Conflict is unavoidable in everyday life – it’s how we react to it that matters. Maybe you’re a manager trying to defuse tension among employees…your co-worker doesn’t share your beliefs or background…or you have a long-simmering disagreement with a family member or neighbor. The one thing all conflict has in common – nothing gets solved until the opposing sides talk about it. In his presentation, Daryl Davis empowers people with a universal tool kit to resolve conflict at work, at home, and in the community – one conversation at a time.
Daryl Davis draws on 40+ years of engaging KKK and far-right White supremacist groups to unpack why hate crimes and rhetoric are on the rise. The daily headlines are troubling, but Daryl reminds audiences hate is learned – and what is learned can be unlearned. He encourages people to engage and educate, not shun and cancel, those with toxic beliefs, and he shows them how. “Ignorance breeds fear, fear breeds hate, and hate breeds destruction. Engaging and finding common ground is the key to defusing fear.”
At its inception, Rock ’n’ Roll was called “the devil’s music” among many derogatory names by its detractors. Some cities banned it altogether. Rooted in Black R&B and Blues, its infectious beat led young people in the South to leap over the rope that segregated Whites from Blacks in the audience. The 1957, Chuck Berry lyric, “Hail, hail Rock’n’Roll, deliver me from the days of old,” in his hit song School Days, celebrated the music as a turning point in race relations. Daryl brings that history forward into his own story, using music as a common denominator and proving that musical and racial harmony go hand-in-hand.
I am so grateful to have worked with Daryl!
Post University
- Feb 23 2022
Another EXCELLENT collaboration! I look forward to working together again soon.
Wingate University
- Mar 01 2021
Central Middle School - Jan 23 2019
“Hello,” I began, “I'm Daryl Davis.” I offered my palm, and Kelly shook my hand as he and the nighthawk introduced themselves. He sat in the chair I had set out, and the nighthawk stood at attention beside him. We were both apprehensive of the other, and the interview started haltingly. We discussed what he had hoped to ...
How can you hate me if you don't even know me?” Daryl Davis asks in the new documentary “Accidental Courtesy.”
One by one, Daryl Davis has befriended KKK members over the past 30 years. The more they got to know the African-American musician, the more they realized the Klan was not for them.
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