Michelle Snider could not stand idly by and let this happen to innocent men.
The woman who stood up to a white woman who called police on two black men grilling at Lake Merritt Park in Oakland, California has spoken out about the incident for the first time.
Michelle Snider posted a YouTube video detailing the moments leading to her nearly 20 minute encounter with the woman whose been nicknamed BBQ Becky. In the now-viral video, Snider follows the unidentified woman after her 911 call.
On April 29, Snider recorded the woman as she tried to disrupt a BBQ. She claimed that the two men were not allowed to barbecue in a specific region of the park with a charcoal grill.
Snider was in the park with her husband that Sunday and felt obligated to step in on the men’s behalf. Police came out and no citations were given, but BBQ Becky has become infamous for being one of many white people to call police on black people during mundane activities.
Weeks following the video’s release, memes, protest barbecues, “Saturday Night Live” sketches and a hunt for BBQ Becky’s real identity, which has yet to be confirmed, spurred forth. Snider revealed in her latest video posted May 20 that during the confrontation the woman took Snider husband’s business card, which showed he worked as fire-safety expert.
She feared that the woman would try to get her husband fired. A very concerned Snider, who could be heard repeatedly asking for the woman to return the card, said it was never returned.
“No, I did not get the card back,” Snider said in the video.
She said she captured that video in an attempt to call out a systematic issue she noticed in Oakland for a while.
“I hear the other stories where people try to target black people in Oakland. … It’s seems like there’s a call to arms to try to get people arrested,” she said.
“If I hadn’t done that, I don’t know what would have happened to them,” Snider added.
Her newfound fame hasn’t come without its problems though. Snider said she has been trolled online, her home address has become public and someone has dug through her trash. But she is constantly reminded that she did the right thing and will not break to pressure.
Here is her full story below:
