He’s played with the likes of Chuck Berry, BB King and even Bill Clinton. But how does an accomplished Black musician go from playing jazz and blues to befriending members of the Ku Klux Klan?
For more than 30 years, Daryl Davis, 63, has met with more than 200 members of the Klan, and other white supremacists, in search of an answer to a question that has come to define the course of his life: “How can you hate me if you do not know me?”
In this one-off audio documentary, we are joined by Daryl to explore his remarkable journey, and to unpick the events and encounters that inspired this internationally renowned musician to embark on a quest to heal division.
We talk to former Klan member, Scott Shepherd, who, by meeting with Daryl, eventually disavowed his allegiance – and even publicly apologised to the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr for previous comments he’d made about the civil rights leader.
We also hear from Yvette Williams MBE, Director of the Justice for Grenfell campaign, on the ways in which Daryl’s message can be applied in London.
Host: Oliver Murphy
Guests: Daryl Davis, Scott Shepherd and Yvette Williams MBE
Music: Purple Planet
Archived Audio: CNN and TedX
Featured image credit: U.S. Embassy Jerusalem via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY 2.0
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