A 12-year-old boy is now facing felony charges after he allegedly attacked a Black girl because of her race. The 11-year-old girl — named Nevaeh Thomas — was reportedly playing with her friends at an apartment complex in Shawnee, Kansas when the boy — who has remained unidentified due to his age — used a racial slur against her.

According to Kansas City news outlet KSHB, Thomas responded to the slurs by saying, “my Black is beautiful,” and the boy hit her with a metal pipe. As previously reported by REVOLT, Thomas sustained serious injuries from the incident, including a concussion, stitches and a knocked out tooth.

Now, the boy — who is white — has been charged with felony aggravated battery and is currently under house arrest. Thomas spoke out about the traumatic incident during a press conference on Thursday (Sept. 3).

“All I want to say about this is the we need to stop hate and racism. It’s wrong, and it’s wrong to hurt people,” the preteen said. “I think kids need to get together and talk about racism. It’s ok if we’re different, we have different opinions — but it’s not ok to hate and judge each other on the color and skin.”

Thomas’ mother Brandi Stewart said she’s glad the boy has been charged in the incident, but hopes he gets help to address his violent tendencies.

“He’s only 12 years old. I want to believe that there is hope and that if he does get good help that he can learn from this incident and learn that hate and violence is not healthy,” she said. “We need to tell [our children] how expressions of hate can make others feel and how they can leave scars that last a lifetime. We need to make sure our children have healthy ways to resolve conflict, and we need to model these behaviors for them as best we can.”

Help out the mother and daughter through their GoFundMe page here.