If someone said that an end to systematic racism in this country is possible – with reasonable doubt – the likely response would be to question the statement.
Well, someone did say it, out loud and publicly. Her name is Rachelle Zola, a 75-year-old white woman who has led a privileged life in a country that was built for her.
Zola said she not only believes it is possible, but that it’s possible within her lifetime.
“We can do it if we have the collective will to do it,” Zola told the Austin Weekly News during an interview regarding her mission to do her part to make it happen.
Her comments are not from the sidelines. Zola, a restorative practitioner, is out front, on a journey to build bridges between Black and white people and to exchange stories and hard truths that she said she learned too late.
She’ll be sharing her beliefs and experiences this spring at two events: A show in North Lawndale in March and in a 754-mile walking pilgrimage from Chicago to Montgomery, Alabama.
Zola, of Oak Park, grew up in Long Island, New York, and has lived in various parts of the country and the world working as an advocate for children with developmental disabilities.
While it’s shocking to hear someone say out loud that it’s possible to end systemic and structural racism in this country, it’s also shocking to hear the same person say they did not have a clue about the depth of harm done by the country’s long history of slavery from 1619 to 1865 and the Jim Crow era that followed.
Enacted in 1876, Jim Crow – laws that prohibited Black people from using the same public facilities such as restrooms, restaurants and drinking fountains as white people – was enforced through 1965 with lynchings and other atrocities against Black people. They were engrained in state and local laws that mandated segregation in the South.
For example – although it may be impossible to know for certain – an Equal Justice Initiative report documented nearly 6,500 lynchings in which Black people were hung by the neck from trees until they died between 1865 and 1950.
It wasn’t until 1954 with the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas lawsuit that the Supreme Court declared school segregation unconstitutional. The remaining Jim Crow laws were overturned by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Asked how it’s possible she wasn’t aware of the depth of harm from racism, Zola responded: “That’s a question I ask myself all the time. I grew up in a time when no one challenged me. If someone had said to me, we need to do something about systemic racism, I would have said yes. I didn’t even know the questions to ask. I didn’t even know there were questions to be asked. So how is that possible? I’ve lived in Jordan, Ecuador, Mexico, and it took me moving to Chicago to learn about my own country.”
Zola added that it’s really easy as a white person to not acknowledge racism.
She clarified that it’s not that she wasn’t aware that racism exists.
“It goes deeper than that,” she explained. “I wasn’t thinking about Black lives but I also wasn’t thinking about Irish lives, Germans lives, Asians lives… I wasn’t thinking about anybody else’s life. I had my own trauma growing up and I just knew how to get from point A to point B.”
What makes her qualified to do this work? Austin Weekly News delves into her background and her teachings on race.
Her hunger strike
Back in 2021, Zola embarked on a 40-day hunger strike in support of federal legislation (HR40) that establishes a commission to study and develop reparation proposals for African Americans.
Black groups, activists, elected officials, everyday citizens continue to fight and speak out in their demand for reparations for the harm done by structural and systemic racism.
Activist Deondre Rutues, who serves on the 15th Police District Council, told the Austin Weekly in a recent interview that reparations are necessary.
“Had it not been for the blood, sweat and tears of the enslaved ancestors of African Americans, this country would not be where it is today,” Rutues said.
Zola agreed that generations of Black people have been denied the wealth they created and that reparations should be paid to African Americans.
“Any pushback on that from white people comes from a place of ‘not enough,’ that if African Americans receive what’s owed to them, there won’t be anything left for them,” Zola said. “We’ve done harm for generations, and we need to repair that harm. Repairing the harm starts with admitting that harm was done. It’s like we don’t want to admit our legacy, the lynchings. George Floyd is another example of that. It was a modern-day lynching.”
Zola said her restorative justice involvements are callings from the universe which is how she said she ended up in Chicago.
“The first place I went to when I got here was the North Lawndale Restorative Justice Community Court where I met people I’m still connected with,” she said.
Zola’s thoughts on book-banning
Regarding the Republican-led movement to white-wash American history by banning certain books, Zola said it’s absurd.
“Reading, educating oneself is power,” Zola said. “These people want our youth in school to be ignorant, not ask questions and not to question systemic racism, not to question the very foundation that our country was built on … They want to remain a country of white supremacy. They won’t get their way and they are doing everything in their power to stop progress.”
Why do white people dislike Black people so much?
“I don’t know what is so scary and that’s why I’m walking down South to find out,” Zola said of her upcoming walk to Alabama. “I want to hear their stories. If I don’t hear their stories, I’m not going to understand this.”
Her stage production
Now heading in a direction that ventures outside straight lines, with purpose, Zola is sharing her story and saying the unspoken to as many audiences as will listen to what she has to say in her one-man show, “Late: A Love Story,” written by Zola and Emily Bragg and directed by Melissa Lorraine.
Zola said she states right at the beginning, “This is a tribute to the people of Chicago and beyond that so many deem as invisible and dismiss and or hate because of the color of their skin, I have never even considered them, their lives, their lived experiences, the depth of their trauma and the harm they experience every day. So, I’m here today to share my ignorance, what I’ve learned, and to change the course of history.”
The play is also an opportunity to tell white audiences they’ve got it wrong if they’ve never been involved in trying to right the wrongs they see against Black people.
Some Caucasians who’ve seen the show were moved to take a closer look at what they can do outside of what they’re already doing. Black people who’ve seen the show spoke favorably, Zola said.
The show will be held at 2 p.m., March 30 at Theatre-Y in North Lawndale. Free tickets are available at Theatre-Y.com. Donations are accepted.
Her pilgrimage
Set for April 2, Zola’s walking pilgrimage steps off at about 10:45 a.m. from Theatre-Y. She’ll walk 10-15 miles each day, performing her one-person show wherever she finds a host along the 754-mile-long journey to Montgomery, Alabama.
The first 10 miles will take her to Evergreen Park. She’ll keep supporters posted with updates on her website, www.latealovestory, Facebook page, Rachelle Zola and Tilk Tok by the same name. You can find her on Instagram @I Am Rachelle Zola.
A friend will drive along in an RV to accompany Zola.
The walk event will include breakfast and speakers at 9: 30 a.m.
