"I will go out and shoot you," he fumes in one video. In the crowd of thousands was Richard Preston, a 53-year-old 'imperial wizard' of the Ku Klux Klan and friend of Daryl Davis. In August 2017, these groups held a 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, just two hours south of the Silver Dollar Lounge, where Daryl Davis had met his first member of Ku Klux Klan 34 years earlier. The racist far-right morphed into the militia movement, which was energised by the election of Donald Trump. 'I walked her down the aisle and gave her away' Wasn't there a danger that he was giving the Klan his tacit approval? Did he worry that his presence helped members think their separatist beliefs were being more widely accepted?ĭavis's response: "How many robes have you collected?"Įventually, Kelly quit the Klan. Next, Davis appeared on stage at the rallies. "There's some mental health issue going on here in my opinion." Next Kelly invited him to Klan rallies, where members paraded around 30-foot high flaming crosses. After a few more years, he invited Davis into his house. In that time, Kelly was promoted from Klan head in Maryland to national leader. Over the following years, Davis said, he and the white supremacist became "very good friends". "And then when he finished, I was able to speak with him with his wall down." "In allowing him to present his racist platform, he let his wall down. I was allowing him to say what he had to say because I wanted to learn from him." "I wasn't kissing his behind or anything like that. "I gave him the opportunity to air his views right there to me. They laughed at their mutual suspicion and continued on, Davis said. After a long silence, they realised the sound had come from the ice bucket: the soft drink cans had shifted as the ice melted. Kelly opened the door and was shocked to see that the interviewer was black. ( Supplied)ĭavis remembers their meeting at the motel clearly. "And when you do, chances are they will reciprocate and give you a platform."ĭaryl Davis with Grand Dragon and Imperial Wizard KKK robes. How do you engage with racists? Do you argue with them or just ignore them?ĭoes giving them a platform give them power?Īt a time when the balance has swung away from engagement and towards deplatforming, Davis is a black man who argues the opposite: We have an obligation to politely and intelligently challenge racist attitudes, he told Hack. The klan leader, whose name was Roger Kelly, turned up with an armed bodyguard. The secretary didn't mention that the author was a black man. Could he do an interview for a man writing a book about the Klan? The Imperial Wizard was wary, but agreed. He said, 'Daryl do not fool with him, he will kill you.'" 'When you give them a platform, they will reciprocate'ĭavis's white secretary called the Klan leader. "I persuaded him to give me the contact information for the Klan leader, which he did on the condition that I not tell the Klan leader where I got it," Davis said.
Years later, long after he had quit that band that played at the Silver Dollar, he dug up the phone number of the man in the KKK.
"Tell him." And Davis asked, "What's the big secret?" His friend dug him in the ribs, "Tell him," he said. The older man said he didn't believe him, but invited Davis back to his table, where his friends were, and bought him a drink.ĭavis cautiously ordered a cranberry juice.Īt the table the man told Davis, "You know, this is the first time I ever sat down and had a drink with a black man."
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He's told me himself where he learned how to play." That was a strange thing to say, because everyone knew that Lewis had learned to play from black blues and boogie woogie players.ĭavis told the stranger, "Jerry Lee Lewis is a very good friend of mine. This was the first time he'd heard a black man play piano like Jerry Lee Lewis - the famous white rock'n'roller known for his energetic style.
( Supplied)Īfter he and his band had finished their set, one of the patrons came over and flung his arm around the musician's shoulders. Daryl Davis and Blues legend Muddy Waters, around the time Davis was playing at the Silver Dollar.
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