Transcripts For CSPAN QA Daryl Davis 20171120

Cspan. Announcer this week on q a, musician and lecturer daryl davis. For over 30 years, he has befriended members of the kkk to try to understand their hatred into convince them to change their ways. Brian daryl davis, what impact did chuck berry have on your life . Daryl chuck berry had a very profound impact on me. The man was a genius. Not many people can say they played a song that invented a genre of music. Chuck berry did that. We would not have rock n roll without chuck berry. When i first heard chuck berry, i fell in love with that music , and when i first saw him, i changed my career trajectory. I was going to be a computer programmer. Back then, computers were of course twice as big as this room. Or an espionage agent. Each one was pulling at me with equal force. I was immobilized and i was trying to figure out how to do both. Back then there was no way. Today you can through cyber espionage. But, i saw chuck berry somewhere along the pathway as a kid and said, that is what i want to do. It was chuck berry and another fellow, Elvis Presley, i saw him, too. Elvis presley. They had made millions upon millions of people happy with their music. They touched them without even knowing them. That fascinated me. I thought, i want to be able to bring joy to people whether i meet them or not. Brian what was the story of your first meeting with him . Daryl he came to the university of maryland. It was going to be chuck berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. I got down there super early, hoping i would be able to sneak in and meet him during sound check or rehearsal. Because i knew the promoter had to supply the backing band for him. The concert would not begin until 8 00 p. M. Thi that evening, and i was a kid. I got a ride down there around noon time. You know, like eight hours before showtime. The hanger doors were open, people were bringing in equipment and lights and speakers and things like that. I just walked on in. Nobody stopped me. There was no security there at that time. So i just hung out and stayed out of everybodys way. The band came and i moved over near the stage where the band was, thinking that when chuck comes for the sound check, i would be able to meet my idol. The band was very nervous. They had never worked with chuck berry before. They were down from new jersey to play for him. The sound check was at 2 00. They assumed he would be there around 2 00. 2 00 rolled around, and no chuck berry, and they got more nervous. So they did the sound check and ran through some songs and sounded fantastic. The hours went by, still no chuck berry. They went on at the beginning of the show and did a short set. Then Jerry Lee Lewis came and i got to meet him. They came on the stage, still no chuck berry. 15 minutes before jerry lee finished, in walked chuck berry. Through the backstage door. He came in by himself. No guitar, nothing. He walked right by me. I froze. Because, you know, it was a total shock. He went right by me, and there was somebody standing down the hallway. He stopped and spoke with that person. I do not know what he said, but in retrospect, i do. That person pointed further down the hallway to a door. Chuck went inside the door. A few minutes later, he came back out, walked by me again, back outside the backstage door , and then he returned with his guitar. In retrospect, what happened was, he went down to the promoters office to get paid up front, then he went and got his guitar. He did not bring his guitar until he had money. He brought his guitar in, i was sitting over there near where the band was. He came over, the bandleader walked up to him. He is like taking his guitar out of the case. He said hi, my name is Bruce Springsteen, we are your backup band, we thought you were going to be here this afternoon. He said, no. You know, just totally oblivious. He said we ran through some of your songs, which ones are you going to play tonight . And chuck berry said, i think i will play some chuck berry. He went on stage, the band went on right after him, and went right into it. No key, no count off, nothing. And the band was right with them. It just blew my mind. Brian you slip the words Bruce Springsteen. What year was this . Daryl this was 1972 or 1973. I was 15. I was born in 1958. April. Brian had anybody heard of Bruce Springsteen . Daryl no. Nobody outside of new jersey. Asbury park, new jersey. So, the name did not mean anything to me. A year or so later, he is on the cover of time magazine, you know . It was like, wow. That is the same guy. Brian i want to show some video from 1997. If people look closely, they will see you at the piano. Lets watch this clip. Brian how did you end up on that stage . Daryl that is a funny story. It was late night with david letterman, and i knew chuck was going to be on there. I called him and said, can i come up to new york and hang out with you . He said, all right. They let i took the train or the bus up to new york, and i went to the studio, and he had my name on the guest list, backstage where security was. He was not there yet, so they let me in and said mr. Berry is not here yet, but i could go to his dressing room or his waiting room. I went to his waiting room. Tony randall was in there and Roseanne Barr and a couple other people who were going to be on the show. David does like two separate tapings per night. So i went to chuck berrys dressing room and eventually, he came. We were just sitting there, and then this producer walks in. Berry, my name is whatever, and i have you slated to do roll over beethoven with Paul Schaefer on it his band. He said, this is my piano player, daryl davis. He said i did not know your pno player was going to be here. We have Paul Schaefer. This is my piano player, daryl davis. Daryl, give him your Social Security number so you can get paid. I had not even planned on playing, i had just come to hang out. So i gave her my social and she was all flustered. Im a member of sag and all that. She said, ok, i will talk with mr. Schaefer. You all are going to perform roll over beethoven, and chuck berry said, i am going to play let it rock. And she said mr. Schaefer has roll oversing beethoven. Chuck said, i am going to do let it rock. So i went down there and there was Paul Schaefer. And Paul Schaefer is not only one of the most talented musicians in this country, he is totally underrated. The guys a genius, just a topnotch musician. Not only is he one of the most talented musicians in this country, he is also one of the nicest and most humblest. He had no problem with it whatsoever. I rehearsed the band on let it rock. He invited me to play with the band for the show. I said, thank you for the invitation. Brian around this time, our regular viewers are probably saying, what in the world are they talking about . We do not normally talk music on the show. There is a lot more to the story than music. I want to go back to how did you develop a relationship with chuck berry . You are thinking about humanity and Race Relations and things like that in this country. Daryl people like chuck berry and buddy holly and elvis lewis, bo diddly, these people were the pioneers of rock n roll. Back in the day, prior to rock n roll, music halls and concert venues were segregated, if they allowed black people in at all. There were signs hanging that would say, seating for white patrons only. Or they would say, colored seating only. And that jim crow law was still in place in the 1950s. If you and i are going to go see glenn miller or somebody, sinatra in the 1940s, we could not sit together. We would have to sit in designated seating sections according to the color of our skin. So even in the 1950s, that law was in place. But to phenomenons happened. One, the invention of rock n roll by people like chuck berry, domino, board, fats diddly, and then the popularization of it by elvis lewis, buddyy lee holly, and others. When white kids and black kids heard the new rhythm, they could not sit still. They bounced up out of their chairs, not the ropes and the signs over, and the next thing you knew, they were dancing together for the first time in the history of this country. Police would come in and shut down the show. So rock n roll brought white and black youth together through music. The same things the great civil rights activist like Martin Luther king, rosa parks, and many others, blackandwhite, would try to achieve through their marches, demonstrations, their sitins, boycotts in efforts to bring white and black adults together. Check berry and Elvis Presley were achieving this through music. And that attracted me as well. Brian how long had you been a musician . Daryl professionally . Since i graduated from Howard University in i was playing 1980. Slightly before that, during college. During my formative learning years, was kind of a late bloomer when it came to music. I started when i was 17 in high school, a junior. Brian i want to jump way out of context. There is a new documentary about you on netflix. It is called accidental courtesy. You have gotten a lot of publicity over this about things you have been involved in. [begin video clip] daryl this is an imperial this is the robe of an imperial wizard. This indicates they will shed their blood for the white race. If you look along the white cross, the black line and the two diagonal lines form a k. So you see four of them essentially. And, it stands for knights of the ku klux klan. People say to me, daryl, why do you have this stuff. Why dont you burn it . But, no. As shameful as it is, this is a part of american history. Do not burn our history, regardless. The kkk is as american as apple pie and the chevrolet. Brian what is the story behind this . Daryl i wrote a book in 1998 called klandestine relationships. I went around the country interviewing leaders and klan members based on an experience i had when i was a child. When i was a kid, i had a racist incident. People threw rocks and bottles at me. White spectators. I did not understand why i was a target. Then when racism was explained to me, i could not accept it. I had never heard of racism. I could not accept racism. I could not get my head around the idea that someone who had never spoken to me and knew nothing about me would want to hurt me for no other reason than the color of my skin. I formed the question at the age of 10 in 1968, which was, how can you hate me when you do not even know me . I have been seeking that answer , you know, for the next 49 years. I have bought books on white and supremacy and black supremacy. Nazi germany. I have been looking for the answer in the books and i could not find it. So, and my adult life i figured, well, who better to ask than someone who would join an organization that is reputed to believe that somebody elses inferior, who does not look like them or believe as they believe based on the color of their skin or their religious beliefs . So i decided i would seek out klan members and ask them to answer the question, and then i would get my answer. So the book came out. My book was the first book by a black author on the ku klux klan with face to face interviews. So that generated interest and different producers of documentaries began contacting me, wanting to do a documentary on the book. So years later after sifting through a lot of them, we decided on these particular producers and this was the product of which you just showed a clip. Brian who was the first member of the ku klux klan that you met, and how did you do it . Daryl the first one i met was