Daryl Davis is a Chicago blues musician, who uses his friendship with KKK to convince members to leave this organization. He successfully persuaded 25 former white supremacists that there’s another way. Davis has his own strategy, he explains and talks to people in more than friendly way, that allows to prevent usual misunderstanding.
‘They may be yelling and screaming or pounding the table, but at least they’re talking, they’re not fighting.’
Davis choose to disarm them with polite conversation and smile. And this worked out.
It doesn’t mean he’s anti-Black, he just chose his own path. No need to spread fake facts. This is very important!
#StayWoke
This is how you rid the world of racism.
“All black people have a gene in them that makes them violent,” one of the Klansmen told Davis. Rather than respond in anger, Davis challenged him to examine his belief:
After a time I said, ‘You know, it’s a fact that all white people have within them a gene that makes them serial killers. Name me three black serial killers.’ He could not do it. I said ‘you have the gene. It’s just latent.’ He said, ‘Well that’s stupid.’ I said, ‘It’s just as stupid as what you said to me.’ He was very quiet after that and I know it was sinking in.”
I will never let this post pass without criticizing the “this is how you rid the world of racism” comment. No it fucking ISN’T. Racism isn’t fixed one asshole at a time. Racism is systemic, it’s governmental, it’s built into the very bones of our culture.
Convincing a few random white dudes to take off their fucking sheets is NOT going to fix a system of oppression created and enforced by the US government. It isn’t going to stop the extrajudicial killing of blacks, it isn’t going to do anything but spread the idea that the oppressed should be kind to their aggressors in order to establish the mere concept of their humanity.
Davis can do whatever the fuck he wants, but if you dare to imply that the marginalized should befriend their oppressors as the way to cure racism, then I will let you know you are ignorant as fuck, and that your privilege is showing in the most egregious way possible.
I don’t think Davis is anti-black, I think he lacks a fundamental understanding of the basis of racism and his personal crusade is just a form of self aggrandizement. He’s drunk so deep of the respectability politics kool-aid that he thinks this is gonna fix some shit it ain’t, and he opens up more effective activists to even more bullshit white criticism.
Thoughtfulfangirling 