Freedmen Nation Is Boycotting The Long Walk

Hollywood can’t keep erasing the American story—and calling it representation.

Freedmen Nation is announcing a targeted boycott of the film The Long Walk. Our decision is not about one title in isolation. It is a line in the sand against a longstanding industry practice: casting non-Freedmen talent to embody roles rooted in the lived experience, history, and cultural memory of American Freedmen—then marketing those portrayals as “authentic” American stories.

For decades, studios have praised “diverse casting” while repeatedly outsourcing the portrayal of distinctly American lineages to people with no connection to the communities depicted. The result is not inclusion; it is substitution. It dilutes our history, flattens our culture, and sidelines the very actors, writers, and craftspeople whose lives and families are the source material for these narratives.

What we mean by “Freedmen”

When we say “Freedmen,” we are speaking about a specific American status and community: the descendants of those emancipated from chattel slavery within the United States. This is not a vague identity label; it is an historically grounded status with a distinct cultural, legal, and material legacy. Stories born from that legacy deserve performers and creative leads who carry it—and who can render it with precision, accountability, and care.

Why this boycott—and why now?

1. Pattern over project. The Long Walk arrives inside a larger pattern in which studios repeatedly select non-Freedmen leads for roles that pull directly from American Freedmen history and social reality. The issue is not accent work or talent—many global actors are extraordinary. The issue is stewardship: who gets entrusted to tell which stories, and who gets paid for them.

2. Economic harm disguised as “global appeal.” Every time a Freedmen role is handed to someone outside the community, a Freedmen performer loses a credit, a paycheck, and a step up the ladder. That’s not theory; it’s math. These choices reverberate through careers, guild eligibility, health benefits, and future casting.

3. Cultural distortions. Lacking the embedded knowledge that comes from lineage, productions lean on clichés, generic “Blackness,” or composite identities. Nuance disappears. Audiences receive a product that looks diverse on paper and hollow on screen.

4. Accountability gaps. When communities can’t see themselves in the decision-making, there is no real mechanism to correct the record or repair the harm. “Consultants” are brought in late or ignored entirely.

Our standards for authentic, accountable storytelling

We are not asking for favors; we are setting clear, workable standards. Productions that meet these can expect active support from our community. Productions that willfully ignore them should expect organized, sustained pressure.

Minimum Standards:

• Authentic Casting for Freedmen-Rooted Roles. For principal roles that arise from Freedmen history or social reality, cast from the American Freedmen community unless a compelling, story-specific reason is publicly stated and paired with offsetting measures (see below).

• Freedmen Creative Leadership. Attach at least one decision-making creative lead (writer, director, showrunner, or lead producer) from the Freedmen community on projects centered on Freedmen themes.

• Early Cultural Stewardship. Engage qualified Freedmen advisors in development—not after the script is locked. Their notes must carry real weight in revisions and production design.

• Talent Pipeline Commitments. Reserve a meaningful percentage of speaking and department-head roles for Freedmen professionals and track those commitments transparently in end-credits.

• Repair & Reinforcement Measures (when exceptions are made). If a non-Freedmen lead is cast in a Freedmen-rooted role, the production should (a) fund measurable fellowships for Freedmen actors and craftspeople, (b) elevate multiple Freedmen supporting roles, and (c) provide public rationale for the exception.

This is not anti-anyone. It is pro-accuracy, pro-accountability, and pro-American Freedmen.

We celebrate talent from around the world. We also insist that when the story is distinctly ours, the people who lived it—and still live with its consequences—are centered. That is how you get performances with the textures of real memory; that is how you build a canon that actually teaches audiences something true.

What we are asking studios and producers to do immediately

• Pause and evaluate. If your current production touches Freedmen history, stop treating cultural accuracy as a late-stage checkbox. Bring us in now.

• Audit your slate. Count how many Freedmen-rooted roles you’ve cast in the past five years and who filled them. If you can’t produce the numbers, that’s the problem.

• Adopt the standards above. Put them in writing. Make them part of your greenlight criteria.

• Share timelines, not platitudes. Give dates for when you’ll change casting breakdowns, hire consultants, and open roles to Freedmen talent.

What audiences can do

• Withhold dollars. Don’t buy tickets or streams for projects that substitute our history and call it representation.

• Signal what you support. Spend with films and series that meet the standards and elevate Freedmen creatives.

• Write the gatekeepers. Tell studios, streamers, and agencies that cultural stewardship matters to you as a viewer and a customer.

To the creatives already doing it right—thank you

There are writers, directors, casting directors, and producers who have worked side-by-side with our community, listened when notes were hard, and built sets that feel like home. We see you. We will continue to show up for you, loudly.

Our commitment

Freedmen Nation will meet good-faith commitments with partnership—amplification, community screenings, talkbacks, and educational programming. We are prepared to consult, refer talent, and help productions avoid avoidable mistakes. But we will also organize and sustain boycotts where necessary. Both actions come from the same place: protecting the integrity of American Freedmen stories and ensuring the economic participation of the people who own them.