Rachel Lindsay was among the thousands who attended demonstrations protesting the death of George Floyd over the weekend.
While in conversation with her Higher Learning podcast co-host Van Lathan, The Bachelorette star detailed all she witnessed while out in Miami with husband Bryan Abasolo. Calling it a “great experience,” Rachel shared, “It’s not my first time protesting. It was peaceful. It was beautiful.”
“I heard beautiful speeches,” she explained. “It was beautiful to see so many people in unity marching and protesting for what they believed in and the injustices they’re facing in this country.”
However, while leaving the protest, Rachel said she saw some individuals “completely unbothered” by the events transpiring just a few blocks over. As she described, “I cross over a bridge and it’s just another day to pull out the yachts. It’s just another day for you to have drinks with your friends.”
“It hit me so hard,” she said. “It’s just such a harsh reality that what we deal with and what other people don’t have to deal with because it doesn’t directly affect them.”
The reality TV star later went on to explain why she feels a “burden” to use her platform to bring attention to the Black Lives Matter movement—especially as a member of Bachelor Nation.
“My audience on social media does not look like me. The majority of my audience is white women, and I have a lot of people who are looking at me,” Rachel said, adding that her followers often reach out asking for guidance on how to most effectively take action.
“One of my purposes for being part of this franchise that I never knew anything about before is for a time like this—to speak to an audience that I never really would have had that opportunity to before,” she added.
Rachel, 35, made history as the first African-American woman to lead The Bachelorette in 2017, and she’s long called attention to the racism she’s faced from viewers of the ABC dating competition.
During a 2020 appearance on The Bachelorette, Rachel told franchise host Chris Harrison, “I wanted to pave a way for women who look like me who hadn’t been represented in this role on this show. But sometimes I feel like my efforts are in vain because it seems to just be getting so much worse. And I feel like you guys hear us talk about the hate that we receive, but you have no idea what it is.”
