When activist and musician Daryl Davis was only ten years old, a pivotal incident led him to pursue the answer to a very important question: “How can you hate me when you don’t even know me?”
Davis is a Black man who spent the past five decades trying to find the answer. But his methods are far from conventional. Instead of reading about members of white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, and others, he decided to go straight to the source.
The musician explored the issue by interviewing — and even befriending members of these groups to better understand the reasons for their hatred. Instead of shouting at these people at protests or on the television screens, he actually entered their world — sometimes at great risk to himself — to see what made them tick.
As a result, he has led at least 200 people out of these organizations.
Now, he is continuing his work, which has expanded beyond improving race relations. Davis told me about his diverse upbringing and explained the events that framed his thinking and ultimately pushed him to his mission.
demons in frieren can not be talked out of their position, humans can
— Dagoth Ur (@Dagoth___Ur) December 11, 2025
Daryl Davis is living proof of that. Every klan robe he has was given to him by a klan member he convinced to leave with nothing bit words
you can cut the reddit shit out and be rational, or stay ignorant https://t.co/71LDA1qSh5 pic.twitter.com/emFz1HmMpM
When asked what leads someone to hate others based on immutable characteristics, he articulated a progression that many miss.
“Ignorance breeds fear,” Davis explained. “If we don’t keep that fear in check, that fear in turn will escalate into hatred,” which then becomes anger and, ultimately, destruction. For Davis, the real fight is not against individual acts of hate, but against the ignorance that makes them possible in the first place.
We can see this in America’s political divisions today. Over the past few decades, a deep rift has grown in American society, fueled by political, cultural, and racial issues. People have increasingly embraced vitriol rather than understanding. Much of this has been limited to the digital world, but at times, it has seeped into real life.
The assassination of Charlie Kirk is an example. The killing of state lawmakers in Minnesota is another. School shootings like the one at Annunciation Catholic Church, along with the racially-motivated shooting in Buffalo, New York, are other incidents illustrating how more people are becoming radicalized.
Davis was adamant that changing people’s minds is not about naive optimism, but realism about who might be open to a better perspective. “There will be people of any color, of any ethnicity, that will go to their grave being hateful, violent and racist,” he acknowledged.
— Daryl Davis (@RealDarylDavis) December 27, 2024
This is why he focuses on those willing to sit across the table, applying what he calls five universal core values: “Everyone wants to be loved, everyone wants to be respected, everyone wants to be heard, we all want to be treated fairly and truthfully, and we all want the same things for our family as anybody else wants for their family.”
What has always stood out to me about Davis’ mission is that if a Black man can sit down and become friends with KKK members — even while they are still steeped in hatred, how much more should we be able to do the same with those who do not share our political or cultural beliefs?
The reason I wanted to interview Davis is that I, like many others, can see where American society is headed if this trend continues — and it’s not a world any of us want to live in. The only way we can avoid the iceberg is to learn how to sit down and speak with one another rather than talking at or past each other.
As Davis often says, “When two enemies are talking, they’re not fighting. They might be yelling and screaming and beating their fists on the table, but at least they’re talking. It’s when the talking ceases that the ground becomes fertile for violence.”
You can check out the interview here:
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