Boston city councilors kick off Dominican Independence Day breakfast, celebrating their rise in local politics

Hold the corned beef hash. Fried eggs, espresso-sized cups of Cafe Santo Domingo and mangu, or Dominican mashed plantains, were on the menu Tuesday morning at Boston’s first annual Dominican Independence Day Breakfast.

The event, held at the IBEW Union Hall in Dorchester, was hosted by the three first Dominican-American officials on Boston’s City Council: councilors-at-large Julia Mejia and Henry Santana and District 5 councilor Enrique Pepén.

“Today, we’re all Dominican,” Mejia said. She became the first Dominican official elected to the council as well as the first Afro-Latina in a hotly contested race in 2019. She said she was inspired to hold the breakfast after Santana and Pepén, both former Wu administration officials, were elected to the council last year.

“I came here when I was five years old and I didn't know how to speak a lick of English,” Mejia said in an interview. “To see this room full of Dominicans and Americans, politicians and community leaders, all celebrating our independence under one roof, really says to me that everything that I went through to get here was worth it.”

In remarks at the breakfast, Mejia recalled speaking with State Sen. Nick Collins, who has hosted the Boston St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast in recent years, about the idea for a similar Dominican breakfast.

Collins spoke at the breakfast Tuesday on the importance of Boston as a city of immigrants. “We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us,” he said. “We celebrate the history of the Irish and the immigrant communities in Boston.”

There wasn’t any of the roasting that's become tradition at the Irish political breakfast. This week’s event held a celebratory tone, looking back at years of work in community building that preceded the new wave of political power on the city council.

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley amended Shirley Chisholm’s often-quoted line, “If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring your own folding chair,” to describe the change she believes is happening in the city. “What you are seeing in real time in the city of Boston and our Commonwealth is that we are building a whole new table,” she said.

Mayor Wu greeted the crowd with a “qué lo qué, mi gente” (or "what's up folks?") to warm reception. Santana and Pepén called up local leaders to receive honorary plaques. State auditor Diana DiZoglio sang a karaoke rendition of “Soy Mía” by Kany Garcia and Dominican-born Natti Natasha.

One notable guest was Mejia’s mother, who raised the councilor as an immigrant and single parent and received a standing ovation Tuesday. Mejia told the crowd of about 200 that her mother is a low-wage worker who took time off work to attend the breakfast and witness how far her family has come since arriving from the Dominican Republic.

Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll spoke with WBUR before the event began about the increasing role of Dominican-Americans in local politics. “This community has really got a foothold on being able to influence what's happening in Massachusetts, and it's a good thing to be able to lift up and celebrate that,” she said.

As for the tone of the affair, Driscoll said, “I don't think there'll be as many bad jokes as there are at the St. Patrick's Day breakfast. Or at least I hope that's not the case.”