Tyler Perry has promised to help a 93-year-old grandmother of 40 who says that property developers are trying to force her to leave the house that has been in her family since the Civil War.
In Hilton Head, North Carolina, Josephine Wright’s house is in the middle of an area that is being built up by Bailey Point Investment.
They wanted to buy her land, but she said no. Now, they’re suing her because they say some of her property is on their land.
She said, “I’ve pretty much been a fighter my whole life.” “At first, I didn’t understand. But then it made me mad.
Perry, a movie producer and studio owner in Atlanta, Georgia, heard about her story on the local news and now says he wants to help.
Josephine Wright, who is 93 years old, told Perry on Twitter, “I’ve pretty much been a fighter my whole life.” So now there are two of us.
“Ms. Wright, please tell me where to go and what I should bring to help me fight.”
Will Packer, who makes movies, said, “I also have Ms. Josephine’s back. Put me down for TP.’
The singer Fantasia agreed and said, “I’ll stand with you, too, Tyler.”
Wright told WSAV that her family had lived in the house for many years.
She said, “This house means it’s a home and a place I want to be at this age.”
Since right after the Civil War, it has been in the family.
Her husband was from Gullah Geechee Island. Gullah Geechee Islanders are the descendants of African slaves who worked on rice, indigo, and Sea Island cotton farms along the Carolinas’ Atlantic coast. Many of them came from West African areas where rice was grown.
Union troops freed his family members, who had been slaves.
Bailey Point has begun building a site with 147 units and 29 acres.
They wanted to buy her land, but she said no. When she did, they started to bother her, she said. She said that someone cut her tires, dumped trash on her property, and put a snake in one of her windows.
Bailey Point says that Wright is getting in the way of their building, so they have sued her, saying that her porch is on their land.
Wright has already paid $1,900 to move a shed and get rid of a satellite dish.
Bakari Sellers, who used to be a state representative, is now on Wright’s legal team. He is asking people to call the developer and lawmakers to help Wright keep her land.
“We asked the creator to talk to us in a letter we sent two weeks ago. Just ask the programmer to talk to us. Talk with her. Just to talk together about how to move forward,’ Sellers said.
“I think a lack of response is more rude than a no.”
Wright has a lawyer and is fighting the lawsuit, but her family needs help paying the court fees for this fight. A GoFundMe has been set up to help pay for Josephine’s court costs.
Sellers said, “We are big on generational wealth or trying to build it up.”
“When you talk about poverty in our villages, it’s because we don’t have land, and when we do, people want to take it from us.
“There are lots of easy targets. Choose me.
“Don’t pick on a 93-year-old woman who has done nothing wrong in her life,” he said.
Wright’s friends are now helping to protect her and the land, which is a good thing.
“We can’t change what has already been agreed upon; that ship has sailed. We can’t change the zoning,’ said Jonesville Preservation Society member Kelly LeBlanc.
“The town is paying a lot of attention to the permits and the approval process.” The town is making sure that the rule is followed to the letter.
Wright said that she was going to fight to stay in her home.
“I guess they thought that the abuse would make me so upset that I would say, “Take it.” But none of them know me. She said, “I’m here to fight for what I have.”
“I don’t want to say anything that could be used against me, but I think they are dishonest and greedy, and they want all the property they can get their hands on.”
In the Atlanta area, Perry is known for being kind and helpful.
In February, he gave $2.75 million to the charity Invest Atlanta Partnership to help low-income seniors pay their property tax bills.
He had already given $”750,000 for the first year to cover the back taxes and any increase in property taxes. He has also promised to give $500,000 each year for the next four years to make sure the locals don’t have to pay any more taxes”.
Perry gives free food every year around Thanksgiving, and he has helped many organizations that have been robbed.
He has also built a house for a great-grandmother of seven who lost everything in a fire, taken kids to Disney World by surprise, and held a camp lockdown at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta.