white.

I found this kind of interesting, and I'm wondering how it relates to DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) initiatives in education, government and business that we have been hearing so much about lately. Is this an example showing why there's a need to establish and fund DEI intiatives or is this (through some twist of logic) the kind of thing that DEI would approve and/or advocate? I can't even imagine sending out a party invitation that specifically excludes people of a particular ethnic background. To me, this is all just very strange. I wonder if spouses are invited to the party, and if they are white, are they forbidden from attending? Must make for an awkward situation.

So dumb. How do they establish what a "person of color is". I'm very light skinned for an indian. My brother is very dark skinned. We have the same parents. He gets in, I don't?

Yep. You're example is spot on. I've wondered myself if there is a purity test of some kind for situations like this. Barack Obama is half white, half black. Does he have too much white in him to attend this? Should he have a DNA geneology card he can show? Or maybe they use one of those skin color charts that show varying shades of skin tone, with the "OK" and "Not OK" annotations reversed? Like this one.

 

[southernhybrid]

I told my closest Black friend, who hates the term, "people of color" that I'm not white, I'm beige with speckles. She refers to herself as Black and hates any other term to describe herself. I'm quite sure that she wouldn't like any party that excludes anyone based on the color of their skin, so even though I don't know the details of why this party is exclusionary, I don't think it helps race relationships to do this.

I know some of you don't like the intellectual, linguist John McWhorter, who is Black and ofter writes interesting articles about race and racism. I read one recently where he explained that he thinks, a lot of folks are infantilizing black people by over reacting to little things, especially historical terms that had different meanings in the past etc. He feels that many times, Black people are being made to feel like victims, when they aren't at all victims. He worries that this type of treatment will prevent children from being able to handle real problems, when they reach adulthood. Sure, some are victims of extreme racism, like the two lovely women who sued Rudy and won. To treat someone differently due to the color of their skin is wrong, but that includes hatred of anyone based on their ethnicity or skin color.

I read recently how a very wealthy white guy has been giving a lot of money to help Black children etc. and he's been criticized as trying to be a "white savior". I think this has gotten a bit crazy. The man has given to other causes to help the poor and I doubt he even thinks about the skin color of those who he helps. He's just trying to share a lot of his wealth, which I think he made through successful investing. It's gotten crazy.

 

[JohnG]

Kinda odd that it's been going on for 10 years with no complaints until now. Why now?

 

[thebeave]

I told my closest Black friend, who hates the term, "people of color" that I'm not white, I'm beige with speckles. She refers to herself as Black and hates any other term to describe herself. I'm quite sure that she wouldn't like any party that excludes anyone based on the color of their skin, so even though I don't know the details of why this party is exclusionary, I don't think it helps race relationships to do this.

I know some of you don't like the intellectual, linguist John McWhorter, who is Black and ofter writes interesting articles about race and racism. I read one recently where he explained that he thinks, a lot of folks are infantilizing black people by over reacting to little things, especially historical terms that had different meanings in the past etc. He feels that many times, Black people are being made to feel like victims, when they aren't at all victims. He worries that this type of treatment will prevent children from being able to handle real problems, when they reach adulthood. Sure, some are victims of extreme racism, like the two lovely women who sued Rudy and won. To treat someone differently due to the color of their skin is wrong, but that includes hatred of anyone based on their ethnicity or skin color.

I read recently how a very wealthy white guy has been giving a lot of money to help Black children etc. and he's been criticized as trying to be a "white savior". I think this has gotten a bit crazy. The man has given to other causes to help the poor and I doubt he even thinks about the skin color of those who he helps. He's just trying to share a lot of his wealth, which I think he made through successful investing. It's gotten crazy.

I like McWhorter too. I think the guy you're referring to is "MrBeast" on youtube. He is extremely rich from his youtube fame. Apparently, he funded the building of 100 water wells in Africa. I haven't done a deep dive into the story, but he has gotten a lot of flak from those on the far left who think he's a "white savior". I think also some of it is the usual, "I hate anybody rich" attitude that seems to be so trendy these days. Oddly enough, the people who are using the wells and blacks in this country are supportive and grateful for him and appalled at the attitude of those who have critisized what he did. Here is the link:

I built 100 wells

 

[laughing dog]

Kinda odd that it's been going on for 10 years with no complaints until now. Why now?

I wonder if earlier ones were “Celebrating Elected officials of Color” not “Only Officials of Color”.

 

[TSwizzle]

Kinda odd that it's been going on for 10 years with no complaints until now. Why now?

Maybe because some fool let the cat out the bag when inadvertently emailing the invite to whitey.

anyway, good for Wu for being honest about her racism.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Kinda odd that it's been going on for 10 years with no complaints until now. Why now?

Maybe because some fool let the cat out the bag when inadvertently emailing the invite to whitey.

Basically this and who wouldn't click on that story?

Does it seem like Republicans will do absolutely anything to stay in office and Democrat will do absolutely anything to get their asses thrown out?
If you want to have a party and invite all your friends and all your friends are "of color", fine, but don't label it as such.

