Racist, misogynistic vitriol continues against Wu after vaccination policy announced

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This was the last case of racist and misogynistic vitriol targeting Wu since she announced her COVID-19 policy this week.

In an interview hours after her appearance at the police station, Wu, the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants who is the first woman and the first person of color to be elected mayor of Boston, said, “This is not a new one. territory.

“Often times when there are difficult conversations, the hindsight or anxiety about change can be framed in terms of race, gender or country of origin,” Wu said.

Thursday’s incident at the police station came just a day after the mayor spoke publicly about the racist pushback she received following the announcement of a proof of vaccination warrant for some interior spaces.

Along with requirements for dining, fitness and entertainment establishments, it has also beefed up a vaccine mandate for the city’s 18,000 workers as cases of COVID-19 escalate.

Since then, Wu said, hate messages have been spat not only against her, but also against workers covering the city’s 311 hotline.

“We have to keep calling it out and showing that our city can be better than this, our city is better than this,” she said.

Amid the backlash, Wu said several women in public office had reached out to offer support, citing the discriminatory abuse they said they had suffered.

“It’s an experience we all share,” she said.

But she said she was prepared to face the backlash if it meant clear public health guidelines were going to ease the pressure “on our businesses which have already struggled for so long with the pandemic.” Wu said if no action related to the pandemic is taken, businesses will be forced to shut down because people will be afraid to go out.

The vitriol didn’t stop Wu from his daily routine. She continues to take the T and walk around town. Only Wednesday night, she attended the Celtics game at TD Garden. And while she acknowledges that “there is a level of vitriol and hatred that has formed over politics that we see nationally spreading all over the place,” she is also convinced that the political dynamics may be different at the national level. city ​​level.

“We are at a time in our country where confidence is low and I truly believe the city government is where we can start to rebuild this because we are so close to our constituents,” Wu said.

For some lawmakers of color, the racist and misogynistic reaction was not surprising. In the words of City Councilor Julia Mejia, “Hatred is real. “

Mejia, of Dominican descent, was only in post for a few weeks when a man left her a hateful voicemail message after she offered to create safe sanctuaries in Boston to protect students from fear of deportation , she said. In the message, he called his mother a criminal for living in the undocumented country for years, and called Mejia a fascist, a communist and a criminal, and said that she should be arrested and that he was calling the president about it. .

Mejia finally invited the man to call his office. The appellant accepted the offer and apologized.

“When we think of hatred in this country, it is usually directed against people of color,” Mejia said Thursday.

Mejia recalled the era of the bus in Boston, when schools were desegregated by court order, and said the city was still in many ways separate.

“This hatred still persists here in the city,” Mejia said.

She empathizes with Wu and what she’s going through.

“It’s really sad that this is the situation we find ourselves in,” Mejia said.

The backlash against Wu came a week after Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins, who was confirmed this month as U.S. Attorney General for Massachusetts after an unusually controversial Senate vote, said she faced death threats as a woman and a person of color. Rollins will be the first black woman to serve as the state’s top federal law enforcement official.

Rollins said Thursday that the threats she received were neither vague nor nuanced. Many included racist epithets, including the n word. Some have threatened violence against Rollins. Others threatened her children. Despite the threats, federal commissioners declined Rollins’ request for full-time security service.

People have the right to disagree or protest against a policy, Rollins said, but when critics inject race or ethnicity, “it’s not appropriate.”

Rollins said the fight against racist hatred was exhausting and called the reaction against Wu “explosive.”

“Men don’t often see the same type of vitriol as women,” she said.

Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards, who is set to become the only black member of the state Senate, said the vile comments made against Wu were proof that such knee-jerk reactions had little to do with politicians. COVID-19 policies.

On the contrary, said Edwards, it showed people were looking for an excuse to express “hatred for the loss of power and influence.”

“Their real anger is that there is a woman and a person of color running the city of Boston,” Edwards said. “They will use any moment and controversy to express loathing and vile hatred.”

People can disagree with a vaccination mandate without being racist or misogynistic, Edwards said. However, opposition to such a mandate allows her narrative to be controlled by fanatics, she said.

Those who oppose the mandate but do not have discriminatory views should speak out, Edwards said.

“I was disappointed by their silence,” she said.

And social media can amplify the political message of small groups, making it “they look bigger than they are.”

“Let’s not forget that Michelle Wu won this election in [nearly] 30 points, ”said Edwards.

You can reach Danny McDonald at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @Danny__McDonald.

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