Boston has a rich history, but sometimes for all the wrong reasons.
The Boston Police Department sent out a weird and awkward tweet honoring Black History Month.
The original post on the department’s official Twitter account Sunday was in honor of former Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach. The department tweeted that it was paying tribute to Auerbach for being the first NBA coach to draft a black player, start five African-American players, and hire the NBA’s first African-American head coach.
boston police: for black history month, let's celebrate one white person for escaping his own urges to be racist so bill russell would win them 11 titles pic.twitter.com/GTbuCUM1Rw
— William Lou (@william_lou) February 12, 2018
The tweet was deleted less than an hour after it was posted, and the department replaced it with a tweet that said: “Our intentions were never to offend.”
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
Twitter users quickly jumped on the police department, calling the tweet irresponsible and tone deaf. Former city councilor Tito Jackson was among those who used social media to criticize the tweet.
Only in #Boston do the @bostonpolice honor Red Auerbach for #blackhistorymonth. So we already have the shortest month and now this. Please file this under Hell Nah aka Not Having it aka Not Ok. #bospoli #Boston #mapoli https://t.co/Jv38uutK0e
— Tito Jackson (@titojackson) February 12, 2018
What this shows me is that at just 10 days into BHM the PD has so little knowledge about black history involving black people that they had to start discussing all the ways they've "been so good to you people" ala Miss Millie
— James T. Jones, Esq. (@lawsforwords) February 12, 2018
In 2018 you can’t be that insensitive and reckless with your message. The optics look awful and as if the Boston Police was trolling everyone.
Red Auerbach was a very progressive coach and executive for his time. He was the first to draft a black player, post an all-black starting five, and hired the first black head coach. All of these things are great, but it’s Black History Month and he’s not black.