a pretty negative and counter. It ended up in violence. But the first one i sat down to interview was the leader of the ku klux klan in the state of maryland. The state leader is known as a grand dragon, which we would call a governor, overseas the entire state. The top guy, the national guy who oversees all of the states , what we would call the president , that is what is known as the empirial wizard. The grand dragons name was roger kelly. He went from grand dragon to an imperial wizard. He is the first one i sat down with and had a conversation. Brian how did you set it up you . Daryl my secretary was white. Not that it matters, but it is essential to the story. I acquired his phone number. I gave it to her. The person who gave the phone number to me warned me not to fall with roger kelly. You can get yourself killed. I wanted to sit down with him and talk with him. So that was not going to deter me. But i wanted to make it so i did not jinx myself. I had my secretary call him. I figured if i called him, he might pick up in my voice that i am black. You. Not talking to click. The process would have ended before it started. So i knew that if she called him, he would automatically know in her voice that it was a white lady. He would not automatically assume that this white lady was working for a black man, especially a black man who was writing a book on the klan. Because they did not exist, you know, at the time. So, she called him. I had told her, do not tell him that i am black unless he asks. If he asks, do not lie to him. But do not allude to it. If he agrees to do it, he will figure that out when he sees me, and then he can make up his mind right then and there if he wants to talk to me or not. If i am going to meet him, i wanted it to be spontaneous. If he agreed knowing i was black, i did not want him to have different answers for a white interviewer than for a black interviewer. She called and spoke with him, and he agreed to meet with me and did not ask what color i was. Brian what was his reaction . Daryl we had it set up for a motel room. When he showed up, we were already in the room. I had a bucket of ice with cans of soda they are so i could be hospitable, and i offered him a beverage. He showed up with his bodyguard. A grand nighthawk. A bodyguard for the imperial grand dragon. An imperial nighthawk would be a bodyguard for the imperial dragon. So the bodyguard walked in first and was wearing military camouflage. And the initials kkk on his chest. Imprinted across his beret on his head was knights of the ku klux klan. On his hips he had a semi automatic handgun in a holster. He came in and was followed right behind by mr. Kelly, the grand dragon in a dark blue suit and tie. When the nighthawk walked into the room and turned the corner, he just froze. Mr. Kelly bumped into his back because the guy stopped short. They regained their balance, looking all around the room. I knew what they were thinking. Either the desk clerk gave them the wrong room number or this was a setup. This was an ambush. So i went like this to display my hand, nothing in them, i stood up and approached them and kelly. , mr. Come on in. He looked at me and shook my hand. I thought, so far so good. Brian and then what . Daryl i asked him to have a seat. He sat down and asked me for identification, and i gave it to him. Then we proceeded with the interview. Now, i had a bag beside me, i bag, i had a copy of the bible, because the ku klux klan claim to to be a Christian Organization and they also claim that the bible preaches racial separation. Now, and my reading of the bible i have never seen that in there. So i wanted to be able to pull up my bible and say, please show me chapter and verse where it says blacks and whites should be separated. I also had a cassette player to record my interview. We began talking. Back and forth. He let me know that i was inferior because i was black. Brian did he say why . Daryl yes, because black people have smaller brains and we are basically inclined to be lazy and uneducated, and things like that, you know, all of the stereotypes. Brian what was the physical reaction to that . Having him sitting across from you . Daryl it was interesting, he because as he was sitting across from me, he was wearing a suit and tie. I know who i am, and i am confident in who i am. So that was not going to throw me. I was expecting stuff like that. Because, you know, i had read all of these books on the klan already. And i thought, how can he hate me when he does not know me and has not even given me a chance to express myself and know my see if he still has those feelings. Brian what happened to that relationship . Daryl we became the best of friends eventually. Brian what does that mean . Daryl it means we hung out and we would go out to dinner. Not all in the next day or the next week, but over time. There was an incident that happened in the room that was a teaching moment. I will not say it was a learning moment. That will come later. Every time i would reach down to pull out a fresh cassette or pull out the bible because he made some biblical reference, every time i would reach down, the nighthawk would reach up. For his gun. Because he did not know what was in my bag. Understandably. Eventually he realized there was no threat in the bag, and he relaxed. And i went on with no problem. A little later on in the interview, there was a strange noise in the room and we all jumped. And i just knew that mr. Kelly had made the noise. Because i did not make it. I perceived it to be ominous and threatening, and i could hear a voice in my head, daryl, do not fool with roger kelly. He will kill you. I was ready to attack. You know, my eyes locked with his eyes. And i was like, what did you just do . His eyes have locked in mind, and