CHARLOTTE, NC – The family of a teenage boy involved in a fight with a 15-year-old girl at Ardrey Kell High School is speaking out. The fight happened on March 7, 2025. Activists and family of the girl have been vocal about the incident, claiming she had been targeted for her race and Muslim fait h. They say she suffered broken bones in her face and a black eye and called for hate crime charges against the boy. The family of the boy says the incident has been mischaracterized and say it had nothing to do with culture or religion. They say the girl bullied their son, and she attacked him so he defended himself. The boy’s family released the following statement: This situation has been mischaracterized, as race, culture nor religion played a factor in the altercation. Instead, there was direct, incessant bullying by a female student which led to her physically assaulting our son. Despite his witnessed attempts to de-escalate her threatening actions for nearly ten minutes, she still chose violence – making it necessary for him to defend himself. As a family of color who works to raise our children with strong moral values, we can say with confidence of our son and from witnesses that no racially derogatory terms were used during this encounter, and the altercation was fully instigated by the female student. While we don’t condone physical violence, we also don’t condone our son being physically assaulted by anyone. However, what was ultimately a classroom fight between two students is now being positioned publicly as an opportunity by the female student’s family – using our son as leverage. Even as attempts have been made to mediate the conflict through mutual parties, those attempts have gone ignored while they continue to fuel a false narrative. As a result, not only has our son become collateral damage, but our family is also being harassed and threatened because of these mistruths. Nonetheless, we are thankful to the Charlotte Mecklenburg School District and the teachers and students for their support and willingness to come forward with witness statements. While we’re still working to gather this information for legal proceedings, it has allowed us to help uncover the truth about the incident. We are also grateful to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department for their support and protection of our family, and the Fruit of Islam and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg chapter of the NAACP who’ve worked to mediate the situation. While our faith in humanity is being tested, our faith in God keeps us grounded as a family, and we know that the truth will prevail.   ...read more read less