Boston holiday party furor underscores intensity of race in the national conversation

A mistake involving an invitation to an annual holiday party for elected officials of color in Massachusetts sparked controversy this week, a dustup some say reflects growing nationwide backlash to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in higher education and the private sector.

Michelle Wu, the first woman and person of color elected mayor in Boston, apologized this week after an invitation to an "Electeds of Color Holiday Party" was mistakenly sent to every City Council member. Outgoing City Councilor Frank Baker, who is white, said this isn't the first time he has been excluded from an event meant for people of color.

"Boston is known as a racist city. Maybe we are, maybe we are, based on that," Baker said. "But it isn't white people doing this. This is people of color being exclusionary."

But events for underrepresented groups, including women and ethnic or religious minorities, have been a longstanding feature in political and cultural institutions and workplaces across the country. Experts told USA TODAY such efforts have increasingly been under attack as backlash grows against the racial reckoning that followed the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020.

"The attention that was given specifically to race and particularly anti-Black racism in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, I think that wave of support and interest was almost inevitably going to invite a backlash," said Erica Foldy, associate professor of public and nonprofit management at New York University. "And I think that that's what we're seeing now."

DEI came to colleges with a bang.Now, these red states are on a mission to snuff it out.

Why are events like this important?

Council member Brian Worrell, who is Black, told the Boston Herald the Elected Officials of Color has been around for more than a decade, one of what he called many "spaces for all kinds of specific groups in the city and city government." Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson, who identifies as an African immigrant and Muslim-American woman, told her colleagues in an email obtained by the Herald that the celebration is not about excluding anyone but rather "about creating spaces for like-minded individuals to connect and support each other."

Foldy said it's "entirely appropriate" for a workplace to offer such events for people from marginalized groups.

She noted that about 90% of Fortune 500 companies have employee resource groups, which foster a sense of belonging and inclusion among underrepresented groups. Foldy said that, unlike the holiday party in Boston, it's common − but not required − for social events or trainings held by these groups to be open to everyone.

"There's nothing wrong and lots of things right with giving people of color and other people from marginalized groups a break from surviving in spaces that were not necessarily (and) not originally designed for them and may in some ways may feel hostile to them," she said. "So I think, actually, a good trend would be to have more of these kinds of events, rather than fewer."

Tabitha Bonilla, an associate professor at Northwestern University's Institute for Policy Research, said such groups and events often help people of color and others historically excluded from elected office to navigate these spaces and deal with the unique challenges and pressures they face.

"Affinity spaces can be really important when you're trying to expand access to different arenas. ... People of color are historically underrepresented in elected office, and so you can imagine it would be important to have safe spaces for people to come together and talk," she said.

Why is there so much backlash now?

Foldy said pushback generated by the racial reckoning in 2020 accelerated after the Supreme Court's decision to strike down affirmative action admission policies used to diversify some college campuses.

The decision prompted lawsuits targeting fellowship opportunities and capital investment programs targeting people of color, LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities. Last summer, a group of Republican attorneys general wrote a letter urging Fortune 100 companies to review their DEI policies.

This week, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt issued an executive order targeting the state's collegiate DEI programs, and the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents voted to slash DEI efforts over the next several years to win necessary funding from the state's Republican-controlled Legislature.

"In the wake of the Supreme Court decision on race-based policies and affirmative action in higher ed, I do worry that even events that are targeted toward people from marginalized groups, that those are going to become less common," Foldy said. "Even though they are not required to legally, companies are starting to back away to some extent from these policies."

Meanwhile, corporate investing strategies that consider a company's practices regarding diversity, climate change and other issues − a strategy known as ESG, short for environmental, social and governance investing − have come under attack by Republican activists.

Alvin Tillery Jr., professor of political science at Northwestern University and director of the university's Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy, said that while the pushback over the holiday party in Boston may have been amplified because of the national debate over diversity, equity and inclusion practices, it's unlikely that a city like Boston, known for its liberal politics, will see efforts to ban DEI programs at public universities that have had success in states like Florida and Texas.

As for events like the holiday party in Boston, Bonilla said, some pushback may come from people who want to be included because they consider themselves allies and want to contribute to DEI work.

But others may be concerned some people are getting more direct access to the mayor or be part of a broader group that "thinks DEI movements are bad and they disadvantage some groups or advantage some groups at the expense of others," Bonilla said. She added that the incident could have generated additional scrutiny because Wu is a woman of color.

"Women of color in positions of visibility and power tend to face different levels of scrutiny," she said. "And I think that's probably some of what's going on."

SCOTUS reversed affirmative actionWhat that means for workplace diversity.

Contributing: Natalie Neysa Alund