Oakland Rises After BBQ Becky

The woman, appropriately nicknamed BBQ Becky, who called the cops on Black people enjoying a barbecue in Oakland, California is still losing. After endless memes and commentary, people in Oakland packed Lake Merritt yesterday afternoon for a full blown barbecue, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

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BBQ’n While Black organizer Logan Cortez, 28, planned yesterday’s barbecue after seeing the video of the woman who is allegedly Jennifer Schlute calling the police on Kenzie Smith and Onsayo Abram for barbecuing. Her friend Jhamel Robinson, also 28, designed a flier, posted it on social media and it was shared over 2500 times. Expecting a huge crowd and wanting to avoid any other BBQ Beckys, they spent $700 of their own money for a city permit. Cortez told the San Francisco Chronicle, “Unlike the civil rights movement, we aren’t fighting for our rights. Now we’re fighting for the right to simply live within the law.”

The barbecue started at 11:30 a.m. but, reports the Chronicle, “by 2 p.m., a quarter-mile curl of the lake had blossomed into a street party several thousand strong. Half clasped paper plates and Solo cups; the other half filled the sidewalk, surveying the scene and calling across the green to friends. Motorcycles, dancers, drummers, spinning selfie-takers and food trucks all showed up to transform the site of an outrage back into a celebration of a sunny Sunday.”

See the photos below of some joyful Black boy and girl magic.