(Headline USA) The Massachusetts attorney general revealed this week that she will not be investigating Boston Mayor Michelle Wu over a racially-segregated Christmas party she hosted because it allegedly did not violate the law.
Wu’s office sent an email invitation to city hall staffers last year inviting them to an “Electeds of Color Holiday Party.”
A follow-up email from her staff made it clear that only minority council members were allowed to attend and the seven white city council members were excluded.
At least four complaints were filed with Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office, citing concerns of public-accommodation-law violations. But a spokesperson for Campbell said in a statement this week that her office “has no open investigation into this event,” according to Fox News.
The spokesperson went on to claim that because Wu’s event was not open to the public, it did not violate public accommodation law.
The Massachusetts Public Accommodation Law prohibits “making any distinction, discrimination, or restriction in admission to or treatment in a place of public accommodation based on race, color, religious creed, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, deafness, blindness, or any physical or mental disability, or ancestry.”
Wu has defended the segregated Christmas party, admitting that her only regret was that her white colleagues were accidentally invited to it.
“I think we’ve all been in a position at one point where an email went out and there was mistaken recipients so there was truly just an honest mistake,” she said.
She also claimed the minorities-only Christmas party has been a tradition for more than a decade, and there are multiple other holiday parties each year that are open to all elected officials.
“There are multiple ways that we celebrate with everyone. There are several holiday parties that the entire city council and all of our elected colleagues have been invited to,” Wu said.
