Event Details
Silent Encounters. 78 Years Old. 40-Day Liquid Fast.
Rachelle Zola is sitting in silence for 30 days across six weeks, inside a 40-day liquid fast — and invites you to sit across from her.
In 2021, Rachelle Zola went 40 days without food to press Congress to pass H.R. 40, the reparations study bill. In 2024, at 76, she completed an 825-mile walking pilgrimage from Chicago to Montgomery. Now 78, she is doing the quietest thing she has ever done: sitting down, and inviting strangers to sit across from her—being with their shared humanity.
On Wednesday, September 9, Zola began sitting from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday, at four host sites across Chicago and in Geneva, Illinois—30 days of sitting inside a 40-day liquid fast, concluding Sunday, October 18. She calls it The Body I Was Given.
One chair sits empty across from her. All are welcome to sit and stay as long as they want. Silently. Chairs will also be there for anyone who wishes to be present, or to sit silently with another.
In a country that has spent centuries talking about racial inequities—arguing it, legislating around it, denying it, studying it—can we sit with it? Can we sit with history without escaping into innocence? Can we sit long enough to ask what repair and reconciliation actually requires?
“I cannot fast my way into knowing what it means to live in a Black body in America.
I cannot voluntarily experience what my inherited privilege has shielded me from experiencing.
This is an experience I can voluntarily end. With our collective will we can voluntarily dismantle systemic racism. I refuse to look away. Will you join me?” Rachelle shares.
Where Rachelle will be sitting, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday-Sunday:
Sept 9–13 — Theatre Y, 3611 W. Cermak Rd., Chicago
Sept 16–20 — Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva, 102 S. 2nd St., Geneva
Sept 23–27 — Bike Box (YMEN), 1302 S. Pulaski Rd., Chicago
Sept 30–Oct 4 — Stone Temple Missionary Baptist Church, 3622 W. Douglas Blvd., Chicago
Oct 7–11 — Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva, 102 S. 2nd St., Geneva
Oct 14–18 — Theatre Y, 3611 W. Cermak Rd., Chicago
All sittings are free and open to the public. On the afternoon of Sunday, October 18, everyone who sat is invited back to Theatre Y for a closing circle to share the experience. Civic groups, congregations, universities and neighbors who want to bring people to sit—or to host a future encounter—contact Rachelle directly at 720-609-9069 (by text).
“Listen. Fast. Walk. Sit silently." Zola says, "That's my body of work since I came to Chicago. I cannot change the body I was born into. And I can decide what I do with it, to use it to move toward people, to make space. My hunger is chosen, and I can end it whenever I want. That's the point. The fast isn't a likeness of Black suffering—it's a measure of the distance. Racial liberation means truly seeing each other and being free to be ourselves.”
Rachelle Zola: Facilitator, Author and Advocate for Racial Equity
Rachelle is a lifelong advocate—from working with children with special needs and their families to her current work. She's captured national attention and continues to make waves. In 2021, Rachelle garnered recognition for a 40-day hunger strike demanding Congress pass H.R. 40: Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act. In 2024, at 76, she completed an 825-mile walking pilgrimage from Chicago to Montgomery by way of Selma, performing her one-woman show LATE: a Love Story, produced with Theatre Y, along the route. With a vision that builds upon centuries of work to imagine a more loving world, Zola inspires communities to confront injustices and work for equality and compassion.
Media Contact:
Rachel Zargo
404-542-8848 (text)
late.love
Rachelle Zola
720-609-9069 (text)
rachelle@late.love