NBA star Kyrie Irving has donated $40,000 to a GoFundMe started by the granddaughter of Josephine Wright, a 93-year-old South Carolina woman embroiled in a legal battle with developers allegedly trying to force her out of her home.
According to WSAV, Wright’s family has owned the property since the end of the Civil War. She was also married to a Gullah Geechee Islander whose family members escaped slavery and were freed by Union soldiers. Wright has lived alone on the 1.8-acre Hilton Head property home since 1998 when her husband passed away.
However, Bailey Point Investment Group has filed a lawsuit against the nonagenarian, alleging that a portion of her home is situated on a piece of land it is developing. Wright said she’ll fight to keep her home despite being allegedly harassed by the company.
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“I’ve pretty much been a fighter all my life,” she said. “This house means it’s a home, a place where I want to be at this age,” she added. Wright also said the company’s action initially “puzzled” her, but later got her angry. The 93-year-old woman and her ex-daughter-in-law, Delores Wright, are named as defendants in the lawsuit. Delores, who co-owns the property with Wright, said she ultimately moved out of the home because of the stress she experienced from staying close to the construction site.
In the lawsuit, Bailey Point claims it has evidence that shows parts of Wright’s property are situated on their land. Though she removed a satellite dish and paid $1,900 to move a shed, the company still claims that the 93-year-old’s porch is on their property, WSAV reported.
“You can see I’m at least 12 feet away from the border line which is right there,” Wright told the news outlet. Her neighbors also said the distance between her home and a road the company constructed is 22 feet. Wright also claimed that the company started harassing her after she declined to sell her land to them. She said her tires were slit, adding that refuse and a snake were also left on her property.
“I guess they figured I would become so unnerved with the harassment that I would say take it. But they don’t know me. I am here to fight for what I have,” she said. “I don’t want to say anything that can be used against me, but I think they are unscrupulous and greedy and they want all the property they can get their hands on.”
Wright is fighting the legal case with assistance from a legal team, as well as former State Rep. Bakari Sellers. The GoFundMe set up to help raise funds for Wright’s legal fees has raised more than $250,000, with the goal being $350,000.
Tyler Perry pledged to support Wright after watching her story. Irving has also followed suit. Recently, the NBA player paid off the tuition of nine students at Lincoln University, a historically Black college in Pennsylvania. The donation was reportedly made to clear the debt of the graduating students. In December, he donated $22,000 to help a young Howard University student continue her education.
According to Forbes, he also funded the renovation of a gym, locker room, weight room and lounge at his alma mater, The Patrick School in Hillside, N.J., in 2018. The basketball player further donated $323,000 to Feeding America to help provide meals to people impacted by COVID-19. He also partnered with City Harvest to donate 250,000 meals across the New York area to help marginalized communities get food.
