Rather than celebrate the president’s birthday, many Twitter users chose to honour former president Barack Obama instead with the #AllBirthdaysMatter hashtag.
Several phrases began trending on Twitter early on Sunday in the US, including “Obama Day June 14th”, “Obama Appreciation Day”, “Obama Day USA” and “Happy Birthday Obama”, in addition to “All Birthdays Matter”.
In a time where true leadership is sorely lacking, at least we don’t have to think too far back to know what it feels like, looks like, sounds like, and truly is. We miss you President Obama. Enjoy your day! #ObamaDayJune14th #AllBirthdaysMatter #ObamaDayUSA pic.twitter.com/JxZMKOY0Bi
— Nolan Harrison III, MBA 🙅🏾♂️👑 (@NolanHarrison74) June 14, 2020
The “All Birthdays Matter” hashtag is a reference to the widely criticised phrase “All Lives Matter,” which was created in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Some critics of Black Lives Matter use to phrase to suggest it is discriminatory to focus on how black people are affected by racism.
“All Lives Matter” has typically been used to dismiss the support for black rights and has been denounced by many people.
A number of celebrities and politicians have joined the trend of celebrating ‘all birthdays’, including George Takei, Ken Jeong, Billy Baldwin and Paul Reuben (aka Pee-wee Herman).
Happy #ObamaDayUSA! @BarackObama, oh, how we miss you!!#ObamaDayJune14th #AllBirthdaysMatter pic.twitter.com/N0i6f6Opst
— Pee-wee Herman (@peeweeherman) June 14, 2020
Other people have used the #AllBirthdaysMatter hashtag to draw attention to the fact that the black Americans who have met early deaths at the hands of police have been denied the chance to have any more birthdays.
https://twitter.com/Naz_reality/status/1272238123762647040