Toby Keith Concert Arrest Over Race Issues
New Jersey police say a Toby Keith concert attendee was arrested Saturday for charges associated with racism.
Darren Walp attended the country music concert at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden. The venue is located near the Royal Court Apartments that many diverse cultures and minorities call home.
On Saturday, the 33-year-old Toby Keith fan was taken into custody after climbing a fence into the nearby housing complex and waving a Confederate flag while shouting racial slurs at residents, according to the Associated Press.
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Walp is charged with bias intimidation, harassment and criminal trespassing. The Ridley Park, Penn. resident is in the Camden County Jail on bail for $5,000.
While it is uncertain if Walp has a lawyer, Camden County Police Chief Scott Thompson said he has requested federal prosecutors to review the case and possibly take over, reported AP.
Today's headlines include many issues that are leading back to racial tensions.
On Monday, opening statements in George Zimmerman's trial began in Florida. Zimmerman, a multi-racial Hispanic American, is charged with fatally shooting an unarmed 17-year-old African American named Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26, 2012.
The victim's parents and the media have alleged that the crime was motivated by racism on behalf of both Zimmerman and the police involved, but the intense media coverage has often been inaccurate.
"George Zimmerman, for whatever reasons, [racially] profiled," the Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump previously said. "He made a conscious decision to get out of his car and pursue Trayvon, who was unarmed, and shot him in the heart, and Trayvon is not here to tell us his version."
Also making headlines today is Food Network star Paula Deen who has been dropped from the network as well as many endorsement deals this week.
The Southern food expert admitted in court that she had used racial slurs and jokes that denigrate African Americans.
As a result, Deen is struggling to cope with allegations that she and people associated with her have mistreated African Americans, women and other groups.
