Help Maya Get Legal Support

Hello beautiful people,

I hope you're doing well and that you're surrounded by love. With much hesitation and encouragement, I have decided to create this GoFundMe as a desperate plead for help. My name is Maya Moody and I am a 24 year old college student looking for financial assistance that will help me: move into a safe living environment,  pay my college tuition, pursue legal counsel, and buy myself a car. This money will also help me launch my (very) small business, Maya’s Manes. Although it is not easy for me to ask for assistance of any kind, I recognize that I as a black woman need to be able to ask for help and rely on the community around me. It is very difficult for me to admit I am not okay, because I would much rather make sure those around me are taken care of. However, I am creating this page in an attempt to stop suffering in silence and learn to accept help.

After much struggle and hardship, I am in my last year of undergrad with an expected graduation date of Spring 2021! It has been a very long and difficult journey for me, but I have persevered through many shortcomings and have almost reached my goal! Just because it takes you a little longer does not mean you failed, and I am excited to finish this chapter of my life. I am a double major, with concentrations in Biology and Computer Information Systems. After graduation, I aspire to become a dentist, and my dream is to travel around the world providing free dental care in low income areas. I have a very deep passion and love for helping others, and I am very active in my community, often teaching Sunday school to small children (prior to COVID-19), and volunteering with organizations teaching young black girls how to code. I hope to use my concentration in CIS to teach young black children more about technology and provide them with quality equipment. However, due to a recent encounter, I fear my plans for the future may be deterred once again, as my name has been unjustly slandered publicly for over 1 full month (and counting). Please respect my wishes to withhold the name of my university, as I currently fear for my life and safety. 

 I currently have a withstanding tuition balance of $8,556 (after financial aid), half of which must be paid in order for me to return to (virtual) classes on August 22, 2020. I understand this is a very small window, but please do what you can to help me finish college on a strong note!

As you may know, I have been the target of a now 38 day (and counting) targeted harassment campaign led by a well-known rapper, all for vaguely addressing colorism and desirability politics within the black community. As a result of Kweli wrongfully targeting and harassing me for 2 weeks and 6 days, Twitter has permanently banned him from their platform. He then took this misguided rage and abuse to Instagram, Facebook, Youtube. This harassment has not stayed online, as he has also slandered me during live performances to entice more violence against me, one dated July 26, 2020 in Ohio. 

 He has vowed to continue unjustly cyber stalking and harassing me for the next 13 years, and has made it very clear that he enjoys mistreating me, claiming I “should have picked a weaker target”, although I never attacked him to begin with. He has stated multiple times that he has no intentions of stopping anytime soon, as of August 15, 2020. As a result, his over 4 million followers have been constantly threatening me with rape, murder, abuse and human trafficking for over 40 days straight. These users continue to perpetuate harm against me in a number of ways, including but not limited to: creating fake tweets impersonating me to justify my abuse, creating over 20 fake Twitter accounts pretending to be my parents (within a 24 hour time span) and threatening our lives, posting our personal information such as the full names of my parents and family members, their salaries, pictures and our address over a dozen times. They have also targeted anyone who has come to my aid, and have attempted to leak the IP addresses of other innocent people. They continue to post horrendous, untrue things about me and threaten to harm my family and I in support of this abuser. I now fear for my life and safety. As a survivor of sexual abuse myself, these are not threats I take lightly. I have also had 2 very close friends of mine murdered by men in similar ways, and this has further forced me to revisit their suffering. I am someone that suffers from crippling anxiety as is, and this entire situation has been EXTREMELY draining, triggering and terrifying. I have also had stalkers in the past, and Kweli’s supporters have intentionally posted my address online several times, further putting me in harms way. 


Articles have been written about Kweli targeting me in BET, The Guardian, Complex, Billboard, Page Six, Blavity, The Root Very Smart Brothers, Madame Noir, The Grio and more. I will be linking these articles down below for reference.


Having a safe place to call my own will have an indescribable impact on my mental and emotional health, as well as my physical safety and wellbeing. This will be a safe space for me, that will allow me to focus on my crafts and my studies and build a solid foundation for myself and my family. This will l also grant me *some* peace and keep me further away from those intended to harm me (for no reason). I also am in need of a reliable car, which would *literally* change my life. I am a firm believer of living within your means, and will be using a portion of funds raised to pay a down payment on a used car.  

