Daryl Davis, 67, started trying to talk white supremacists out of hating people like him when he was 10.
In his 2024 book, “The Klan Whisperer,” Davis, an R&B and blues pianist and guitarist, describes his encounters with Klan members and other racists during the past five decades. Over the years, more than 200 white supremacists have left their hate groups after meeting with him, according to Davis, who is Black and lives in Maryland.
As a young man, he played with a country and bluegrass band at the Silver Dollar Lounge in Frederick. Many of the patrons were “rough country types,” and “racial violence could erupt if Black men were present,” Davis wrote in his book. “Over time, I was accepted by the white patrons who didn’t perceive me as threatening. I became well-liked mostly because I was a musician.”
Eventually, Davis became friendly with a man named Hank, a Klansman who frequented the Silver Dollar. Every six weeks, Hank would show up with fellow Klansmen and Klanswomen to watch him perform.
“I would meet some of the Klan members on my break, while others did not want to meet me but would enjoy watching me and dancing to my music,” Davis wrote.
In an interview with The Baltimore Sun, Davis said the United States is at a crossroads regarding race relations. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
How did you start doing your anti-racism work, what you call your pro-human work?
I was born in Chicago; my parents were from Virginia, and my father worked in the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Service. So I grew up as a U.S. embassy kid, traveling around the world.
I attended a newly integrated school in Massachusetts in 1968. Several of my friends were in the Cub Scouts, and they invited me to join, and I did. We had a parade from Lexington to Concord to commemorate the ride of Paul Revere.
I was the only Black participant, and the streets were blocked off. The sidewalks were filled with white people walking, cheering, and having a good time. We reached a point in the parade route when suddenly I was getting pelted by rocks and bottles and soda pop cans, by a small group of spectators off to my right, on the sidewalk.
I looked over and saw a couple of kids and a couple of adults, who I assume were their parents. My scout leaders came running and covered me with their own bodies.
What did your parents say?
They asked me, ‘How did I get all scraped up?’ I told them exactly what had happened. For the first time in my life, my mother and father sat me down at age 10 and explained to me what racism was. When they were explaining it to me, I was incredulous; my 10-year-old brain could not process the idea that someone who had never seen me, spoken to me, or knew anything about me would want to hurt me for no other reason than the color of my skin. It just made no sense.
[That] was 1968, and Dr. [Martin Luther] King was assassinated, and every major city in this country burned to the ground. It was destruction and violence, all in the name of this new word I had learned. I formed this question in my mind: How can you hate me if you don’t even know me? For the next 57 years, I’ve been looking for the answer to that question.
What effect has the emergence of Donald Trump as a political figure and as president had on white hate groups?
Donald Trump did not invent racism. However, Donald Trump has given racists carte blanche to operate freely upon their ideology. Not everybody who voted for Donald Trump is a racist. But every racist voted for Donald Trump. And I would say that Donald Trump is the best thing that’s happened to this country. I don’t mean to say he’s a good person or that he’s done great things for the country. When I say he’s the best thing, he has brought racism to the forefront. Until him, people were trying to turn a blind eye to it. “Oh, we had a Black president, racism is over now.”
Because of Donald Trump, we can no longer turn a blind eye, because everywhere you look, it’s there. We can no longer ignore it. I see it as a wakeup call to this country if … wants to survive.”
How active are the KKK and other white supremacist groups in Maryland and the greater DMV area?
They are not very active in Maryland. Roger Kelly [the former Grand Dragon, or state leader, of the KKK in Maryland] had the largest Klan group in Maryland; he got out, and we became very good friends. He rethought his ideology based on a lot of things that I was telling him, and he left the Klan and shut it down. Then another fellow tried to pick up the mantle, and he got in some trouble and was quickly shut down in Sharpsburg. You have several chapters of the Klan in Virginia. I know those people. Delaware, there are a couple of chapters there.
Daryl Davis engages KKK members and has persuaded some to leave the organization and renounce their racist ideology. He is also a musician. His book, The Klan Whisperer, was published in 2024. (Lloyd Fox/Staff)
What do KKK members think of the Smithsonian Museum?
I took a KKK leader there around 2018 and showed him around. He thought it was fascinating. He thought it should have more Confederate history in it.
What types of jobs do people in white supremacist groups hold?
A Klansman, a Klanswoman, a white supremacist of any affiliation, whether neo-Nazi, Proud Boy, Patriot Front, whatever, is not stamped out of a standard cookie-cutter. They come from all walks of life, all socioeconomic backgrounds, and levels of education. They go from a third-grade dropout that you see on “Jerry Springer” or “Geraldo” throwing chairs on the stage, all the way to the president of the United States. President Warren G. Harding was sworn into the Ku Klux Klan in the green room of the White House. Harry Truman joined the Klan for a very short time. He got out and went on to become president. Hugo Black was in the Klan in Alabama when he got the Supreme Court appointment. Some work at the White House, some work pumping gas. Some are schoolteachers, people who work in grocery stores, or in a police department.
How do you get white supremacists to reconsider their beliefs?
Generally, I meet with them one-on-one, and I don’t like to say that I convert anybody. I will say that I am the impetus for them to convert themselves. You’ve heard the expression that one’s perception is one’s reality, and that’s so true. Whatever someone perceives becomes their reality. You cannot change someone’s reality. If you try to change it, you’ll get pushback. What you want to do is offer them a better perception or perceptions. And if one resonates with one of those perceptions, they will change their own reality.
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