i could read the expression in his ,which was saying, what did you just do . And, the nighthawk was looking back and forth between us like, what did one of the two of you just do . And my secretary was to my left sitting on top of the dresser. There were no more chairs. She realized what had happened. The ice in the bucket had melted, and the cans of soda had shifted, and that is what had made the noise. We all began laughing at how ignorant we all had been. The teaching moment was this all because some foreign entity and underscore highlight the word foreign entity of which we were ignorant, the bucket of ice, entered into our comfort zone via the noise it made, we became fearful and accusatory of one another. So the lesson was, ignorance breeds fear. If you do not keep the fear in check, that fear will breed hatred. If you do not keep hatred in check, that hatred will breed destruction. Brian from the documentary accidental courtesy, can we buy it if we do not have netflix . Daryl yes. You can order it from the company or itunes. Netflix. Brian here is somebody who kicked back at you from your own race. Lets watch. [begin video clip] stop wasting your time going into houses where they dont love you, where they want to throw you into the basement. Daryl you believe nobody can change . No, i believe you believe the wrong people can change. Daryl what do you mean . You are going to their houses. White supremacists cannot change. You aint doing nothing but collecting something. You are nothing but a pimp in a pullpit. Daryl and you are nothing but ignorant. Brian who was that and where was it done . Daryl that guy is my friend now and he is an activist with black lives matter. That was done roughly, that a year and a couple months ago. Another gentleman was there. You did not see him in the clip. We had dinner together about a month ago, and all of those differences have been resolved. He was not fully aware of what i do and how i do it. He had received Bad Information. Prior to that scene right there, i had met him outside the bar where that scene took place. The first thing he said to be was, upon our very first time of meeting each other, was, i understand you are the first black member of the kkk. So that right there was his mindset. Of course, if there were black members of the kkk, it would not be the kkk. So, he had Bad Information and he was acting upon that without getting the back story. Now that he and i have gotten together and talked, we are friends, and we have agreed to Work Together to fight the disease called racism. Brian what kind of family did you grow up in . U. S. my parents were foreign service, so i spent a lot of time overseas in there is countries all over the world. I was an American Embassy brat. I have been in 53 Different Countries on six continents. If you combine my travels as a child with now when i traveled as an adult, i have been in 53 Different Countries on six continents. Brian what difference do you think it made for you that you saw other worlds . Daryl it made a world of difference. Because i was exposed early on to many different cultures, ethnicities, nationalities, traditions. Etc. Rs, religions, all of that shaped who i became. I saw people from all over the world getting along with each other. When i was in grade school overseas, i would be there for two years and come back home, be here for a few months or a year, and then go back to another country. When i was a kid in the 1950s, in elementary school, my classes were filled with kids from all nigeria, russia, japan, germany. Italy, germany. The embassy of those countries, the kids went to the same school. That is how i grew up. If you were to peek into my classroom door, you would say it looked like a United Nations of little kids. That scenario was not here in my own country, and the United States. When i returned, i would either be in a newly integrated or a still segregated school that had. Ot gotten there yet i would be surrounded by all black people or black and white people. Today, when you walk into a school classroom, you see what i saw. But back then, i was living 12 to 15 years ahead of my time. Brian more from accidental courtesy, this is a discussion you have with a man named robert white. This is about 35 seconds. [video clip] daryl robert white murdered two black men with a shotgun. He went on to become a good friend of mine. Why would you go to his wedding if you do not believe in the mixing of races . Robert i will attend his wedding if he wants me there because it is daryl. Daryl as a result of our friendship, he left the ku klux klan. This is his jacket. This is his dragon robe. Baltimore city Police Officer. Brian where is he today . Daryl he has since passed. Brian how long ago . Daryl in 2007. Brian how did he become your friend . Daryl he was in prison when i first contacted him. I wanted to interview him for my book. We had a correspondence, he did not know i was black. He was vehemently racist. And antisomatic. Antisematic. A very vicious and violent man. Shortly before he got out of prison, he found out i was black. He had some of his people check me out. He was all upset that i had not informed him of the color of my skin. He said, you shouldve told me the truth. He was upset i had not informed him of the color of my skin. I said, what difference does it make . When we get out and get together. Is the truth different when you talk to a white person or a black person . He agreed, so we got together. As i said, he was very angry, violent, hateful, but we kept getting together time and again, and he began to see me as a human being. Over time he began to shed that ideology. To another point of my growing up and traveling to different places and being exposed to these things, one of my very favorite quotes