I am not ok. The continuous slander I have received has not only put the lives of myself and my family at risk, it has also threatened my future. I have hopes of working with the government after graduation, however due to the excruciating abuse I have been receiving, I fear that may be jeopardized. My name is now associated with a well-known abuser, who continues to publicly slander me and defame my character, gaslight me, entice violence against me and spread misinformation me and our encounter. This is a man twice my age, with a history of harming black women both on and offline. He has built a reputation of targeting and harassing black women online over the last several years, and has specifically targeted other dark-skinned black women that have tried to defend me. In an attempt to protect and defend myself, this abuser further gaslighted me and has been attempting to self-victimize himself to gain public support, as well as change the narrative around and control public perception. This is a clear example of a man in a position of power abusing his authority and influence to control the public perception to favor him. This is a man with a much larger platform and influence than I do. Kweli is well aware that he has more easily accessible resources within his reach, including the favor of well-known celebrities. The power dynamic at play is very evident, and I refuse to coddle Kweli’s self-victimization when he has cruelly targeted and harassed me although I never attacked him to begin with.  He has somewhat successfully controlled the false public persona of me, depicting me as a scorned, angry black woman for speaking against my mistreatment. He has also controlled public perception of me by contacting friends of his at well-known publications to write biased articles silencing me in his favor.

When black women speak about our abuse, we are silenced and told we are overreacting. I am tired of men abusing their power and trying to silence me and other women.  I am tired of seeing black women targeted, harassed and harmed and I will not be silent in the face of adversity. Black women are taught to be silent about our mistreatment. We’re told to hurt quietly. I’m not doing it anymore. I blocked Talib Kweli one hour after he began attacking me and that has not stopped him from slandering me. I will be pursuing legal action, and I have already contacted legal counsel. However, this is a very expensive and tedious process. Although I currently live in Virginia, I will have to find a lawyer within this abusers state of residence (New York) according to U.S. law.  This means I’ll likely have to find a lawyer on retainer in New York, and will probably have to travel there. This definitely won’t be easy for me because I’m a struggling college student with no car and New York is a huge COVID-19 hot spot and my family is very high risk.  I desperately want this insufferable stress to end, but I am a college student who cannot afford to do this on my own. I ask that because of this, you donate what is on your heart (if anything at all). 

The money donated will also help me create and officially launch my small business, Maya’s Manes. My business is still in the beginning phases, as I have had to make family and education my main priorities. I began making handmaid wigs in 2017 to teach myself a skill, and have since fallen in love with creating new hairstyles for black women. My goal with Maya’s Manes is to be able to occasionally provide free wigs to women and children suffering from diseases that may cause hair loss, like cancer and alopecia. This will further help me to be more self sufficient, as this will now likely become my main source of income.

Although I love and appreciate my family very much, I often sacrifice my own needs to take care of others. This is my attempt to stop that unhealthy cycle and establish boundaries that will put my own physically, mental and emotional well-being first. I understand that my list of needs is long and elaborate, but I can’t keep trying to do it all on my own. THANK YOU to the THOUSANDS of you who have stood by me in virtual solidarity. Thank you for showering me with love, support and encouragement. Your affirmations and reassurance has granted me peace in ways I cannot describe. THANK YOU for using your platforms to amplify my voice. Thank you for fighting for black women in more than just theory. Thank you for showing me and telling me that am not alone. Thank you for showing me there are people fighting for me and other black women. Thank you for letting me know my life and voice matter. Thank you for praying for me and letting me know everything will be okay, even when I cannot see it for myself. Even if you do not donate a dime, thank you for taking the time to read this and listen to what I have to say. If you are not able to give, PLEASE sign the petition against my abuse linked down below, and feel free to leave a positive message, it would really mean a lot to me.  I would also greatly appreciate any legal or educational assistance that may be able to help me, as well as any career resources you would reccommend. Please excuse me and do not be offended if I am unable to respond to each of you, as I'm currently very triggered from the abuse I'm receiving, and am trying to limit my social media intake as a form of self care. I love you with the love of The Lord, and I’m thankful for each and every one of you. Thank you for taking the time to listen to me.


Sincerely, 

Maya A. Moody

http://chng.it/z78wB2FT

https://www.billboard.com/index.php/articles/news/9429700/talib-kweli-twitter-suspension

https://verysmartbrothas.theroot.com/why-are-the-men-in-talib-kwelis-life-enabling-him-to-ha-1844456941

https://www.stereogum.com/2093808/talib-kweli-suspended-from-twitter/news/

https://www.complex.com/music/2020/08/twitter-suspends-talib-kweli-account-repeated-violations

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/aug/05/rapper-talib-kweli-banned-from-twitter-after-dispute-with-woman

https://www.vulture.com/2020/07/talib-kweli-twitter-maya-moody.html

https://madamenoire.com/1177609/the-black-woman-talib-kweli-has-been-harassing-for-10-days-speaks-out/