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When an Oakland community was hit with a low blow, they turned the music right on up.

Just two weeks after a white woman called the cops on a black family attempting to have a barbecue on April 29, 2018, at Lake Merritt Park in Oakland, California, local residents responded by throwing an enormous cookout at the site, complete with music, food, dancing, and pure, unadulterated black joy.

This how we feel about mad ass Oakland gentrifiers

Social media users captured the beautiful display of unity with parkgoers smiling, dancing, laughing, and "Electric Slide"-ing their way straight past the shackles of pervasive American racism.

The jubilant event came on the heels of a much less joyful event in the local park. Two weeks earlier, a white woman had gotten uncomfortable with a black family grilling along the waterfront. When the family refused to follow her orders to leave, the woman called the police and even accused one of the women at the park of harassing her. Oakland city council member Lynette Gibson McElhaney was one of the many local leaders who called the incident what it was: blatant racism.

"Police are not private security for any white person that's offended by the presence of black folks in our public spaces," McElhaney told HuffPost.

This incident is just one of the many recent events where black people have been harassed for — well — being black.

Earlier in May, someone called the police on a black Yale University student who was napping in her dorm's common area. In April, two black men were arrested during a business meeting at Starbucks for "trespassing." Bob Marley's granddaughter Donisha Prendergast was recently harassed by police while she was leaving her Airbnb. And these are just the documented events.

Bottom line: Leave black people alone, please and thanks.

While black Americans' ability to go high when others go low is pretty much unmatched, it's not an ability black Americans should have to use. By and large, all of the individuals who were harassed above were trying to live their everyday lives like everyone else. Our nation must stop viewing people that look different as "other," and it must stop criminalizing blackness.

When black Americans are constantly harassed, abused, and bothered simply by being black in their jobs, schools, and neighborhoods, we foster a society that is unsafe and unwelcoming, further creating a nation divided and a culture of divisiveness. This country deserves better, and black people deserve better, too.

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Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o isn't happy with her latest magazine cover, and for good reason.

Appearing on the cover of Grazia, a U.K.-based fashion magazine, Nyong'o couldn't help but notice that something was missing from the original photoshoot: namely, her hair. The image as it appears in the magazine erases an entire section of Nyong'o's hair and smooths the rest of it.

Nyong'o took to her social media accounts to vent her frustration with the decision to take such creative liberties, writing on Instagram that she was "disappointed" in the outlet for trying to box her into their ideal of beautiful hair.

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The first racist tattoo Michael Kent got were the words "white pride," spanning the top of his back.

GIF via ABC News.

Then came the two swastikas — one in the center of his chest — that stained his skin for over 20 years, ABC News reported.

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Tennis legend Serena Williams welcomed her first child, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. on Sept. 1. And no surprise, she is one sweet baby.

I mean, seriously? Too cute.

While Williams has been adjusting to her new role, she took a moment to write a letter to her own mother expressing her gratitude and admiration.

Originally posted to Reddit, Serena's letter kicks off with amazement at how her mom managed to keep such a cool head when she saw her daughters criticized and judged harshly in the media for their strong, capable, powerful bodies and commanding performances on the court. Over the years, some have even suggested Williams play with men and accused her of using performance-enhancing drugs.

Photo by William West/AFP/Getty Images.

Such jealousy, misogyny, and thinly veiled racism in response to a job well done would be enough to break anyone's spirit — but imagine if it happened to you. Or worse, your child.

"I don't know how I would react if [Alexis] has to go through what I've gone through since I was a 15 year old and even to this day," Williams wrote. "But mom, I'm not sure how you did not go off on every single reporter, person, announcer and quite frankly, hater, who was too ignorant to understand the power of a black woman."

Wiliams' mother, Oracene Price, watches as Williams plays Wimbledon in 2016. Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images.

Because women, (athletes or otherwise) should never be limited or defined by narrow standards of beauty.

Six-pack or soft rolls, fat or slim, with or without physical limitations, there is no "wrong way" for women, black women in particular, to look or feel strong. We are strong simply by virtue of existing in a world that would rather we not.

"I am proud we were able to show them what some women look like," Williams wrote. "We don't all look the same. We are curvy, strong, muscular, tall, small, just to name a few, and all the same: we are women and proud!"

Photo by Paul Crock/AFP/Getty Images.

But as confident and capable as Williams is, she's not too strong to ask for help.

Motherhood is already a tough job, and raising a child in the public eye won't make it any easier. She may be a superhero on the court, but even the strongest among us know it's OK to get support from the people we love.

"Promise me, Mom, that you will continue to help. I'm not sure if I am as meek and strong as you are yet. I hope to get there one day," she wrote.

Whoever you lean on, whoever you trust and value — it's never a bad time to let them know and say thanks.

My Mom

A post shared by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) on

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