Boston police Black History Month tweet heavily panned
BOSTON -- Boston police are facing heavy criticism online for a now-deleted tweet for Black History Month that celebrated a white man.
The original post on the department's official Twitter account Saturday night was in honor of former Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach, an NBA legend. The department said in the tweet it was paying tribute to Auerbach for being the first NBA coach to draft a African-American player, play an all African-American starting lineup and fire the league's first African-American head coach.
Several Twitter users responded by calling the post "tone-deaf" and "clueless."
CBS Boston reports that one person responded, "As lovely as all those things are that Red did, black history month is not about white men. This is inappropriate."
The station says another asked, "Is this a joke?"
Another user called the tweet "tone-deaf," while another called it a "swing and a miss."
The tweet was deleted less than an hour after it was posted.
The department's account later posted another tweet that night honoring Bill Russell, the first African-American head coach in the NBA.
#ICYMI: In honor of #BlackHistoryMonth we pay tribute to Bill Russell, one of the greatest @celtics of all time and the first African-American head coach in the history of the NBA when he was named @celtics coach on November 15, 1966. pic.twitter.com/gKX7zpcUQt
— Boston Police Dept. (@bostonpolice) February 12, 2018
The police department then apologized:
BPD realizes that an earlier tweet may have offended some and we apologize for that. Our intentions were never to offend. It has been taken down.
— Boston Police Dept. (@bostonpolice) February 12, 2018