We’ve added yet another activity to a growing list of things we can’t do while black.
According to Indy Week, at about 10:00 pm last Thursday, Garner police officers arrived at Mikisa Thompson’s home demanding that she step outside after her white neighbor, Don Barnette, called 911 to complain that Thompson was playing Malcolm X speeches loudly, which he deemed to be a hate crime.
A white neighbor had called 911, and #GarnerPolice say Mikisa Thompson, who was listening to #MalcomX speeches, violated a noise ordinance—a misdemeanor. Thompson's speakers, iPhones, and computers were seized. https://t.co/IpRW6zNJ80 pic.twitter.com/WgqB5Xk4r8
— INDY Week (@indyweek) May 22, 2019
“There was no provocation or warning,” Thompson told the media outlet. “They were watching the house all day. Garner PD wants to kill me.”
According to Thompson, police took a laptop, a computer monitor and speakers, at least seven iPhones, a Macbook, an alarm clock and charging cables.
Thompson was told that she had violated the noise ordinance in the city and was given a court summons.
https://twitter.com/Blackmomrade/status/1130843471605129217
However, this was not the first time Barnette made a complaint. In April he reportedly called 911 stating that Thompson played “loud Islamic-Muslim preaching” in her backyard. Officers that time, fined Thompson $50 and took her stereo.
Barnette claims he feels like he and his family are “victims of hate crime” because Thompson played the Malcolm X speeches. Police claim the speakers were pointed at his home. One officer said he could hear the noise coming from Thompson’s property line.
“Our officers did everything that they could at the time to try and bring a peaceful conclusion to this issue before seizing the speaker,” Garner police Cpt. Joe Binns told IndyWeek. “First, we warned Ms. Thompson and asked her to turn it down. When she refused and received a second complaint, we issued her a citation for violation of the ordinance.”
Thompson believes the incident is racially charged.
“The victim of a hate crime is picking up the phone on black people whose only crime that you can detect is that they are playing Islamic speeches,” she argued. “They are filled with hate because it’s a strong black voice and it’s Islamic preaching. All you know is it was loud, it was black, and it was somebody proud of being black, and you wanted to put it to an end.”
Thompson has been charged with a class 3 misdemeanor and faces a $500 fine.
