Two weeks ago, a woman made the news when she called police on a black family who had been BBQing at Lake Merrit in Oakland.
Turns out, she is harassing him about bbq’ing on the lake….where everyone bbqs. pic.twitter.com/GooQfDcJ1j
— #BlackLivesMatter (@ajwftw) April 29, 2018
The incident took place on April 29th of this year and was captured on film by Michelle Snider. The woman seen on film harassing the family seems to have been incensed that they were using a charcoal grill in the lake’s non-charcoal zone— an offense that was clearly worthy of police intervention.
If you haven’t seen the video yet, you can watch it here:
So i walk over to him and introduce myself and let him know I would be standing by as she calls the cops just so he isn’t alone and I can be a witness to her harassment. pic.twitter.com/y93rlKuhPV
— #BlackLivesMatter (@ajwftw) April 29, 2018
Many who have seen the clip, including Oakland councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney, have identified the woman’s reaction as what it was: a thinly veiled instance of racism.
In an interview with the Huffington Post, McElhaney even went so far as to state: “In a city that needs significant policing services, we can’t have those precious expensive resources squandered in a frivolous way.”
“Police are not private security for any white person that’s offended by the presence of black folks in our public spaces.”
Many of the videos emerging in recent weeks seem to fit this trend, where visible minorities get the cops called on them for doing absolutely nothing wrong. For example, for sitting at Starbucks, for leaving an Airbnb, for napping on campus, and even attending a college tour. It seems many people have a problem with minorities simply living their lives.
Since the Oakland incident, the local community has decided to fight back— and the result is a heartwarming show of joy, acceptance, and unity.
Two weeks after the original incident hit the news, huge numbers of black Oakland residents gathered at Lake Merrit Park to throw a cookout— complete with music, food, and dancing. A video, posted by Michael Swanson Jr., shows the crowd grooving and laughing together. Alongside it, he writes: “This is how we feel about mad ass Oakland gentrifiers.”
It’s so beautiful to see a community joining to fight the racism that we still witness every day. When our minorities are harassed and abused simply for going about their daily lives, something needs to change.
Quite frankly, they deserve better— and I think we all do too.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
How Black Oakland responds to a white lady calling the cops on Black folks BBQing… pic.twitter.com/kRdJpnmXQ2
— Brotha B (@BlakeDontCrack) May 11, 2018
