‘Rude, Demeaning, Hateful’: Louisiana University Cop Scolds Black Student for Confronting Racist Neighbors—Until the Doorbell Cam Told the Real Story
Two young Black co-eds at Louisiana State University were stretched to their limits by the racism of their next-door neighbors, two white women who also attend LSU. At a building near campus, a woman known online as “its.zavia” and her roommate endured hateful words screamed through a shared apartment wall and an unhinged racist rant that the harassers flat-out denied when the police got involved. But a doorbell camera caught it all on tape. Now, a series of videos documenting the saga has exploded on TikTok, with some 11.5 million collective views within just two days. A video screenshot show a Louisiana State University student yelling at a doorbell camera. (Photo: Instagram/ abolitionheritage) In the videos, you could feel the exhaustion of the Black students as they watched their neighbors feign innocence and encountered police officers who were initially dismissive. One Black officer, however, changed his tune once he saw the video evidence, and now the students are hoping to find peace—and some justice. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Abolition Heritage (@abolitionheritage) In the first video, two white students are returning to their apartment at night when one of them yells into the doorbell camera of her Black neighbor. “It’s f-cked up, and that’s why their culture is f-cked up. And I don’t care. Their culture is f-cked up,” she said before bending over in laughter. One of the students immediately opened the door to ask if they were talking to her camera. Through giggling, the women denied screaming and then ordered their neighbor to “go inside.” Later in the evening, the doorbell cam recorded audio of one woman screeching, “dumb as f-ck” and “dumb !” through the apartment walls. @its.zavia Just caught onto new audio listening to the first video. It sounds like she says "dumb ngers, dumb as f**k." But, "it's not personal."#racistoftheday #lsutigers #LSU #fypシ゚viral🖤tiktok ♬ original sound - Umm🤔 Later, Zavia intercepted the main harasser outside of their units and confronted her with the video evidence. Relishing the moment, she captioned the “gotcha” video: “Had to let them know they went viral.” The clip now has 2.4 million views. The denials came fast and furious from the two women. “I wasn’t talking about you,” said one. “Why would I say something rude to you in the camera? I wouldn’t,” she added, despite being filmed. Her roommate claimed the slurs weren’t “personal” and she just wanted the argument to “be over with,” according to Zavia. At one point, one of the women stated that they were referring to the general culture of Baton Rouge, a city that just so happens to have a majority African-American population. The two Black students weren’t about to let this incident slide. They reportedly called the police six different times. But they didn’t get the reaction they hoped for at first. In one video, a Black police officer chides Zavia for opening her door and engaging with her neighbors. “Can she get to you through a closed door? Absolutely not. When you present yourself to her and you all start fighting, you were the aggressor because you opened up that door,” he said. Another officer agreed, “You were safe behind your door; instead, you engaged.” Despite the "preposterous" victim-blaming, the officers stated that they would investigate a charge of disturbing the peace. Later, after viewing the videos, the Black officer confronted the alleged harassers on their doorstop, warning them to stop, but they shut the door on him, saying they would only speak through an attorney. He told Zavia that if she experienced “rude, demeaning, hateful, racist things” again, the neighbor would be arrested for harassment. Zavia planned to file a restraining order on Oct. 6. “I love it, speak up enough is enough! They think the bullying is ok, IT’S NOT!” cheered a commenter on TikTok. People applauded Zavia and her roommate for “calling it what it is: They’re racist and they didn’t want to hear that.” In the last clip, the next-door neighbor can be seen making her exit, loaded down with duffel bags, apparently moving out. “The hoodie UP lol. She’s done being on camera.” It was the ending most viewers were hoping for.
