North Yorkshire restaurant owner opens up about racist abuse
A crowdfunding pages has been launched to support Big Maya's Jerk restaurant
Last updated 28th Mar 2024
A North Yorkshire business owner says racist trolls have been targeting her and her restaurant.
Maya Mihoc runs Big Maya's Jerk in Scarborough.
As well as sending horrendous comments online they've been making fake bookings and even smashed her front window.
She's launching a crowdfunding page to help pay for extra security and get the restaurant back open: Maya says she's hoping to raise £13,000 and tells us what the money will be used for: "The replacement of our vandalised window, get better CCTV cameras in place and obviously pay our debts, unfortunately we owe quite a lot to suppliers, I need to get some shutters as well to protect the restaurant and just get back on track really."
"It's been a really really tough time and this will be a chance for us to start fresh, from zero, to serve our community to the best of our ability overall. We are fortunate enough to have the community behind us and they want us to be here."
But Maya says the abuse she's received is taking a toll on her mental health: "You feel like you have to defend yourself at all times...but I feel like I've done, in the short time I've been here, I've probably done more for the community than the people themselves and they are trying to portray me as something I'm not."
"I wake up everyday thinking I have another day of fight in me, but it's kind of hard in that every single day you just get something that is microaggression or micro racism or passive aggressive and it's like you try to choose your battles."
"Those words they hurt my feelings and as much as I am resilient I sometimes go to sleep thinking about it, which is not healthy and I am only human after all. I want people to understand that."