[UPDATED] Dianne didn't know about 'All lives matter'

On Blackout Tuesday, TT social media were outraged when Dianne’s Tea Shop posted a picture of a cake with the words “All Lives Matter” written in chocolate.

People were encouraged to post black squares on their social media profiles on Tuesday to show solidarity with the fight against police killing black people in the US, in line with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Dianne Hunt, owner of Dianne’s Tea Shop on Long Circular Road, Maraval, apologised for the "All Lives Matter" post, saying she had not known the negative connotation of the phrase.

“I would like to apologise for my unawareness that 'all lives matter' was contradictory to Black Lives Matter,” Hunt told Newsday on Tuesday.

The Black Lives Matter movement was founded in 2013 after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the man who shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was unarmed and wearing a hoodie.

#AllLivesMatter has been highly criticised as a term that detracts from reflecting on the racial injustice suffered by black people in the US.

On Tuesday, social media was flooded with black squares as a show of solidarity for Black Lives Matter.

Blackout Tuesday was started by the music industry in the US to convert social media to black squares. The reaction is in response to the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota last week. The killing has been followed by widespread protests and severe police clampdowns across the US.

Hunt, who later deleted the post, said the message was taken out of context.

“I was not aware of it, not in the Caribbean. Why would anyone want to go against 'all black lives matter'?”

She said the idea came from one of her staff.

“My waitress wrote it. It was a Black girl who wrote it.”

Hunt said she posted the blackout post on her personal social media accounts, but as she owns a shop that sells tea, coffee and cakes, she would post her message on her products

“I’m a business. I have cake and coffee. On my personal page, I did it on my personal page. Am I schizophrenic…What I did was not the wrong thing. I fully support Black Lives Matter.”

She said her posts were made in love and she supports black lives.

“I would have to be an insane person…It was done in love…'All lives matter' was that. I’m supporting black lives. What type of human being I would be that I support the opposite? Black lives matter, 1,000 per cent.”

Fuad Abu Bakr, political leader of the New National Vision party, also posted #AllLivesMatter on Monday, adding: “At 12 noon today we protest by lying on the floor. We can’t breathe. Stop police abuse and killings #AllLivesMatter.”

He told Newsday he used "All Lives Matter" to locally contextualise and raise awareness of extrajudicial killings of Trinidadians by the police. He used "All Lives Matter" as most of the TT population are “mostly black” and there’s a problem with police killings in this country.

Businessman Michael Patrick Aboud also caused an uproar on his social media on Sunday when he posted: “Burning and looting is not protest for any good. They use the Floyd matter to do what comes natural. An excuse!”

Social media users took umbrage to the “comes natural” part of the post and screenshots of the post circulated on Facebook with disapproving comments.

Aboud later posted on his Facebook on Tuesday apologising, but stating his post was “completely misinterpreted.”

‘I’m saying this with the utmost of sincerity, it was never meant or worded as a racial slur. But maybe it could of been communicated better. What I meant was that looting, rioting, assaults, innocent lives damaged, anarchy is not the answer or solution to any problem, the economy and lives that are affected would be your own,” Aboud said.

This story has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

On Blackout Tuesday, TT social media were outraged when Dianne’s Tea Shop posted a picture of a cake with the words “All Lives Matter” written in chocolate.

People were encouraged to post black squares on their social media profiles on Tuesday to show solidarity with the fight against police killing black people in the US, in line with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Dianne Hunt, owner of Dianne’s Tea Shop on Long Circular Road, Maraval, apologised for the "All Lives Matter" post, saying she had not known the negative connotation of the phrase.

“I would like to apologise for my unawareness that 'all lives matter' was contradictory to Black Lives Matter,” Hunt told Newsday on Tuesday.

The Black Lives Matter movement was founded in 2013 after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the man who shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was unarmed and wearing a hoodie.

#AllLivesMatter has been highly criticised as a term that detracts from reflecting on the racial injustice suffered by black people in the US.

Today, social media is flooded with black squares as a show of solidarity for Black Lives Matter.

Blackout Tuesday was started by the music industry in the US to convert social media to black squares. The reaction is in response to the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota last week. The killing has been followed by widespread protests and severe police clampdowns across the US.

Hunt, who later deleted the post, said the message was taken out of context.

“I was not aware of it, not in the Caribbean. Why would anyone want to go against 'all black lives matter'?”

She said the idea came from one of her staff.

“My waitress wrote it. It was a black girl who wrote it.”

Hunt said she posted the blackout post on her personal social media accounts, but as she owns a shop that sells tea, coffee and cakes, she would post her message on her products

“I’m a business. I have cake and coffee. On my personal page, I did it on my personal page. Am I schizophrenic…What I did was not the wrong thing. I fully support Black Lives Matter.”

She said her posts were made in love and she supports black lives.

“I would have to be an insane person…It was done in love…'All lives matter' was that. I’m supporting black lives. What type of human being I would be that I support the opposite? Black lives matter, 1,000 per cent.”

Fuad Abu Bakr, political leader of the New National Vision party, also posted #AllLivesMatter on Monday, adding: “At 12 noon today we protest by lying on the floor. We can’t breathe. Stop police abuse and killings #AllLivesMatter.”

He told Newsday he used "All Lives Matter" to locally contextualise and raise awareness of extrajudicial killings of Trinidadians by the police. He used "All Lives Matter" as most of the TT population are “mostly black” and there’s a problem with police killings in this country.