Black teen beats up white man for listening to rap music.

I would hope the state charges him and others in his little gang with hate crimes and use him as an example. This sort of behavior needs to be punished and if we must have hate crimes, use them whenever the crime fits.

If this was reversed with a white teen beating up a black man it would have been national news by now. It is just now getting some media.

The boy beat up the 22-year-old man because he didn't think white people should listen to rap music, police said. The man told WFTV he was listening to “Wasted” by Gucci Mane.

David McKnight did not fight back when 14-year-old Joshuah Lamb punched him in the face repeatedly, investigators said. Battery is the only charge Lamb faces, but he could face felony hate crime charges.

McKnight said he was listening to a CD when he was attacked by the teen. McKnight never thought listening to rap music would trigger a black teenager to beat him up because of the color of his skin and choice of music.

“I feel it's a racial thing really,” McKnight said (watch full interview)

According to Palm Bay Police, Lamb was walking down the sidewalk and heard McKnight’s boom box blaring a rap song.

“The argument involved the black male suspect saying, ‘You shouldn't be listening to rap music because you're white.’ The victim said he can listen to whatever type of music he wanted to and then the fist fight was on,” Palm Bay police spokeswoman Yvonne Martinez said.

“I couldn't get away fast enough, let’s just put it that way. Then one of them spit on me, punched me, knocked me down, got a couple of kicks in from a couple of them,” McKnight said.