of all time is by mark twain, the travel quote. Mark twain says, travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrowmindedness and many of our people need a story on these accounts. Charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one Little Corner of the earth all ones lifetime. Brian who was the fellow sitting at the table with you in that video . Daryl that gentleman was a former Baltimore City Police Officer. The Baltimore City Police Department has been saturated with racist Police Officers and ku klux klan members, such as bob white, and other ones he has told me about himself. Brian how big is the ku klux klan in the United States today . Daryl no one really knows for sure. The mentality is certainly very large. In terms of just the klan itself, klan members, as opposed to every white supremacist in different organizations, i think the adl and Southern Poverty Law Center estimate between 5000 and 8000 members. Brian if you go back to the early 1920s, the numbers are 4 million . Daryl yes. 3 million alone in indiana. Down because right the years, less and less of the ku klux klan. Why has it lessened . Daryl it lessened in membership because people evolve. They begin to appreciate one another when they come in contact with one another. But it has its ebbs and flows. It rises and falls, it rises and falls. A lot of people, while they dont want to be associated lets say with blacks and jews, they dont also want to be associated with the violence that the klan brings, either for moral or legal reasons. So they will drop out and join some other racist group, like the white citizens council, which is more political. They put people in positions of leadership in order to institutionalize those racist beliefs. Brian did you ask anybody to let you go to a meeting of the kkk . Daryl absolutely. I was invited to meetings. In fact, i would go to meetings and klan rallies and document see these things and document them for my book. In fact, just over a month ago, the tennessee and kentucky chapters of the klan invited me down there to come to one of their meetings and speak to them. Brian did you . Daryl i absolutely did. Yes. Absolutely. Brian what did you tell them . Daryl i told them a lot. What i felt about what happened recently in charlottesville and some other things that i felt their perspectives were skewed. They sat and listened. Then i did a q a at the end, and questions, and then we all went out and had lunch together. Brian you mentioned earlier that your first meeting with a member of the kkk was violent. Daryl yes. Brian can you tell us that story . Daryl i had just finished a gig, a musical performance. I was going across this parking lot to get something to eat at this allnight restaurant, greasy spoon or whatever you want to call it. As i pulled into my parking space, i saw a man straddled across the woman on the sidewalk. He was sitting on her, and he was banging her head into the sidewalk and hitting her in the face. I was shocked. I pulled into my space and i was going to go over there and pull him off. But when i got out of the car he was oblivious to me, just going at it. I just pulled in two spaces away from him. When i got out of the car and closed my door, he jumped up and looked at me. He said, what are you looking at, nigger . And, to me that was an open invitation. I said, im looking at you. He got off of her and attacked me, and i had to put him down. I had to hurt him and put him down. People were standing around watching this and doing nothing about it, nothing. They did not call the police. These were white people, watching this white man beat up this white woman. They did not call the police until this black man beat up the white guy. Then they called the police. These two officers came, and something was very strange. They would not arrest the guy. I wanted him arrested for assault. They would not arrest him. They told him, however, to leave the premises, and if he were to set foot back on the property within 24 hours, he would be arrested for trespassing. I said, i want him arrested now. He left. They said, you have to fill out a warrant or whatever else at the Police Station. I said, ok. I went inside, got some ice for this lady, applied it to the back of her head and helped her. And i asked her i said, im going to have him arrested, not only for assaulting me, but what he did to you. I am happy to come to court if you want to press charges against him. Would you be willing to testify on my behalf . She said yes. She gave me her phone number and address. I helped her fix up her head. I went down to the Police Station. The commissioner gave me this thing to fill out. Im filling out my complaint. I asked him, i said these were county cops who came to respond. I asked him, i said how long will it take before this guy is served . Because i made the police give me his information, which they did. The commissioner said, it goes from here to the sheriffs and they dispatch a deputy, maybe three days. I said, ok. I am filling it out and in walks the guy, the guy i beat up. He walks into the Police Station with two state Police Officers on either side of him, and he is in handcuffs. I said, thats him right there. Thats him right there. The commissioner said, sign it , and i will serve him right now. So i signed it, the commissioner took it, rolled it up, and walked and stuck it between the guys arms, because he was handcuffed like this. I found out later on what happened was this. When the two original cops, the county cops left, because he left first because they told him to leave, he came back looking for me to finish the fight. I was not there, i was at the Police Station. He goes inside the restaurant and picks a fight with some other black guy. So this time, the state police responded. They