Black man who #BBQBecky called police about will run for office
Just call this a classic case of becoming the change after a man who had the cops called on him by a white woman for grilling in an Oakland park, announces that he’s now running for city council.
Kenzie Smith was nominated by an Oakland council member for a seat on Oakland’s Park and Recreation Advisory Committee. Smith made headlines after Jennifer Schulte, aka #BBQBecky called 911 to report he was using a charcoal grill.
The experience was apparently a teachable moment for Smith and it propelled him to take action and officially declare his candidacy. According to Mother Jones, he’s now securing signatures and asking for donations to his campaign as well as begun the process to get a staff in place.
Smith told Mother Jones his platform will focus on homelessness and renters’ rights, education and youth employment. The community activist has a heart for the homeless and has organized several drives for the homeless and school children.
#BBQBecky, who called the cops on Smith, became the butt of jokes all over social media with memes showing her calling the police on the dancers on Soul Train, Rosa Parks and even Martin Luther King Jr.
The other white lady who recorded the video immediately saw that it was problematic and said: “This is exactly what is the problem with Oakland today. This lady wants to sit here and call the police on them for having a barbecue at the lake as if this is not normal.”
—White woman caught on video calling police over Black woman smoking in her own apartment garage—
Oakland Mayoral candidate Cat Brook had a few choice words for #BBQBecky saying:
“When you engage law enforcement in these kinds of things you are opening the door for things to go very wrong, the potential for arrests like in Philadelphia with those two black men or worse physical assault or death and I don’t believe in this day and age that white folks don’t know that.”
