Rachelle Zola, a 76-year-old white woman who lives in Chicago, is walking 750 miles from Chicago to Montgomery, Alabama, to improve racial equality in America.
According to WIAT Birmingham, Zola was inspired to act after conversing with several Black people in Chicago.
“I’m a white person, and I’m supposed to use my body, not just my voice. I’m supposed to use this white body and just express this idea that we can’t wait any longer,” Zola told the outlet.
As she travels across the country, Zola will also perform “Late: A Love Story,” her one-woman show, which she has used to connect and discuss the topic of racial inequality with hundreds of people.
According to Theatre Y, “Late: A Love Story” is a performance of vulnerability that segues into stories from the Black community in Chicago. The play is directed by Melissa Lorraine and was co-written by Zola and Emily Bragg.
“In this performance, Rachelle vulnerably shares her own story as a 75-year-old white woman discovering racism in America, and which transitions seamlessly into ten friends sharing their stories steeped in the devastating legacy of the past.”
Zola told WIAT that she expects to reach Montgomery by October, and according to the outlet, she will perform her show in Birmingham on Aug. 25. Zola, meanwhile, told the outlet that this journey is just the beginning for her.
“I’m not waiting, I’m getting to Montgomery. This is just the start for me. I don’t know what that looks like, but I know there’s more,” Zola said.
In March, Zola spoke to ABC 7
and explained that she was done being silent because she had been awakened to the concept that silence is violence during Black Lives Matter protests.“The signs are up there, ‘Silence is violence.’ And it’s like, I didn’t even know I was being silent. My total ignorance of not knowing, I never thought about their lives, their lived experiences, the trauma, the pain that they experience every day.”
Zola continued, “I expect there will be places that people say, ‘Please just keep going, quietly. I’m asking people, are you willing to hear another story? And so I need to go to them. I want them to know we’re all the human race.”
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