 

[Derec]

Fauxgressive segregation is righteous as it excludes the evil white people. Didn't you even go to college, beave?

 

[Tigers!]

Boston mayor defends decision to host a holiday party for elected officials of color

BOSTON (AP) — Boston’s first Asian American mayor, Michelle Wu, is defending her decision to host a holiday party for elected officials of color.

Wu said the “Electeds of Color Holiday Party” held on Wednesday has been a fixture in Boston politics for more than a decade without any complaints.

Earlier this week, a member of Wu’s staff mistakenly sent the entire city council an invitation to the party at the city-owned Parkman House near the Massachusetts Statehouse. A short time later, a second email was sent out apologizing for the initial email. About half of the 13 people on the council aren’t white.

I found this kind of interesting, and I'm wondering how it relates to DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) initiatives in education, government and business that we have been hearing so much about lately. Is this an example showing why there's a need to establish and fund DEI intiatives or is this (through some twist of logic) the kind of thing that DEI would approve and/or advocate? I can't even imagine sending out a party invitation that specifically excludes people of a particular ethnic background. To me, this is all just very strange. I wonder if spouses are invited to the party, and if they are white, are they forbidden from attending? Must make for an awkward situation.

So dumb. How do they establish what a "person of color is". I'm very light skinned for an indian. My brother is very dark skinned. We have the same parents. He gets in, I don't?

The vagaries of the genetic lottery are hard to predict.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Kinda odd that it's been going on for 10 years with no complaints until now. Why now?

Maybe because some fool let the cat out the bag when inadvertently emailing the invite to whitey.

Basically this and who wouldn't click on that story?

Does it seem like Republicans will do absolutely anything to stay in office and Democrat will do absolutely anything to get their asses thrown out?
If you want to have a party and invite all your friends and all your friends are "of color", fine, but don't label it as such.

Republicans have always been better at politics than dems. Always. And that is why they win more elections despite having fewer voters. Just one example: D's cancel people?? Please. Give me a break. Republicans invented cancelling people and boycotting them. If you ask the average person today, republicans are the last bastions of a liberal free speech; while dems at throwing those we disagree with into prison!

 

[thebeave]

Fauxgressive segregation is righteous as it excludes the evil white people. Didn't you even go to college, beave?

I did. It was a long time ago. I studied physics, which was (back then anyway) devoid of any fauxgressive talk. Though, I presume nowadays students in physics are fed stories about the oppressor protons in the nucleus who won't let the oppressed electrons join their community, so they have to endlessly circle around them in some sort of cloud in the hopes that the oppression will end and the two particles can one day live side by side.

 

[Derec]

Republicans invented cancelling people and boycotting them.

Actually, the Irish did that.
The English land agent who inspired the "boycott" in 19th-century Ireland

 

[Derec]

I did. It was a long time ago. I studied physics, which was (back then anyway) devoid of any fauxgressive talk. Though, I presume nowadays students in physics are fed stories about the oppressor

Education guidelines in places like California and Seattle do include things like "ethnic studies" in math education.

protons in the nucleus who won't let the oppressed electrons join their community, so they have to endlessly circle around them in some sort of cloud in the hopes that the oppresion will end and the two particles can one day live side by side.

If these oppressed electrons are in a star that is massive enough, that can happen eventually since the gravity is sufficient to overcome electron degeneracy pressure once the nuclear fuel runs out.

 

[Shadowy Man]

Fauxgressive segregation is righteous as it excludes the evil white people. Didn't you even go to college, beave?

I did. It was a long time ago. I studied physics, which was (back then anyway) devoid of any fauxgressive talk. Though, I presume nowadays students in physics are fed stories about the oppressor protons in the nucleus who won't let the oppressed electrons join their community, so they have to endlessly circle around them in some sort of cloud in the hopes that the oppression will end and the two particles can one day live side by side.

That’s exactly how I explain physics to this new generation!!

 

[TomC]

I'm very light skinned for an indian. My brother is very dark skinned. We have the same parents. He gets in, I don't?

Unless one of you is an elected official in Boston, neither of you will.

It's a holiday gathering of people who have some things in common. "Elected officials who aren't white, in a place dominated by white folks, like Boston".

But it's just a party, Wu isn't handing out pay raises or anything important like that.

The optics are bad, but that's the biggest problem. That's not enough for me to care about. Why a Californian would find it an issue is beyond me. Unless they're looking for reasons to bitch about politicians they don't like.
Tom

 

[Derec]

It's a holiday gathering of people who have some things in common. "Elected officials who aren't white, in a place dominated by white folks, like Boston".

How is Boston dominated by whites when the mayor is non-white, as are 7 out of 13 city council members, according to the photos here?
It looks like Wu is blatantly discriminating against a minority of elected officials.

Why a Californian would find it an issue is beyond me. Unless they're looking for reasons to bitch about politicians they don't like.

It's the politics forum. It's ok to bitch about politicians. Even those from other states.
I don't get offended when non-Georgians bitch about the notorious MTG, so why should you be offended that we criticize Wu the Racist?