were having none of that, and they locked him up. Brian what happened to him eventually . Daryl what i come to find out is from this woman, she was his exfiancee. She had left him because he was seeing somebody else, who he had gotten pregnant. He was like, if i cant have you, nobody will. Bam, bam, bam. So she tells me that he is a highranking official in the county Fire Department and a member of the ku klux klan. So i beat up a klansman, a fireman, which explained to me why the two county Police Officers did not arrest him. They knew each other. Brian should i assume that you did not become friends with this klansman . Daryl yes, you can assume that. [chuckling] brian back to your relationship with a man named frank. Lets watch this. [video clip] him frank klan in our constitution, you know, it says we want to maintain White Supremacy in america. These birds dont fly together, but they dont mix together. That is one of the reasons we should have our own nations. When it comes to race, you know, everybody thinks the klan are a organization. Dont you have churches that only cater to blacks, though . Daryl yes, because we could not get into the white churches. [laughter] klansmen, forward march. Klansmen, halt. Right face. For my god. For my god. For my country. For my country. For my klan. For my klan. Brian how much do they really believe in that kind of ceremony . Daryl a lot of them do believe that really heavily. They are inundated with the ceremony. It makes them feel like they belong to something, it is a fraternity. It is not a fraternity that you or i would join, but it is one, a fraternity where each one has the others back. They strongly believe in that. Brian you brought some of your possessions with you. Daryl i did. Brian hold that up, if you would, please, so we can see what it is. You did explain that earlier. How did you get all of that . Daryl this is a grand dragons robe. Which means state leader. You have a choice of a white cotton robe with green stripes, green is the color for the stripes green is the color for the grand level a green cape, and a green sash. Again, this is the blood drop emblem. Here you have the dragon patch, signifying his rank. Under the cape, you see another dragon patch. You also have a full green satin robe. Again, that is personal choice, cotton or satin. If it is cotton, it would be white with different color adornments. If it is satin, the whole thing would be that color. Brian did you buy those . Daryl did i buy them . No. They were given to me. They were given to me by active klan members who left the organization. Brian what is the next one . Daryl the is the robe of an imperial wizard, the top guy. Blue or purple, your choice, designates the imperial level. Again, this is a white cotton robe with blue adornments. Brian can you buy one of those online . Daryl that i dont know, i doubt it, unless somebody is selling one who has one. Brian what is the last one, the green one . Is that the one you were just talking about . Daryl yeah. This green one here is another grand dragons robe. This one belonged to bob white, the gentleman we were talking about in the accidental courtesy clip that you showed, the Baltimore Police officer. He was in prison for four years for conspiring to bomb a synagogue in baltimore. Brian as a Police Officer . Daryl as a Police Officer. He was forced to resign from the Police Department because he was bringing embarrassment to them. They knew who he was, and they what he was doing, but as long as he did not bring any repercussions to them, they turned a blind eye to it. There were others on that force. Here is his robe. He preferred the satin, so a full green satin robe. There is no difference between that one and the cotton one. Here is his Baltimore City police uniform. Brian how long ago was he a Baltimore Policeman . Daryl this was back in the 1970s. Brian where is he now . Daryl he is deceased now. Brian i want to go back to frank ancona. I want to show you some video from cbs news this year in february, then talk about this gentleman. [video clip] in missouri, a ku klux klan leader is shot and killed in his bedroom, and Officials Say his own family was behind it. The murder. Frank anconas body was found saturday about 20 miles from his home. He had been shot in the head. Prosecutors say his klan membership was not a factor in the killing, but rather that the motive was personal. They say frank ancona told his wife he wanted a divorce. Melissa and her son paul are charged with firstdegree murder, tampering with evidence, and abandonment of a corpse. Investigators say paul was the one that pulled the trigger and that melissa helped clean up the scene. Both are being held without bail. Brian how good a friend had he become of yours . Had become aancona very, very good friend. I had been in his home several times. I knew his wife, melissa. Brian what happened to her after all this . Daryl she is in jail right now. She is blaming the son, and the son is blaming her. In fact, frank ancona and i were such good friends i would say, if he were still alive, within a years time he would have been out of the klan, and he would have given me his robe. Today, i do own his robe, but i will get to that in a second. I knew what had happened to my friend frank ancona before the police did. Brian why . Daryl believe in or not. All right . I was sitting at a friend of mines house going through some video. He is a video editor. I got a call just after midnight, and it was from a klansmen. He said, daryl, i believe frank has gone missing. I said, what do you mean . He said frank had not gone to work, was not home. He thought there was something odd going on. Because frank and melissa were kind of at odds. Now, frank loved his wife, i can tell you that. He genuinely