Daryl Davis, a blues musician and author has single-handedly managed to convince 200 white racists to quit being part of the Ku Klux Klan by confronting their prejudice with friendship.
The 58-year-old from Chicago has spent three decades travelling around the US, infiltrating the white supremacist cult and befriending its members.
He has since documented his incredible mission in a book, titled ‘Klan-destine Relationships: A Black Man’s Odyssey in the Ku Klux Klan’.
The KKK is a white supremacy cult founded in 1865 organizing members to persecute people for the color of their skin or their religious beliefs.
“In fact, I know more about the KKK than most Klan members know about their own organisation.”
“Knowledge, information, wit, and the way you disseminate these attributes can often prove to be a more disarming weapon against an enemy or someone with whom your ideology is in conflict than violence or lethal weapons,” said Davis.
The inspirational man has also found time for a celebrated music career in R&B and blues, playing alongside the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and former President Bill Clinton, and he counted the legendary Muddy Waters among his friends.
“Music absolutely played a massive role in bridging many gaps in the racial divides I would encounter. Once when I was performing in a predominantly white venue, a white man approached me on my break and put his arm around me and exclaimed – This is the first time I’ve ever heard a black man play piano like Jerry Lee Lewis,” said Davis.
Daryl said he is never unprepared for violence from those he meets, as any member he confronts can potentially be someone who would want to do him harm. In those rare cases, he said one of them ended up in hospital and the other in jail.
Not only that, the black man has also met a Grand Dragon, a rank in the KKK, in Maryland, a man called Roger Kelly. In fact Daryl said he was so successful in his prevailing that the KKK ‘branch’ in Maryland is now non-existent, with perhaps four people turning up for a meeting ‘and two of them are drunk’.
