OAKLAND, Calif. — Dozens of Oakland, California, residents knew just how to react to a viral video showing a white woman calling police on a black family for using a charcoal grill at a local park: They held a huge cookout of their own at the same park.
According to HuffPost, photos and videos of Thursday's party at Lake Merritt Park show the crowd peacefully celebrating in an apparent response to an April 29 dispute that was caught on camera. During that incident, a white woman called police on black men who were using a charcoal grill in a "non-charcoal" area of the park, KRON reported.
"She said that we were trespassing, we were not welcome, and then she turned back around and said, 'Y'all going to jail,'" Kenzie Smith told KRON.
In the video, recorded by Smith's wife, Michelle Snider, the woman claimed that her complaint had "nothing to do with race" and that she worried that children would burn themselves on the discarded coals. But many people weren't buying it.
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"I do believe the woman unfairly targeted them," one witness, Angela Williams, told HuffPost. "Others on the lake were grilling, and it's a common occurrence."