To not be ok with race-based segregation?

@LusaBatoosa Men do have groups. There are male-only therapy sessions, working men's clubs. Women have groups like the WI. My SIL attends groups for people with disabilities. I have no issues with this, just as I have no issues with meet-ups and gatherings specifically for POC. I take no issue with the event in question as I have said.

I spoke of my own discrimination to show that white people can also experience prejudice and their skin colour doesn't make them immune to racism.

Yes, Boston has a majority of Caucasian people. But surely this thread is about more than this one specific incidence and is relevant elsewhere?

Not sure why you're picking on my post on particular, I haven't said anything remotely divisive.

Go take a look at the management teams of the vast bulk of larger firms. "diversity" usually means the odd woman. Very occasionally, one person of colour
But you can't infer that the reason for this is purely sexism or racism. There are many other factors that impact on recruitment. The law is thankfully very clear on this matter.

Women do not have a universal maternity experience, it's well documented that women of colour have worse maternity outcomes than white women.

Would you have the same reaction if this was a women-only event? an event for LGBTQ+ people? or an event where disabled people can get together and talk about the specific issues they face?

There is still a lot of issues with racism, especially in the USA, and people from some communities come across discrimination/lack of representation in the workplace.

So I can completely understand the logic in this type of event and of wanting a safe space to celebrate their achievements and have frank discussions.

No need to overthink everything and be 'professionally outraged' all the time...

I am white and I can completely accept that I will never fully understand the barriers and the negativity that people who are from other backgrounds face.

It is completely fine by me that they would want to have networking events that don't include people like me.

It is also really daft to compare this to ''if white people did this'. As always you have to look at the wider context: white people in the USA have not been discriminated against for decades or been the targets throughout the history of that country of slavery and segregation...

It just sounds like the type of 'what about' arguments that some men use when women try to carve safe spaces or want to discuss the discrimination/domestic violence they face.

Breastfeeding will be another area where black mums will just be expected to get on with it without help I’m genuinely surprised to read this. My experience was that we are all expected to get on with it. I really can’t think of any support I received from health visitors etc - they would guilt mums for not breastfeeding but not help.

It's segregation if there's a different event for white elected representatives only. If the event for People of Colour is an extra, and there are no events or spaces they are excluded from, due to colour, then it's not segregation it's additional support recognising the additional challenges that black and other minority ethnicity people face in all aspects of their life and work including in this case specifically their work acting as an elected representative.

As it was a group for black and mixed race “babies”, I’m assuming you’d be an ideal group member as a mother with a mixed race child

They're having a party.

They're not plotting world take over 🙄

So, racism, sexism and homophobia would disappear if the people affected just stopped talking about them? That’s your logic?

It used to be that the white male may have had advantages, but now inclusivity quotas mean he's often the last to be employed

Statistically, straight white men are still very much top of the heap, so that’s nonsense.

There are areas with almost zero diversity. If you go to events in those areas, they will only have white people. Even in ‘diverse’ areas of industries, there are often very few non-white people
It doesn't take much to understand that there is a difference between groups that are made up of majorities and groups that exclude minorities. Two totally different things.

The problem with exclusive groups is how are we ever going to learn about other groups if we focus on issues only affecting ourselves? Tolerance grows with knowledge and knowledge grows with focusing on others, not just ourselves.

if a woman only feels comfortable going to a playgroup limited to her race then she has a racism issue.

Wow. Just wow. Peak victim blaming right here.
BAME people take note - racism is only an issue if you let it be.

It is not the responsibility of an excluded minority to be inclusive.

Depends innit. Is okay for minorities or under represented grps to have their own events? Yes.
mens groups to support make mental health. Women only awards lists. lGBTG grps. BAME support meets, groups etc.
I’m part of a women coaches grp in a sport dominated by men and male coaches.

You cannot be serious. Black women are four times more likely to die while pregnant or just after childbirth than white women. There has been a huge amount of work and campaigning around the treatment and outcomes of ethnic minority women during maternity and we are STILL dying. You think that’s a ‘shared experience’ and the fact that we might need to support each other through something so horrific means we have ‘racism issues’?

I took a quick look at the top section of The Times business page today and looked up every company. I then looked at their executive leadership teams to assess how many were all white. Note, surprisingly good representation of women but here's the list from a race perspective - pretty clear how easy it is for defacto white events I'd say!

Thames water - All white
BP - all white
Bank of England - all white except, possibly one. Hard to tell from picture
Flexa - one person of colour (man)
Entain - all white
Shaftsbury Capital - one person of colour (man)

a few men have complained about the women only grp - about us being given ‘opportunities‘ they aren’t - like free training.
Butnif they didn’t exclude women the extent they do, we wouldn’t need the extra support.

Ah I didn’t realise we’re 4 times more likely to die in childbirth in the UK because we’re letting racism be an issue.

I’ll pass on the message to my black friends- don’t let racism be an issue and it won’t be. Wish someone had told me that earlier.

I think it's even more important for elected officials to recognise and acknowledge the importance of these events.

Actual racial segregation in the US is not as far back in history as many people seem to think ...

I'm mixed race and 'x race only' events and groups make me uneasy. Women's only spaces are very different and cannot be compared to race.

You said ‘if white people did this, they’d be vilified’. I’ve asked if you would say that for any of the other examples given. It’s a straightforward question that you’ve refused to answer. Because the answer is obviously ‘no’.

That's a shame, objectively it would seem such a beneficial thing. But I guess even though we know the national statistics, on a smaller scale it's easy to brush off someone's experiences as being just one of those things, especially if the area has poor maternity care in general. I had it in my probably naive head that it would open the eyes of white women to hear the experiences of their black and brown sisters.

Just to clarify, I definitely don't think that. I was being very sarcastic.

This actually made me laugh. I didn't realise that there were adults in a country that is broadly well educated etc, who can so confidently believe that racism and sexism play little or even no part in lack of representation for women and people of colour. You don't even come across as "faux naive" as the OP does.

Mind blowing.

You should go educate yourself on intrinsic systems of power, built in racism etc. Good luck.

But this group is for mothers (I assume of all races) who have black or.moxed race children. Just yesterday there was a thread about white mothers educating themselves on the issues that their mlxed race kids might face. So many issues came up that mixed race kids face and wish their white parent could have helped them with. This group would be one such place to help them navigate things like that

There is still a lot of issues with racism, especially in the USA, and people from some communities come across discrimination/lack of representation in the workplace

The debate here is the word 'parties'.

Groups that get together to discuss specific matters affecting them is totally legitimate. Parties to have fun is not exclusive.

If I organised my team Christmas party and told the 4 non white people that they couldn't come, that certainly would be an issue justifying a disciplinary. The same if these 4 arranged a Christmas party excluding the other 6.