Justice for Wadada - Help Us Raise Legal Fees

Greetings Family,

I want to begin by thanking you for your unwavering support for Wadada. Having a community that stands with us is key to our development and growth and we do not take it for granted. It is because of this special connection to our community that I come to you today, with a heavy heart, as I can no longer suffer in silence. Although I did everything in my power to avoid this, what is done in darkness must come to light, and I must publicly address the mistreatment I’ve been enduring and shed light on the reasons behind Wadada’s current state.

As many of you have noticed, our shelves have been bare, our staff cut, we have not had the majority of our staple products and other things are not up to our usual standards. Even to the point of being questioned if we were going out of business. Many of you have been eagerly awaiting the opening of the second location and you cannot fathom the effort I invest daily to make this happen.

First and foremost, I want you to understand that I firmly believe in Wadada’s potential to make a real difference in our community. I genuinely see it as a huge opportunity for us to truly have something great of our own that can meet our basic needs of food security and help us to build wealth.

Wadada was conceived to be a place that we could take pride in, a place that would signify our independence and we could call our own even if it's on a modest scale. It’s a place where we don’t have to be subjected to microaggressions or be a guest in someone else’s house, nor watch our children befall the same plight generation after generation.

The old adage holds true, “God bless the child that has its own.” Wadada was created to celebrate us, to represent us, and to provide a safe haven for us to be ourselves, to BUILD and CREATE opportunities for us, by us. To secure the future of our youth and take control of and change the trajectory of the health and wellness of our community to align with our divine birthright.

I envisioned a place where we could employ and nurture our own children and where we could make a positive impact, showering our neglected and underserved communities with the love it deserves, hence the name Wadada (means LOVE).

I wanted our children to witness not just in words but through actions that we are fully capable of self-reliance, that we can work together, build trust, and dispel the myth that we can’t, which is why I have shared Wadada’s space and partnered with many entrepreneurs and those aspiring to be. In doing so, we could realize the principle of Ujamaa, “cooperative economics,” and witness how it benefits our entire community.

Regrettably, the very mission I set out to accomplish is now under threat, and this challenge arises from members of our own community of whom, in good faith, I placed an excessive amount of trust to be principled, fulfill their contractual obligations and do the right thing. After investing well over $200,000, I have been battling to open a new Wadada location in a building plaza in Decatur that was in disrepair for nearly a year. I did my best to navigate through this situation but it was made worse by the negligence of its owner and manager, leading me to believe they may have been fully aware of its poor condition.

Despite my humble pleas for reasonable, fair and just resolution, even a request to simply pause rent until they resolved the myriad of issues so that my contractors could work without interruption were denied. I have been met with deliberate stalling, lack of and poor communication and flat-out refusal to bring the building to a state where I could open and get any return on my investment for nearly a year, all while they have continued to collect rent and plaza maintenance fees with no consideration for my inability to use the property or make a dime of return due to their negligence.

As a small business, even one business alone is challenging, carrying rent and fees of two locations for nearly a year, without the ability to generate revenue from one of them has been detrimental to Wadada and my family, plunging us into a state of crisis. And because of our numerous partnerships with entrepreneurs in the community, this unfortunate situation has had a profound ripple effect and negatively impacted them as well. I’ve been forced to reduce our offerings to the bare minimum resulting in practically all of our vendor partner accounts being completely halted. It is sad to say that our pledge to do business within our community and circulate black dollars has taken a major blow from persons within the same community it was intended to serve.

So, Where are we now?

Have things been rectified?

Resoundingly, NO, we are still navigating through these challenges and this period is proving to be exceptionally difficult for us. At this very moment, we are confronted with ongoing challenges with the building despite numerous pleas for prompt and just action. As a last ditch effort, I had an attorney send a letter on my behalf to request a meeting to renegotiate the lease. However, we have not gotten any response to this day. Unfortunately, it leaves me with no other recourse but to file a lawsuit to get justice. This is where we need your help! The legal fees are a major obstacle and we can’t do this without you! No amount is too small and will get us to the retainer fee for the attorney, prepare for a long battle and stop the bleeding of Wadada paying rent and fees with no accountability from the landlord to uphold their contractual obligations and return what has been unjustly taken from us!

Your steadfast support has brought us this far! We need you to help give us a fighting chance to flip this threat into a remarkable win for Wadada! Pure LOVE for our community cannot be defeated! We want to be able to serve you at full capacity and get our new location doors open to serve you even bigger and better than before!

Our intention is never to let you down and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this has caused for our customers as we have struggled to keep inventory and meet the standard of excellence in which we pride ourselves. Most importantly, please help us turn this around so we can get back to the business of advancing the health and wellness of our community!

Dua, Giving thanks with love,

Jeanette "Nilajah" Sellers

Founder, Wadada Healthy Market