Abstract
In 2018, a YouTuber captured a woman on video calling the
police on a Black family for having a barbecue in the park. It went viral. Within days,
the incident developed into a meme and the instigator, Jennifer Schulte, became
known as “BBQ Becky.” The public conversations that surfaced on social
media featured an image of Schulte on a cellphone reporting the innocuous
behaviors of Black people participating in various activities. This case
study examines BBQ-Becky themed memes shared on X (formerly Twitter) and how they framed
the incident. Our findings support the
idea that nontraditional platforms provide alternate messages than those found
in mainstream media.
