93-year-old woman fighting to stay in her Hilton Head home receives generous donation from NBA star Kyrie Irving

A feisty old woman who has been fighting to keep her family property in South Carolina in defiance of wealthy developers and a sustained harassment campaign received a tremendous assist from NBA star Kyrie Irving.

Josephine Wright, 93, has been living in and paying taxes on her Hilton Head Island home for more than 30 years. When her husband died in 2012, she inherited the 1.8 acre property that has been in his family for generations dating all the way back to the end of the Civil War when it was settled by ancestors who had once been slaves.

In recent decades, the island off the southern coast of South Carolina has become a popular tourist spot and retirement destination, and many developers have attempted to accommodate demand for more housing. One such developer, Bailey Point Investment Group, is in the midst of building a 147-unit complex next door to Wright's property. In fact, the group argued that Wright's porch and a shed that has since been dismantled were located on the property the group now owns. She claims that her porch is a full 22 feet from the boundary line.

At one point, Bailey Point reportedly offered Wright $39,000 for her property, but she refused. After she refused to sell, Wright claimed she began receiving threats and attacks. Her tires have been slashed, trash has been dumped all over her yard, and she once even found a snake hanging outside one of her windows, she claimed.

Despite the bullying, Wright is determined to stay in her family's home. "I guess they figured I would become so unnerved with the harassment that I would say, 'Take it,'" she said at a recent press conference. "But they don't know me. I am here to fight for what I have."

To help in that fight, a gofundme account was established on her behalf and has already raised almost $250,000 of its $350,000 goal. The biggest donation to date, $40,000, came from Dallas Mavericks guard, Kyrie Irving. Irving, who defied significant pressure to take the COVID vaccine two years ago when he was still with the Brooklyn Nets, apparently made the donation about a month ago. The second-highest donation was $2,500 from an anonymous giver. Funds not used toward Wright's legal expenses will be used for college tuition for some of Wright's 50 great-grandchildren and 16 great-great-grandchildren as well as to help plant trees around the island.

Irving is not the only high-profile individual to come to Wright's aid. Hollywood actor and prolific producer Tyler Perry has also drawn attention to her story, as has former state legislator Bakari Sellers. "There is a concerted effort to take property from black folk in our community, who have lived a great life," Sellers stated. "This is about generational wealth. It's very difficult to obtain. This is about land ownership, this is about heirs' property, which we know we deal with a lot down here."

Wright thanked her supporters in a touching video released on her gofundme page. "I put God in my life," she said, "and he thought of trying to rescue me with your help."

Grandma Josephine Says Thank You!youtu.be

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