(RNN) – A white woman called police on a black family barbecuing in an Oakland park last weekend, because they were using a charcoal grill in the wrong part of the park.
After two black men were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks despite not doing anything except sitting in the coffee shop, incidents in places ranging from Waffle House to Yale University have taken on a high profile.
In this case, the police gave no citations and made no arrests, KRON reported.
Kenzie Smith was cooking in the park around Lake Merritt in Oakland, as he has long done with his family, when he was approached by the woman who called the police.
“She said that we were trespassing, we were not welcome, and then she turned back around and said, ‘Y’all going to jail,’” Smith told KRON.
According to a park map, there are six designated locations for charcoal grilling. The group were grilling in a non-designated location.
Smith however said he had “seen people barbecue with charcoal for years” in the area.
“I’ve never known it to be a distraction or a problem,” he added.
Smith’s wife, Michelle Snider, who is white, recorded the incident.
“I think we need to question the policies that made this woman feel like she had the right to harass people,” Snider told KRON.
An Oakland City Council member, Lynette Gibson McElhaney, told the station that she wanted to encourage people “to know when to call the police” and that “it is really incumbent on all of us that when we call police, it is for emergency purposes.”
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