Another all-too familiar situation.
In April, Kenzie Smith told KRON-TV a white woman called police after telling him and his family, who were enjoying a barbeque at Lake Merritt in Oakland, that they couldn’t use charcoal grill in the BBQ zone. Then she became irate and Smith told Panther Times that she used the N-word and said they were trespassing and going to jail.
Per Newsweek, “an official Oakland Park and Rec map of the area around Lake Merritt shows six designated barbecue areas, three stationary charcoal locations and three non-charcoal portable grill locations.”. Snider was using the wrong grilling location at the time but he says he has seen people use charcoal in that spot for years.
Even still, calling the law is overboard.
Oakland City Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney went on Facebook and made a statement:
I think it is really incumbent on all of us that when we call police, it is for emergency purposes. I want to encourage people to know when to call the police, when to raise a question of regulations with the city council, maybe there is a passive way to reach out to us
Watch the incident on the next page.
