TMZ: Families behind 'Freedom, Georgia' project get offers for reality show
WILKINSON COUNTY, Ga. - A group of people who are joining forces to create a 96-acre "safe haven" for Black families in Georgia may be bringing this effort to your TV screen, TMZ reports.
The Georgia and Florida families combined their resources to buy nearly 100 acres of land in Wilkinson County, Georgia to create what they're calling Freedom, Georgia. According to TMZ, they have been bombarded by inquiries from production companies to share their story.
Sign up for FOX 5 email alerts
Ashley Scott and Renee Walters said they were so stressed and overwhelmed by the 2020 murders of Ahmaud Arbery in south Georgia, Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, and George Floyd in Minnesota, that they felt compelled to create a refuge city for Black families fatigued by racial division. Over the summer, they fell in love with this sprawling piece of undeveloped land in Toomsboro, about 100 miles south of their own homes in metro Atlanta.
“It's about a safe haven. It's about having a place where you can be authentically black, unapologetically black and not be judged,” said Scott.
“Our 96 acres is to serve for as a safe haven for the 19 families that got together and purchased it and then open it up to the public to have retreats, and reunions and weddings, trails for hunting, a lake for fishing and a place for us to just breathe,” said Walters.
After the movement caught on through social media, Renee and Ashley, who live in Clarkston and Stonecrest, raised thousands of dollars, then quickly pulled together enough of their own friends, family members, and other interested land buyers to purchase what they hope will be the future of a city called Freedom.
TMZ says representatives from A&E, Oxygen, Lifetime, and several other networks are interested.
Download the FOX 5 Atlanta app for breaking news and weather alerts.
But TMZ's sources say that Scott and Walters and other leaders of the future community say they want to be sure they own the rights to the footage and have a say in how it's edited.
"They really don't want this to be slimy and full of cheap thrills -- but instead, have it be uplifting, while putting Black folks in a positive light," TMZ reported.
To learn more about Freedom, Georgia visit thefreedomgeorgiainitiative.com.