Urgent need for legal fees

My name is Cyndy Phillips and I need your help for Miriam Kovacs. She’s fighting a difficult, emotionally draining and financially destructive fight for all of us. No amount is too small, together we can support big changes.

Miriam, the chef and owner of Broken Spoon, and I became fast friends the summer of July 2022 when she was frantically posting to instagram and facebook asking friends and family to post positive reviews in attempts to curb the rapid degradation of her honestly earned 5-star google rating.

Miriam had reposted information for a peaceful counterprotest to crowd out hate after a group of white nationalists attempted to recruit new members and intimidate innocent families and bystanders by holding a banner reading: KEEP NEW ENGLAND WHITE outside Kittery Trading Post in Maine- within 48 hours Miriam's restaurant received at least 100 false 1-star reviews, many alluding to the Holocaust or including racist and/or homophobic remarks. Miriam is Jewish, the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor.

Phone calls, threats and more reviews came in the following days and weeks.

Read this excerpt from the recent Boston Globe article for what happened next because typing it brings me to angry tears.

“She reported the harassment to the Franklin police. An officer prepared an initial report, but Kovacs said police failed to treat her case with the seriousness it warranted, and she said the response from city leaders has focused more on rhetoric than action.

Her criticism of the department drew a public rebuke from police Chief David Goldstein, who posted a 379-word statement on Facebook in February that named Kovacs and accused her of wrongly implying that the city had taken no action in response to her compliant”

The CHIEF OF POLICE literally retaliated on Facebook and a day later she had a personal note from Ryan Murdough, a

white supremacist who founded the New England White Network. Months prior during a recorded and publicly available city council meeting the MAYOR, CHIEF and another CITY COUNCIL MEMBER said Miriam was “two faced” and had “a mouth like a thug”.

The harassment has continued for a year from not only multiple white supremacy groups but the city in which she resides.

Knowing without visibility and legal action she and others would continue to fall prey to the corrupt and cruel organizations of Franklin, NH, Miriam made a brave and terrifying decision. She is suing the the city, police, mayor, city manager and city council.

What else can you do when you no longer feel safe or welcomed in a town she has made her home? We have to hold the people that protect and serve us responsible.

I am imploring you to donate what you can for a fight that costs you and I very little but could help set a precedent for others facing the same abuse.

We have to take a stand against white supremacy and the organizations protecting and furthering their agenda.