A Black Teen Was Assaulted After Criticizing a Confederate Flag at a Country Music Festival
When a black teenager saw three young men flying a Confederate flag from their pickup truck at a music festival, he spoke out. But they didn’t want to hear it, with one man jumping from the Ford and assaulting the teen, according to local police.
On Sunday night in Brownsville, Oregon, at the Willamette Country Music Festival — which featured artists including Lady Antebellum and Kid Rock — an argument broke out between the 18-year-old and three men driving through the festival’s camping area waving a large Confederate flag.
“The victim who was walking in the area yelled something to the males about their flag because he did not like it,” a press release put out by the Linn County Sheriff’s Office said. “One male jumped out of the pickup and he and the victim exchanged further name-calling. The suspect hit the victim several times and then drove off.”
The teen’s friends found him and called the police. He was taken to the hospital for non-life threatening injuries, according to the Associated Press.
According to the AP, Linn County authorities are investigating to see if the incident will qualify as a hate crime. The FBI defines a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.” It is notoriously difficult to prosecute even violent attacks as hate crimes given the high burden of proof for the charges.
The incident took place just before Kid Rock’s scheduled set and, as noted by the Ledger Enquirer, Confederate flags have been touted at Kid Rock concerts before — including by the artist himself.
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