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The great-great-grandmother’s Hilton Head home has been in her family since the Civil War and Mrs. Josephine Wright is standing up to developers.
In South Carolina, 93-year-old Josephine Wright is fighting off Bailey Point Investment LLC, the development company seeking to build a 147-unit building behind her home and claiming to own a part of the Wright property in Hilton Head. TheGrio’s Eboni K. Williams talked to Josephine Wright and her granddaughter Charise Graves about her safety as she battles the developers.
The following is a transcript of their conversation.
Eboni K. Williams [00:00:00] Welcome to theGrio. I’m Eboni K. Williams. We start with a David-and-Goliath-style fight that’s going down in a small town in South Carolina. 93-year-old Josephine Wright is in a legal battle with Bailey Point Investment LLC. The developer claims that they owned part of Mrs. Wright’s property in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
They are in the process of building a 147-unit building behind her home. But Mrs. Wright says that the property has been in her family since the Civil War and she declined their initial offer to purchase the land. And despite the developer filing a lawsuit, the great-great-grandmother says she’s ready to fight. I’m joined now by Mrs. Josephine Wright and her granddaughter, Charise Graves. Ladies, thank you both so much for joining me here on theGrio. Mrs. Wright, hi. You both look lovely.
Mrs. Wright, let me start with you. Now, in the lawsuit, one of your claims is around harassment. Mrs. Wright, tell us about some of the things that you have been experiencing recently at the hands of this developer. And do you feel, frankly, safe right now?
Josephine Wright [00:01:09] Yeah. Actually what I haven’t experienced was when they first started tearing down the property behind me, we didn’t have any notice whatsoever when they were going to start. Then they came to keep me from getting my property and they wanted to buy it, but I wouldn’t sell.
So they then began to harass me in various ways. I can’t really say it was them because I had no proof that that would happen. But I know one Sunday morning we got up to go to church and two of my back tires were flat. We couldn’t get to church. The second thing, there was a huge snake on my bedroom window. He was at least 12 feet long, huge snake.
Williams [00:02:16] Wow.
Wright [00:02:16] We’re used to snakes in Hilton Head Island. And most of the time we see them on the ground, not on your house. So that was basically part of it. Plus the legal problems that we are having with them right now.
They have tried to serve me with some accusations that my property was over their property lines. And then we found that our property was at least 22 feet from that property line. So we are now trying to just make it so that we can live there comfortably.
Williams [00:03:10] Yeah, peacefully and safely, I’m sure. Now, Charise, let me ask you. You have had to watch your grandmother, the elegant, strong woman that she is, go through this process.
And it’s unfortunately, as you know, Charise, a process that generations of Black women and men have had to go through fighting to keep land that their family has owned. What has it felt like for you watching your grandmother go through this?
Charise Graves [00:03:36] Well, it was painful and disconcerting that a group of human beings would treat a 93-year-old woman like that. Somebody who has been on that property for 30 years, paying taxes, living her best life.
And they just want to take that away from her for no reason at all, just because they just want what she has. And, you know, to see the stress on her face, to see the anguish, it was just really difficult.
Williams [00:04:07] And, you know, this issue of whose land is encroaching whose, seems to be an easy fix, right? That seems like something that a surveyor would be able to come out and fix rather easily. So, Charise, has the land been properly surveyed to prove who indeed has the ownership rights?
Graves [00:04:26] Well, we actually had to go ahead and hire an independent surveyor to make sure that the property lines were that the lawsuit that they put on us was proper. But unfortunately, the lines are blurred. And it’s just, you know, it was a little fraudulent.
Williams [00:04:54] Mrs. Wright, I do want to ask you this before we take our break. Your husband was an attorney. Your late husband was a lawyer. And you actually assisted him in his practice.
So tell me how that reality, that circumstance, has encouraged you to refuse to sell your property and back down from these developers and from this litigation.
Wright [00:05:14] Well, actually, my husband was an attorney and we had seven children. My husband didn’t become an attorney until after we had the seven children. And I worked with him for a while until he was able to get a secretary.
Now, actually, that experience made me more stronger in my cause for living at Hilton Head Island. We retired in 1994, and since then we have been on that property. So I think we deserve to stay where we are.
Williams [00:06:03] You absolutely do. Mrs. Wright, I want you to stay with me. Charise, you as well. Because coming up, we’re going to talk about the number of big-name celebrities that have expressed concern about what’s happening with Mrs. Josephine Wright’s property and how they’re trying to help her in the fight. Stay with us. You’re watching theGrio.
Check out the full clip above and tune into “theGrio with Eboni K. Williams” at 6 p.m. ET every weeknight on theGrio cable channel.
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