How Bay Area Food Businesses Are Celebrating Juneteenth | Eater SF

"Conceived as a community response to a widely publicized 2018 incident when a white woman called the police on a group of Black Oakland residents for having a legal barbecue near Lake Merritt, I describe BBQ’n While Black as an annual event co-founded by Jhamel Robinson that uses food as a medium to bring Black folks in Oakland together; a couple of weeks after that 2018 incident the community turned out in force—probably thousands—to throw meat on the grill, play music, and enjoy one another’s company. This year the group is staging “An Unapologetic Juneteenth Celebration” to offer the Black community a “rest day” for healing and gathering (June 20, 2–5 p.m.), with pandemic precautions in place: face masks will be mandatory and participants are discouraged from cooking on-site, though Robinson expects some people may still bring grills to pass out free food." - Luke Tsai