loved his wife. He was a courier, he would drive across the state delivering things. Oftentimes, he would call me on his phone when he was in the car by himself to check on me or for me to keep him company while he was driving. And i knew he loved her, but he was having a lot of issues with her because she was an opioid addict and a methamphetamine addict. He was considering leaving her. Anyway, this guy tells me he thinks melissa had something to do with it. I said, maybe he just went somewhere just to cool down or whatever. He says, i dont think so. Then he said he was going to dig a little further, because he said he had talked to melissa and her story was not adding up, she kept being ambiguous. He said he would talk to her some more. He called me back around 4 00 in the morning and told me, frank is dead. He had talked to the wife, and she told him what happened and what had gone on. She confessed to him, and he told me. This was before it was not until maybe three days later that the police found out what happened. Brian just listening to you talk here in the last 45 minutes, you get the impression that every time you come in contact with a klans member, you become friends. Daryl not every time. Brian tell me what happens when you dont become friends. Daryl you dont become friends. [laughs] brian what is the dialogue back and forth, how do you know you are not getting through . Daryl you have people who are ignorant and people who are stupid. We all are ignorant to a certain degree, because we dont know everything. But an ignorant person is someone who can learn. You give me the facts, you give me the proper information, you have alleviated my ignorance, and i can apply that to make the right decision or a good choice. But if i am stupid, i have the facts but i still make the wrong choice. So i am well aware that there are people who will go to their graves being hateful, violent, and racist. There is no changing them whatsoever. I have met some of those people. They are very dangerous people , and they are unchangeable. Most of them are dangerous, i wont say all of them are. They are so skewed, no amount of facts will change their beliefs. Brian do you have a family . Daryl i have a wife. Brian do you have children . Daryl not of my own. I have stepchildren, but they are grown. Brian where do you live now . Daryl silver spring, maryland. Brian how much of your life is spent on this versus your jazz piano work . Daryl rock n roll, jazz, blues, country. I would say between 50 50 and 60 40. Brian what has happened with all the publicity . What impact has that had on you . Daryl it is interesting because i have been doing this for 30 years. When i first started doing this, people thought, you are crazy. I was called a kook and this, that, and the other, and im going to get myself killed. Even some people began shunning me. Brian black folks or white folks . Daryl both. Both. They thought i had gone off my rocker or something. Today some of these same people are calling me up and saying, daryl, what do we do . You know these people, what do we do . Because racism has become so emboldened today. Now people are beginning to take notice of it, whereby before either they were in denial or living in their bubble, it was not affecting them. Now it is out there in your face , and now they dont know what to do, so they go to somebody who has been embedded with it for a while. Brian President Trump calls you up and says, come to the oval office. You get an hour with him. What would you start telling him about this issue, and what would you like to tell him from what you have seen over the last couple years in the political world . Daryl i would absolutely go, and i would be very happy to sit down with President Trump and go over this. I would ask him to give me a position, paid or unpaid, to help resolve many of the racial issues in this country. Personally, i believe President Trump this is my belief is one of the best things that has happened to this country, because all of this stuff is now coming up to the surface. I am not saying that was his plan or his design, but as the result of his presidency, all of this stuff is coming up, where before there was a taboo on talking about racism. Dont talk about that, put it it under the carpet, its not politically correct. Now we are having to address it, it is in our face. But i have always seen it, it was never hidden from me. But people are going about it the wrong way to resolve it. People are talking about each other or they are talking at each other. I sit down and talk with each other. That is what results in my getting these kinds of things. I never set out to convert anybody. I set out to listen to them explain their points of view, what they fear, what they think. Then im able to share mine. That is the impetus for them to think, and oftentimes they reconsider that ideology. Brian how much racism do you see in your professional life when you are playing the piano . Daryl i see it from time to time. Brian how, what do you see . Daryl for example, the moose lodge. The moose lodge was a very racist organization in this country. Their bylaws forbid black people to be in the moose lodge. I was playing in a band one time, and i was not allowed to come. They told the band they had to bring a white piano player. The band leaders said, no. Where we go, daryl goes. So the moose lodge rented a for this bandlity just so i could play. Today the moose lodge is integrated. A black person was brought by a white member to be a guest, and they refused entrance, so the black person sued the moose lodge in federal court. The federal judge said, if you dont change that law, i will shut down every moose lodge in the country. Brian let me ask you this you are a black person and the moose lodge had the rules, why would you want to go there . What would you want to change it . Why would you want to be involved with people that would accept that kind of thing in their bylaws . Daryl the moose lodge doesnt make me or break me. I am there to play music. Brian i dont mean you, im talking about the fellow that sued them. Why would he even care about being a part of the moose lodge, being a member . Daryl because this is our country, and we all should be treated equally. That is the whole thing with the flag and the pledge of allegiance. One nation, indivisible, under god, with liberty and justice for all. No, there is not liberty and justice for all. Our society is going to be one of two things. It is going to be what we make it, or it is going to be what we let it become. I would rather make it equitable for everybody. Brian you had a conversation in accidental courtesy with a guy named jeff. National socialist movement commander. I just want to go back to the way we started music and listen to this conversation. [video clip] jeff you men and women that are here today, if we are going to take back the nation, we have to stand in solidarity. White power white power daryl what kind of music do you like . Jeff all kinds, rock, hardcore, oi, rock against communism. Daryl do you realize rock was invented by black musicians . Jeff we are not going to go daryl yes we are, we are going there. [laughter] daryl who invented rock then . Jeff Elvis Presley. Daryl you are not being serious, right . Brian what was that conversation like . Daryl very cordial, very good. We exchanged phone numbers. Jeff is a hardcore racist and supremacist. Brian still . Daryl yes. Brian why does he think that rock n roll music started with Elvis Presley . Did you ever get through to that . Daryl he knows where rock started, but he cannot bring himself to admit that he likes something that was invented by black people. However, had you continued that clip, i pointed out to him that chuck berry invented rock and roll, and Elvis Presley popularized it. I came down on him for not accepting black inventions. Then he said that he likes peanut butter, and black people invented peanut butter. I said, who was it . He named George Washington carver. Brian you have all this paraphernalia. How many of these robes do you have at home . Daryl i dont keep them all at home. I only keep a couple at home. I keep a lot of them locked up offsite. I would guess i got three recently. I would guess i have between 42 , 44. Brian how do you get them . Is the decision made you are going to like each other, and the guy says, im getting out of the klan and giving it to you . Daryl no, actually the first time i got one, the guy was going to get rid of it. He put it in a trash bag and was going to throw it in a dumpster. Or something. I said, no, no, no let me have it. He said, why would you want it . I said, i just want it. I did not know why i wanted it, but i wanted it. So i got it that way. Others, when they decided to leave, i said, what are you going to do with your stuff . They are like, i dont know, get rid of it. I said, can i have it . And they would give it to me. Now i have got klan people who have heard about me or whatever, they read articles, see me on tv, they know i have these robes. When they decide to leave or they have met me, they say, would you like my robe . Brian do you get invited to speak . Iryl i have come at a k have, at a klan meeting or rally. Brian i mean do you get invited to speak to the general public . Daryl i do a lot of speaking all over the country and abroad. Brian what has been the impact of this documentary on netflix, accidental courtesy . Daryl on the country or netflix . Brian on you. Daryl i think it has increased to speaking opportunities because people are concerned and need to address this issue they are confronted with, especially since charlottesville. Brian if somebody wants to hear you play the piano, how they find out where to go . Daryl they go to my website, daryldavis. Com. There they can find my schedule, my performance schedule, as well as my speaking schedule or appearances on media. Brian are you going to write another book . Daryl im updating the old book, klandestine relationships, because the book came out in the late 1990s, and many things have happened since then. We have had a black president. We have had an increase in immigration, legal and illegal. All of that has fueled the white right of that mentality. So i want to update the book. Talk about people of color in there. Some have passed, some still around. Update people on that as well as tell you stories. Brian of all the publicity over the years, which one got you the most visibility and the most reaction . Daryl that is really hard to say. I have had a lot of great ones. There are some that are still in the can. For example, there is the nat geo thing that is going to be showing pretty soon with morgan freeman, who interviewed me. That is sure to generate a lot of publicity. Someone on cnn, and im sure cspan with brian lamb would generate a lot of publicity. [laughter] brian i doubt it. Anyway, daryl davis, we are out of time. We are going to leave this by showing 30 seconds of you playing the 88s. Daryl ok. [video clip] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] if you enjoyed this weeks q a interview, here are other programs you might like. Heather mcghee. Naacp president bruce gordon. Lehr on his book about the film birth of a nation. You can search for these videos on cspan. Org. Next, live, your call for comments on washington journal. Live at 1 00 p. M. , the president of the world bank talks about the state of the world economy. Lie that to 00 p. M. , the spanish ambassador to the u. S. Discusses the bilateral relationship. Tonight on the communicators,