Some Pictures

Ok now I get it…

LINK: https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2018/05/14/lake-merritt-bbq-confrontation-sparks-protests/

OAKLAND — A confrontation that went viral when someone complained to police about a group of black people barbecuing at Lake Merritt is sparking protests this week and reigniting a new-versus-old residents debate.
Demonstrators plan to gather at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in front of City Hall for a “Grill Your Government” protest and for a “BBQ’N While Black” event Sunday on Lakeshore Avenue, the site of the controversy attracting national attention.
Those planning to attend Tuesday’s protest in Frank Ogawa Plaza are asked to “wear cookout clothes, bring grills, but mostly, demand a response for this abuse of city services,” according to the event flie

protests are in response to a white woman’s April 29 call to Oakland police to report a black family barbecuing on Lakeshore Avenue near Cleveland Cascade. A video of the woman calling and waiting for police to arrive has gone viral and received criticism that it was racially motivated and is another example of gentrification in Oakland.
“People have had enough. The gentleman who was approached at the lake was minding his own business,” said Jhamel Robinson, founder of The Real Oakland and one of the organizers of Sunday’s event. “Whatever laws are in place … that lady had no reason to mess with them.”

the video, the unidentified woman is heard saying she called police because the family was using a charcoal grill in an area where only non-charcoal barbecues are allowed. A person who shot the video questioned whether she called authorities because the family is black, which the woman denied. Police later arrived and did not ticket or arrest anyone.
The daytime confrontation is not the first controversy at Lake Merritt, which has become a more popular destination since bond measure money improved it. Anti-cruising signs along Lakeshore Avenue date back to the 1990s. In 2015, another white resident called police on black and Latino people drumming near the pergola and colonnade.
Because of growing crowds and environmental concerns, a committee of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department designed rules involving barbecues, installing charcoal grills on the Grand Avenue side. Stationary grills were placed behind Children’s Fairyland, near the Sailboat House on Bellevue Avenue and a pit farther down Bellevue near Staten Avenue.
Pamela Drake of the Lakeshore Business Improvement District said the city was resistant to putting charcoal barbecues on Lakeshore Avenue and the grassy knoll on Hanover Avenue.
“I understand why you can’t use charcoal on grass,” said Drake, a member of a special committee who toured the lake when the city selected designated areas. “If people are going to barbecue anyway, why make something for people to fight over? Give people the opportunity to do what they want and don’t give people the chance to come down on them.”
Councilwoman Lynette Gibson McElhaney, whose district includes Adams Point, said the incident is another example of explicit or implicit bias attracting national headlines.
On April 30 — a day after the Lake Merritt confrontation — a white mother called police on two Native American teenage brothers who had joined a campus tour of Colorado State University, causing outrage. At Yale University, a woman called campus police on a black graduate student who fell asleep in a common area while working on a paper.
Also last month, two African-American men were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks for allegedly trespassing after one of the men had asked to use the restroom.
“It’s just unacceptable,” Gibson McElhaney said. “If someone is concerned about enforcement, the appropriate thing to do is file a complaint. What we don’t want is this kind of intimidation or interruption that could escalate in a negative way.”
“It’s a historic pattern and we are tired of it,” added Candice Elder, founder and executive director of East Oakland Collective. “We are slowly losing a large essence of Oakland culture.”
Robinson, who is organizing “BBQ’N While Black” with Logan Cortez, said he was expecting “25 people to barbecue, listen to music and go home.” The event so far has about 1,500 shares on Facebook.
“(I want) everybody, all races to come together and hold space at the lake, have a good time and spread love,” Robinson said Monday. “It’s not about black or white, it’s about one Oakland family, one