• Celebrity
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Black Beauty Awards 2022
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Sponsors Recognition Page 2022
    • Latest News
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2022 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • Wellness House
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United

WHERE BLACK WOMEN COME FIRST

Every day we're serving Black women deeply. Come get a plate of goodness! Sign up for daily content and exclusive offers you'll love!

Your email is required.
Your email is in invalid format.
Confirm email is required.
Email did not match.
By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and that you have read our Privacy Policy
Skip to content
SUBSCRIBE
  • MAGAZINE
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Celebrity
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
      • Paint The Polls Black
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Black Beauty Awards 2022
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Sponsors Recognition Page 2022
    • Latest News
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2022 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • Wellness House
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Home · News

Police Raid Black Woman's Home After White Neighbor Complains About Loud 'Islamic-Jihadist' Malcolm X Speeches

Mikisa Thompson said she no longer feels safe in her home.
Police Raid Black Woman’s Home After White Neighbor Complains About Loud ‘Islamic-Jihadist’ Malcolm X Speeches
Getty Creative Images
By Breanna Edwards · Updated October 23, 2020

Garner, North Carolina, police swarmed into a Black woman’s home and confiscated several of her belongings, all because a neighbor called 911 to complain about her playing Malcolm X speeches, which he described as “Islamic-Jihadist,” too loudly.

The incident took place last Thursday at around 10:00 p.m. when police approached Mikisa Thompson’s home, demanding that she and her family step outside, Indy Week reports.

“My children were terrified,” Thompson told the news site. “I was terrified that there was a whole bunch of men with guns in my house.” 

Officers reportedly spread out Thompson’s home and took a MacBook, HP laptop, computer monitor, computer speakers, seven iPhones and even an alarm clock, before issuing her a summons to appear in court on June 24.

Again, all of this over her allegedly violating the town’s noise ordinance, a decidedly non-emergency, and a misdemeanor that carries up to $500 fine, maximum.

They took all her devices that they deemed capable of producing loud, disruptive noise because Thomas’ neighbor complained about her playing the Malcolm X speeches too loudly.

“The raid was officially insane and based on an unconstitutional statute,” Thompson’s attorney, T. Greg Doucette told IndyWeek. “Doing a midnight raid with nine officers—over a noise ordinance, of all things—is a disproportionate show of force that shows there’s something else at play. That’s the type of overkill that’s intentionally designed to terrorize and punish people, not to actually do what’s necessary for enforcing the case.”

One of the 911 calls to complain about Muslim Preachings of Malcom X pic.twitter.com/VmqpV21L02

— MikisaThompson (@Blackmomrade) May 21, 2019

But this is not Thompson’s first time dealing with Garner police, who have come to her home multiple times due to the same neighbor’s complaints and have taken her property before.

The issue dates back to about April 22, when Don Barnette, the neighbor in question, complained about Thompson playing “loud Islamic-Muslim preaching,” in her backyard while she cleaned her patio.

Officers came over to her home three times that day, before ultimately fining her $50 for violating the noise ordinance and then getting a search warrant and taking her $250 stereo, which Thompson said she’s yet to get back.

Officers came back again on May 16 after Barnette complained about Thompson playing “amplified speech being projected by some sound amplification device.”

A decibel reading was never done to see how loud the speeches were actually being played, but according to IndyWeek there was no need for police to do so under the town’s noise ordinance. Thomas is accused of violating bans on “the creation of any unreasonably loud, disturbing and unnecessary noise … of such character, intensity, and duration as to be detrimental to the health and welfare of any individual.”

This is an issue, according to Durham lawyer Jonathan Jones, who specializes in First Amendment law, as it allows officers the discretion to determine whether a crime is, in fact, being committed and “creates a standard that is too flexible and therefore open to abuse.”

Thompson reported one of the instances in which police initiated contact after Barnette’s complained. In the video, you can hear the speeches going in the background, however, Thompson’s conversation with the officer remains clear.

Not too fond of Malcolm X? Watch as North Carolina cops issue a citation for the crime of playing his speeches on your own property. pic.twitter.com/gh4odIn3A2

— RIOT (@RIOT_Revolt) April 22, 2019

“Our officers did everything they could at the time to try and bring a peaceful conclusion to this issue before seizing the speaker,” Captain Joe Binns told the news site in an email. “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. And finally, when she continued the loud and unreasonable noise, a search warrant was obtained and the speaker was seized. While I cannot make an inference as to whether Mr. Barnette took issue with the content of the noise, our officers were only concerned about how loud the noise was and the fact that we had a valid noise complaint from a neighbor.”

Barnette claims that he and his family are victims of a “hate crime,” insisting that he’s not racist.

“I don’t have anything against any Black person that acts like they’ve got sense,” he told IndyWeek, claiming that Thompson was playing the speeches loud enough to wake him up at 7:15 a.m. (something Thompson denies).

“When it’s talking about killing white people and if you’re Black and you still work for a white man, you’re a slave, all that kind of stuff, I don’t need to hear that,” Barnette says. “My grandkids don’t need to hear that mess.”

“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,’” Thompson told IndyWeek in response. “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.”

Since the raid, Thompson has said she fears for her life, and she and her family have since moved to a hotel.

TOPICS:  Black pride Garner living while black Malcolm X Mikisa Thompson North Carolina
COMPANY INFORMATION
  • Our Company
  • Customer Service
  • Essence Ventures
  • Change Your Address
  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Internships
  • Media Kit
  • tag
SUBSCRIBE
  • Newsletters
  • Give a Gift of ESSENCE
  • Magazine Tablet Edition
FOLLOW US
MORE ON ESSENCE
  • Home
  • Love
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Fashion
  • ESSENCE festival

ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

Essence may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

©2023 ESSENCE Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Essence.com Advertising Terms

Get The ESSENCE Newsletter and
Special Offers delivered to your inbox

By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get The ESSENCE Magazine
by subscribing below
subscribe now