The Boston Police Department learned Sunday that, sometimes, the best tweet is the one you don’t send. They made plenty of people angry after sending out a Black History Month tribute to legendary Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach.

That post didn’t last long. After receiving plenty of backlash in the first couple minutes after it was up, they took it down. But nothing can ever truly be deleted on the Internet.

gone but not forgotten pic.twitter.com/ONVGqzdsXN — Erik Malinowski (@erikmal) February 12, 2018





The most common problem people had with that tweet was that, instead of honoring Auerbach, they could have just paid tribute to Bill Russell. It wouldn’t have been all that difficult, as Russell also has his own statue in the city.

How kind of the Boston Police Department to mark Black History Month by honoring a white man pic.twitter.com/Yza0kcyl9U — Astead (@AsteadWesley) February 12, 2018





.@bostonpolice I noticed you guys deleted this tweet honoring Red Auerbach instead of actually honoring Bill Russell. I’ll just leave your little mistake here, almost like a record of your transgressions. @universalhub #bospoli #Boston #BlackHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/Ayn49ZNMti — The Tokist (@thetokist) February 12, 2018





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It’s impossible to ignore Boston’s history here. The Boston Red Sox were the last team to integrate. It took until 1959 before the club promoted an African American player to the majors. That issue emerged again in 2017 when Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones said he heard racial taunts while playing at Fenway Park.

Russell was not immune to that during his playing days. In his memoir, Russell called the city a “flea market for racism.”

The Boston Police Department later posted a tribute to Russell, and apologized for their Auerbach tweet.

The Boston Police Department paid tribute to Red Auerbach for Black History Month. (Getty Images)

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik