I'm a black doctor. My neighbors called the cops on me for listening to Biggie.

[Lee-Lee]

18. So her entire complaint is that someone called about her loud music?

Really?

I have news for her- people call in noise complaints about loud music, loud cars, loud workers, loud kids, loud anything,

They do it all the time. On people of all races

It’s literally one of the most common complaints LE gets.

I worked as a deputy not far from Chapel Hill, and know lots of people that did and still do work there. The city is notorious for having lots of nit picky, oversensitive, will call and complain and expect the police to come out for the stupidest shit kind of residents.

Since I guess the author couldn’t be bothered to even find out what the noise law is and tell us, I looked it up for Chapel Hill:

http://studentlegalservices.web.unc.edu/legal-resources/legal-topics-index-2/noise-ordinance/

The Chapel Hill Noise Ordinance
The Town of Chapel Hill restricts the permitted noise level in residential areas to no more than forty-five (45) decibels at night (11:01 p.m. to 6:59 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, 12:01 a.m. through 6:59 a.m. Friday and Saturday) and no more than fifty (50) decibels during the day. The measurement is taken at any point on or beyond the property line from which the sound originates. However, there is a means for obtaining permission to exceed these levels for certain occasions.

Permits To Exceed The Permitted Noise Level
A person or group may apply for a permit, specific to the time (daytime hours of Friday or Saturday only) and place of a planned activity, to produce sound no more than ten (10) decibels in excess of the normal sound levels allowed. In considering the permit, the Town Manager may consider the time and nature of the activity, the timeliness of the application, the duration of the event, other activities in the vicinity of the location proposed, the frequency of the application, the effect of the activity on residential areas, previous experience with the applicant, and any previous violations. Moreover, the Town Manager must determine that the granting of the permit would have minimum or no impact on the surrounding area, or that the event is of a community-wide nature. You must apply seven (7) days prior to the event.

And there’s more: Permit holders agree to contact someone at every residential address within two hundred and fifty (250) feet of the property boundary of the site at least seventy-two (72) hours prior to its starting time. A signer of the permit must be available at the site of the event during the entire time for which the permit has been issued (to assist town officials in enforcing the ordinance).

Nuisance Noise
It is unlawful to create, cause or allow the continuance of any unreasonably loud noise, particularly during nighttime, which interferes with neighboring residents’ reasonable use of their properties. Nuisance noises include, but are not limited to, the following:

Yelling, shouting, whistling or singing
NOISY PARTIES
Repairing motor vehicles
Sound amplification equipment, television, or musical instruments
Explosives and fireworks
Security alarms (if unabated for twenty (20) minutes)
It is also unlawful to operate a vehicle sound system on public or private property, or a boom box on public property, if the sound is detectable more than thirty (30) feet from the source.

Violation Of The Noise Ordinance
A violation of the noise ordinance is punishable as a misdemeanor. It is cause for immediate revocation of a permit, and will prevent the violator from obtaining a permit to exceed noise limits for six (6) months.

There are many exceptions to the noise restrictions. Outdoor athletic events on campus, an official all-campus UNC event on campus (occurring no more than twice a year), street fairs, church bells, and similar reasonable activities are not affected.

Verified June 2011

That’s a very restrictive ordinance, to put it mildly. 50db during the day is a very quiet standard compared to most. 40db is the background sound level of a quiet officer and 60-65db is the sound level of normal conversation at 3 feet.

It is the quietest allowable noise level I’ve seen in any NC noise ordinance, in fact. That’s an insanely low noise threshold to set for a daytime violation. Literally if you were standing on the edge of your property and talking in a normal conventional tone it would constitute a violation of your voice was over 50db just inches away off the property line.

So if her music was audible at a level not even higher than a normal conversation at any point off her property than she was, in fact, in violation of the law. Evidently she either never bothered to learn what the law allowed for in her town or she knows and didn’t care. Or she learned afterwards, but just doesn’t bother to tell readers in her story.

So, while she’s certain this was about race, there really is zero evidence it is. And knowing the reputation for how many residents of Chapel Hill are, the odds are that in fact it wasn’t at all about race. They would have called just the same for loud music of any kind, because that’s how most of them that live there that are not students are.

Not everything is about race. When you breaking the law, even a stupid one, and the cops show up it’s probablh because you were breaking the law, not because you are black or brown.

Now, is it possible racial bias played a role here? Sure. But likely? Probably not. Are there any indications that racial bias at all came into play? None are presented. So the author makes claims of racial bias in her story without any supporting evidence yet leaves out some critical details that readers need to know like the fact that she live in an area where even marginally loud music is, in fact, illegal. So she makes it a point to lead readers in the direction she wants by leaving some important details out

The story is actually more about how the city passed an impossibility restrictive noise ordinance that essentially wants people to live in their own homes almost as quiet as monks. But, that’s the kind of shit that often goes down in Chapel Hill because that’s the kind of shit the bulk of the year-road residents want so they can call the cops anytime students or anyone else gets even the least bit loud or unruly.

Not everything is racial when the cops show up. Sometimes when you move to a place with a stupidly restrictive law and busybody neighbors and you proceed to break the law the cops show up because you were breaking the law. And they are probably just as exasperated to be going on another stupid noise complaint call in the middle of the day as you are to see them.

Edit: here is the more complete noise ordinance instead of the summary I posted above if anyone wants to see it all, but the relevant parts are in what I posted above. https://ilsr.org/rule/noise-pollution/2445-2/