How One Black Man Dismantled the KKK, One Conversation at a Time
The Michael Shermer Show
Michael Shermer
4.3 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 30 December 2025
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What do you do when someone believes you shouldn't exist?
Daryl Davis didn't protest. He didn't shout. He sat down, asked questions, and kept showing up. Over decades, that approach has led more than 200 Ku Klux Klan members and white supremacists to walk away from their robes for good.
In this conversation, Davis explains why people radicalize, and what happens psychologically when prejudice collides with a real human being. He shares stories from inside Klan meetings, lessons learned from neo-Nazis, and why today's climate of polarization may actually be an opportunity rather than a dead end.
Daryl Davis earned his Bachelor of Music degree from Howard University and an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Post University. He is the author of Klan-Destine Relationships and the subject of the multi-award-winning documentary Accidental Courtesy, which chronicles his work in race reconciliation. A lifelong musician, he has performed with Chuck Berry and President Bill Clinton, and as an actor appeared in HBO's The Wire.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You reap what you sow. You disseminate hate. It will come back and bite you. And in my opinion, Charlie Kirk did just that. |
| 0:07.8 | What did Charlie say that you feel is hateful? |
| 0:11.4 | There's been many of them. But to give you just, you know, a few here and there. Are there white supremacists in the Baltimore City Police Department? |
| 0:18.3 | Oh, yeah, it's full of them. He's right. Okay. I think I showed a police officer's uniform in the movie from the Baltimore City Police Department. Oh, yeah, it's full of them. He's right, okay? I think I showed a police officer's uniform in the movie from the Baltimore City Police. |
| 0:25.0 | The Grand Dragon was a Baltimore City cop, not undercover, a bona fide clansman on the Baltimore |
| 0:30.0 | City police force. |
| 0:31.3 | The government was in the business of giving black women hysterectomies that they did not need |
| 0:37.1 | during childbirth. They would tell, hey, I can either save the child or save you, the mother, one or the other, unless you have a hysterectomy. Then I can save you both. That was, what, 1950s? Exactly. No, no, back in the 1950s, and my mother was a victim of that. Really? Oh, my God. |
| 0:54.6 | Which is why I'm an only child. |
| 0:56.2 | Oh, wow. |
| 1:01.5 | Hey, everybody. |
| 1:02.6 | It's Michael Shermer. |
| 1:03.3 | It's time for another episode of the Michael Shermer show. |
| 1:06.0 | If you want to subscribe, go to the Skeptic Society, Skeptic Magazine web page, skeptic.com slash subscribe. Yeah, |
| 1:13.5 | it's that easy. My guest today is Daryl Davis. Okay, here is his book, The Clan Whisperer. You |
| 1:19.2 | will know him from many, many media interviews. And if not, he earned his Bachelor of Music |
| 1:25.2 | degree from Howard University and an honorary doctorate and |
| 1:28.1 | humane letters from post university. |
| 1:30.6 | When not performing with his own Daryl Davis band, he has played with Muddy Waters' legendary |
| 1:35.7 | blues band, Chuck Barry, Elvis Presley's Jordanaires, and many others, including President |
| 1:41.2 | Bill Clinton. |
| 1:42.4 | That's when he was playing the saxophone, right? |
... |
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