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Man Who BBQ Becky Called Police On Runs For Office To Fight Racism

Kenzie Smith is building a campaign team in his run for Oakland City Council.

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Kenzie Smith, who stepped onto the national stage with the BBQ Becky incident, jumped into an Oakland City Council race to advance his fight for equality.

See Also: Oakland Has Another Message For BBQ Becky: You can’t keep Black folks down.

Smith filed documents on June 25 to run for the City Council’s District 2 seat, held by incumbent Abel Guillén, the East Bay Citizen reported.

The idea to run for office came at a fundraiser called Youth Awards in San Francisco, Smith told Dope Era Magazine, a music and culture publication he co-owns. A group of young people asked him after the event how they could help.

“I told them to vote, and they were like for who? They said if I run, they’ll vote for me. That was a doubled edged sword for me to run because I had the younger generation’s attention,” Smith stated. “If this is what will get them out there to vote, then I have to run.”

The nation first met Smith when a viral video showed Jennifer Schulte, a white woman later dubbed BBQ Becky, calling the Oakland police on Smith and his family in April because they were using a charcoal grill in a local park. It was one in a string of instances of white people calling 911 on African Americans for no good reason.

The race, which has an August 10 deadline for potential candidates to enter the competition, is beginning to take shape. Smith joins housing activist Nikki Bas Fortunato, who’s also competing for Guillén’s seat. The incumbent appears vulnerable because Bas Fortunato has amassed $43,000 in donations the first two months of her campaign.

Oakland uses the ranked-choice voting system, an automatic runoff method in which voters rank their top three candidates. It is the process which almost tripped up San Francisco’s first Black female mayor London Breed.

Smith has been an activist since 2000 in the areas of housing and homelessness. He also plans to focus his attention on education and jobs for youth. So far, he’s receiving support from his community.

“I have someone that stepped up to take care of the social media. Other people have stepped up, and I really thought I was going to be doing this by myself. They want to see me win. They want to see Oakland change,” he told Dope Era.

SEE ALSO:

Black Man Nearly Shot And Killed After T-Mobile Employees Call The Police

Uber Driver Calling Cops On Elaine Welteroth Is Another Reason To Support Black-Owned Ride-Sharing Apps

Oakland BBQ

Before 2018 Closes, Let's Revisit The Meme Hilarity Of BBQ Becky

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Before 2018 Closes, Let's Revisit The Meme Hilarity Of BBQ Becky

Continue reading Before 2018 Closes, Let’s Revisit The Meme Hilarity Of BBQ Becky

Before 2018 Closes, Let's Revisit The Meme Hilarity Of BBQ Becky

On April 29, Jennifer Schulte made internet history when she decided to call the police on Black people at a barbecue.  She will now and forever be known as BBQ Becky, a nickname which led to some of the best memes of 2018. SEE ALSO: Some No Name, Pitchy R&B Singer Disrespected Keith Sweat And Gets Demolished On Twitter In case you missed it, BBQ Becky called 911 because Black people were barbecuing with charcoal in Oakland, California at Lake Merritt. However, the police did not come — she claims she waited two hours. In the 911 call, the dispatcher says, “Are you living in the park or something? Why can’t you separate yourself?” Schulte also refused to give out her race, although she willingly disclosed the race of the people she called the cops on, saying repeatedly, “My race doesn’t matter!” The dispatcher says her race matters and asks if she has ever been to a mental facility. BBQ Becky said she was being followed, but you can repeatedly hear Michelle Snider, the woman who filmed the video, demanding BBQ Becky return her husband’s business card, which she denied having on the call (though she clearly had in the card in the video).  See the video below: https://youtu.be/7jxfgcDzjoQ Twitter had a field day with BBQ Becky. Revisit the hilarity below:

Man Who BBQ Becky Called Police On Runs For Office To Fight Racism  was originally published on newsone.com

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