[MUSICAL INTRO PLAYING]
DARYL DAVIS: Good afternoon.
Thank you all very
much for having me.
Really appreciate it.
And this lecture is
more about communication
than it is about the Ku
Klux Klan and neo-Nazis.
But what I do is I use
those groups as extremes
compared to a black person.
And so you take a look at some
of the things that I've done,
it should make it
a little easier
for you to go home for
Thanksgiving dinner
and talk about anything
over the table.
Because we know the
past couple of years
have been difficult
for many of us talking
to our friends and our families
and about different things,
and not just about race.
It could be about
abortion, could
be about global warming,
nuclear weapons,
the current presidency,
the war in the Middle East.
You have one opinion,
they have another opinion.
And rather than pursue
combat or a fight,
you avoid talking about
it and nothing gets done.
OK, well, I grew up as a child
of parents in the US Foreign
Service.
So I lived a lot
overseas as a kid,
and come back home every
two years back here,
then go back overseas again.
Today as a
professional musician,
I travel all over
the world performing.
When you combine my travels
with my folks combined
with my travels now
as an adult, I've
been in a total of 57 different
countries on six continents.
So I've experienced a multitude
of ethnicities, cultures,
religions, practices.
And all of that has helped
shape who I've become
and my perspective.
This right here is about 27
years ago at a KKK rally.
I was curious as to
how someone can hate me
when they didn't even know me.
This was the result of me
marching at a cub scout
parade in Belmont, Massachusetts
as the only black scout.
While most of the
people cheered us,
we were marching from
Lexington into Concord
to commemorate the
ride of Paul Revere.
People are yelling the
British are coming and smiling
and cheering us.
But there was a
small group of people
on the sidewalk who began
throwing rocks and bottles
and soda pop cans at me.
And I was getting hit.
And I did not understand it.
I thought I had done
something wrong.
And my cub master, my troop
leader, my den mother all
came rushing over and
escorted me out of the danger,
protecting me with their bodies.
These were all white
people, protecting me
and the ones assaulting me.
When I got home, my
mom and dad asked
me, how did you
fall down, get all
scraped up as they were
putting Band Aids on me.
I said, I didn't fall down.
I told them exactly
what had happened.
For the first time in
my life, my mom and dad
sat me down and explained
what racism was to me.
Believe it or not,
at the age of 10
I had never heard
the word racism.
I've been around people from
all over the world at that age.
And I'd gotten along with
each and every one of them,
regardless of their color.
This thing racism was
totally foreign to me.
And I didn't have big brothers
and sisters to learn things
from their experiences.
All I had were my mom and dad.
I'm an only child.
My folks got it
right the first time.
And my mom and dad
never lied to me.
They always told me the truth.
If I had a question or a
problem, they solved it for me,
gave me the answer,
or gave me the tools
of which I could do it myself.
When they told me
why I was being hit,
I did not believe them.
I literally thought
they were lying to me.
I could-- my 10-year-old
brain could not wrap itself
around the idea that someone who
had never spoken to me, someone
who knew absolutely
nothing about me
would want to inflict pain
upon me for no other reason
than this, the color of my skin.
It made no sense.
So I didn't believe them.
A month and a half later
that same year, 1968,
on April the 4th, Martin
Luther King was assassinated.
And every major city
in this country,
including right
here where you all
are, in New York
City, Washington, DC,
my hometown, Chicago,
Nashville, Detroit, Baltimore,
Philadelphia, all
burned to the ground
with destruction and violence.
All in the name of that new
word I had learned, racism.
So now I knew that this
thing racism does exist,
but I did not know why.
And I formed a
question in my mind
at that age, which was,
how can you hate me
when you don't even know me?
And now for almost
the next 52 years
I've been looking for the
answer to that question.
So who better to
ask than someone
who would go so far as to
join an organization that
has over a hundred year history
of practicing hating people
who do not look
like them and who
do not believe as they believe?
So I began seeking out KKK
members and supremacists
to find out how can you hate
me when you don't even know me.
I never set out to
convert anybody.
I just want the
answer to my question
so I can process it
and try to understand.
So I would attend Klan
rallies and different things.
As I said, this was
about 27 years ago,
about a hundred pounds ago.
Towards the end
of the rally, you
can see the burning
cross in the background.
This one was about
almost four years ago.
The first one was in Maryland.
That one is in Missouri
towards the end of a rally.
Now, what do I do
at these things?
I talk to people.
I try to learn and
understand, OK?
When I ask people
this, how can you
hate me when you don't even
know me, this guy right here
with the green
cross on his face,
he threatened me when I
came on the rally ground.
This other guy here, you
can barely see his face,
he was the leader.
He was murdered a
couple of years ago.
I'm told things like, we hate
you because you're a criminal.
Black people are prone to crime.
That is why there are
more blacks in prison
than there are whites.
Well, that's a half-truth.
Yes, there are more blacks in
prison than there are whites,
but not because
we're prone to crime.
Because of an inequitable
judicial system.
I'm told that blacks are lazy.
We don't want to work.
We prefer to scam the
government welfare system.
And I'm also told that black
people have smaller brains
than white people.
Therefore, we don't have the
brain capacity to have as high
an IQ as white people.
Now when you hear
these things and you're
standing as close as I
am to somebody like that,
are those words offensive?
Yes, they are very offensive.
Am I offended?
Absolutely not.
Now, that's the difference.
Most people would take
offense at hearing that.
And combat would be on, and
nothing would be accomplished.
And if you react to that kind
of provoking or provocative
statements, all you're
doing is lending credibility
to what they're saying and
empowering them, all right?
Why should I be offended
by somebody telling a lie?
That person doesn't know me.
I just met him five minutes ago.
And all he sees is this and has
determined that I'm a criminal,
and that I'm lazy, and I'm on
welfare, my brain is small,
and I have a low IQ.
So I let them get it all out.
And then once they
get it out, I listen
and I don't push
back and attack.
They're thrown off their game.
And then I let them
know, hey, you know what?
I don't have a criminal record.
I have never been on welfare.
I've never measured
my brain, but I'm
sure it's the same size as
anybody else's, all right?
And then we go on from there.
You're planting a seed.
But naturally, you need
you to nourish that seed.
You start here.
And as you nourish that
seed, you get here.
You find more commonalities.
And then by time you get here,
you have forged a relationship.
You nourish the
relationship, you get closer,
find more commonalities.
By the time that you get here,
you have developed somewhat
of a friendship.
And the trivial
things that you have
in contrast, such as
skin color or whether you
go to a temple, a mosque,
a synagogue, or a church,
began to matter less and less.
Now, let's take a look at a
few more recent things here.
This is one of
the many incidents
that happened in Charlottesville
at the unite the Right rally.
These guys coming down the
steps are Ku Klux Klan members.
You don't know that,
because you don't see them
in their robes and hoods.
I know that because I know each
and every one of those guys.
The guy in the white shirt is--
well, was a Grand
Dragon of Virginia.
I mean a state leader.
He's trying to hit the black guy
with his Confederate flag pole.
The black guy is
trying to set them
on fire with an improvised
flamethrower, aerosol can
and a match.
The Imperial Wizard, which
means national leader,
you don't see him.
He's about right here.
He had already
come down the steps
before the guy lit
the flame thrower.
He's wearing a black
bandanna, a blue jean vest,
and black jeans.
He comes around, walks this way,
turns around, and now the guy
who's with the fire,
he sees him trying
to set his members on fire.
The leader, Imperial
Wizard, pulls out a gun,
points it at the black guy's
head, and shouts, hey nigger.
And then lowers the
gun and fires it.
And the bullet goes
into the ground
right there where
you see the gravel
just opposite the
black gentleman's foot.
And then he turns
and he walks away,
right past the Charlottesville
police, who are standing there
in green neon vests watching
the whole thing go down
and doing absolutely nothing
I'm going to show you
the video of this.
I'm just setting it
up for you so you'll
understand what happens here.
And then I want to
walk you through it.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
[CROWD NOISE AND SHOUTING]
DARYL DAVIS: And there he is.
There.
[YELLING]
[GUNSHOT]
See the police in the
background in green neon?
[CROWD SHOUTING]
- That was a gunshot.
- Fuck you.
[END VIDEO PLAYBACK]
DARYL DAVIS: OK.
That's Charlottesville,
Virginia.
That's not New York City.
You know what?
It could be.
Don't think for
one second, folks,
that can't happen right here.
It can happen right here.
Anywhere hate happens,
that can happen.
And Charlottesville is as
much a part of your city
as New York City is.
Any city in this country is
your city as an American.
All American cities
are your city.
You can only live
in one at a time,
but they all belong to you.
So the problems that
Charlottesville has
are your problems.
Just like when the
Trade Center got
hit here in New
York City, that's
the problem of people living
in Chicago and Los Angeles.
Because it's one of
our cities, all right?
What do you do when you
see something like that
happen in your society?
Well, should we blame people?
Let's blame the black guy.
He's setting people on
fire, trying to set them
on fire with a flame thrower.
Yeah, he should be blamed.
He shouldn't be going around
try to set somebody on fire.
Let's blame the
Klansmen for trying
to hit somebody with their
Confederate flag poles.
That's wrong too.
Let's blame the Klan leader
for pulling out a gun
and firing it.
That should not have happened.
Let's blame the police,
who we pay to what?
Serve and protect.
And they did absolutely nothing.
Well, we can blame them.
They didn't do their job.
Or maybe we should
blame ourselves
for allowing our society
to come to that point
in the 21st century.
You know what?
For everybody you
blame, they're going
to blame you back or
blame somebody else.
So all you're going to be doing
is spending all day blaming.
And nothing gets accomplished.
I'm going to tell you something.
Our society can only
become one of two things.
It can become one, that which
we sit back and let it become.
Or it can become two, that which
we stand up and make it become.
So I have a question
for you all.
Don't answer the
question right now.
But before you go
to bed tonight,
when you go home at the
end of your day or evening,
whatever, before
you go to bed I want
you to think about my question
and answer it to yourself.
The question is this.
Do I sit back and
let my society--
see what my society
becomes, or do I
stand up and make my society
become what I want to see?
That's the question.
And only you can answer
that question for yourself.
I'll tell you how I answered it.
I chose the second option.
I chose to stand up.
Now, you saw the Imperial
Wizard in his street clothes.
Here he is in his traditional
Klan uniform, all right?
What did I do?
I called that guy
up on the phone.
I said, hey man, you
and I need to talk.
Not Klansman to black
man, but man to man.
American to American.
Your Confederate history is
as much a part of my history
as my black history
is a part of yours.
It's all American
history intertwined.
Let's get together and let's
explore American history
together.
I talked to him for
about half an hour.
He agreed.
We set a date.
I drove to his house,
an hour and a half
from mine, by myself, unarmed.
I sat in his living room
on his Confederate blanket
on his couch.
His whole house is
full of KKK stuff,
noose hanging on
the wall, pictures
of Nathan Bedford Forrest,
the first Klan leader,
and all kinds of stuff.
And along with his fiancee,
who is a Klanswoman.
I sat there and I
listened to him give me
a lesson in American history,
from a Confederate perspective
of course, for two hours.
Some things he got right.
Some things he got wrong.
But I listened.
And when he finished,
I corrected him
on the things he got wrong.
When it was my turn, I said,
here's what I want to do.
Let's set a date.
You come down to my house.
I live right outside
of DC and Maryland.
Come down to my house.
I will arrange tickets for us
to go to the new Smithsonian
National Museum of
African-American History
and Culture.
Let's explore that
museum together.
They said OK.
We set a date.
I have a contact down there.
I got some tickets.
They came down to my house.
I put them in my car.
We drove downtown to the museum.
This is us entering the museum.
Notice the head attire.
That's the Imperial Wizard who
fired the gun and his Klans
lady fiancee.
What did we do while
we were in there?
We checked our
displays on slavery,
on integration, segregation.
We watched little video
clips on blacks in the arts,
blacks in medicine and
music and education
and sports, et cetera.
And his biggest music
idol is Elvis Presley.
I love Elvis Presley.
I saw Elvis 14 times.
I met Elvis.
And I went to Elvis's funeral.
I love Elvis.
But Elvis did not
invent rock and roll.
My boss invented rock and roll.
My boss was Charles Edward
Anderson Berry, better known
to most of you as Chuck Berry.
And I played piano for Chuck
Berry on and off for 32 years.
One of his Cadillacs,
his cherry red Cadillac,
which I saw at his house,
is now in the museum.
So anybody who
likes rock music, I
don't care if it's Led Zeppelin,
the Beatles, the Rolling
Stones, Elton John, Metallica,
Twisted Sister, Ozzie Osborne,
anybody who plays
rock, all their DNA
goes back to Chuck Berry.
So I took him to see
Chuck Berry's car
on another floor in the museum.
Now, you notice-- you notice
he's holding his fiancee,
right?
He's holding the Klans lady.
So here we go to see the car.
Now who's holding his fiancee?
I work fast.
OK.
So that's Chuck Berry's car.
Now, we toured the museum for
about two and a half hours.
There's no way you
can take in everything
in two and a half hours.
You can't even do it in
two and a half weeks.
You've got to go back
and go back and go back
to saturate yourself
with so much vast history
that we don't
learn in one month.
OK, we left the museum.
I gave her my cell
phone, said here,
take a picture of the
Imperial Wizard and myself.
And I went and stood by
the marquee for the museum.
This is what he did.
Totally unplanned.
Well, there's myself
and Chuck Berry, OK?
Playing Johnny Be Good.
He went into his duck walk.
There.
Now, that does not
happen overnight.
That's a long ways
from hey, nigger.
Boom.
A little bit less than a
year, August 12th, 2017
was that rally in
Charlottesville.
That was the end of June 2018,
so a little less than a year.
The story does not end there.
It goes much deeper.
He's going to marry that
Klans lady in a couple weeks
from that picture.
I've been working
with him for a year.
We've developed a friendship.
Now, he still has
a long ways to go,
but at least he's going
in the right direction.
He invites me to the
wedding, all right?
It goes to even
deeper than that.
I'm the only black guy
at a Klan wedding, right?
But it goes deeper than that.
Her father.
She's from Tennessee,
The Klans lady.
Her father is too ill to
come all way up to Maryland
to escort his daughter down
the aisle, to give her away.
She asked me if I would
walk down the aisle
rather than ask one of
their trusted Klan members,
one of the guys
coming down the stairs
with the Confederate flag poles.
I said, yeah, I'll walk
you down the aisle, sure.
So there we are.
You look up in his
bedroom window,
you see the Confederate flag.
Like I said, he still
has a little ways to go.
But at least he's going
in the right direction.
Now, CNN had interviewed
him a while back.
He said he was going to be
buried in his Klan robe.
So I asked him if CNN
could come to the wedding.
And he trusted me.
He said, yeah.
He goes, he said,
just ask them not
to film any faces of my members.
They don't want the publicity.
But you can film myself and the
Klans lady and the preacher.
I said OK.
So here we are.
[VIDEO PLAYBACK]
- As you stand in
the presence of God--
- This time, it was Davis giving
something away, the bride.
- Me and his friendship has been
something really special to me.
She wanted me to be a
part of this wedding.
That's beautiful.
That's splendid.
[END VIDEO PLAYBACK]
DARYL DAVIS: There you have
the Imperial Wizard Klansman,
the bride, the Klans lady,
and the surrogate father.
Again, this does not
happen overnight.
But it happens
with communication.
In this country, we
spend way too much time
talking about the other person,
or talking at the other person,
or talking past
the other person.
Why don't we spent some time
talking with the other person?
And things like that
can be achieved.
I'm going to tell you what--
what did I say I majored in?
Jazz, music, OK?
My degree is in music.
I'm just a rock and roll
piano player, all right?
I'm not a sociologist
or a psychologist.
If I can do that as a rock
and roll piano player,
certainly you all can
sit at your dinner table
and have conversations with
your family about anything.
Civil discourse is the key.
Listening is the key.
Knowing who you are.
Don't take offense when
somebody says something to you
and you know they don't
know that about you.
Because all you're doing is
empowering them to believe,
to continue believing it.
Listen to them.
When they get done
insulting or whatever
it is they're presenting,
then you can respond
and they will listen back,
because they've been heard.
Everybody wants to be heard.
Everybody wants to be respected.
I do not respect what he stands
for, or many of the things
that he says, but I respected
his right to say them.
It bothers me a great
deal as an American.
We call ourselves
the greatest nation
on the face of this earth.
Don't get me wrong,
I love my country.
I'm patriotic.
But that bothers me.
Perhaps, technologically.
You all know about
technology here at Google.
Perhaps technologically we
are indeed the greatest.
We, Americans, put
a man on the moon.
We invented that technology.
And while Neil
Armstrong was up there
walking around talking about
one small step for a man
and one giant leap
for mankind, we
were able to talk with
him all the way from Earth
to the moon via
satellite radio phone.
We invented that technology.
Everybody in here has email.
Everybody.
Oh, Gmail I should say, right?
Everybody in here
has a cell phone.
Hit a few numbers, hit
a few words, hit send,
you're talking to people
right next door in Jersey
or California, Australia,
Africa, China, anywhere
you want to talk.
We invented that technology.
How is it that we
as Americans can
talk to people
all over the world
and as far away as the
moon, but so many of us
have difficulty talking
to the person who
lives right next
door because they are
a different color, a
different religion,
a different persuasion,
a different whatever?
It seems to me that before
we can call ourselves
the greatest, our ideology needs
to catch up to our technology.
And when we get them both up
there, then we can truly brag.
Folks, we are living in the
21st century, in case anybody's
forgotten.
We are living in
space age times.
So why are there
so many of us still
thinking with Stone Age minds?
Thank you very much.
Appreciate it.
[APPLAUSE]
CHRIS: Wow.
Thank you, Daryl.
DARYL DAVIS: Thank you, Chris.
CHRIS: So many ways that we
can go at this conversation.
Before we jump in
here, we're going
to do about 15 minutes or so on
the stage, just Darryl myself.
And then we're going
to have Q&A. So start
thinking about your questions.
I know that I have so many.
So I'll start with--
I'll start with this.
You spoke a lot about, well,
subtly talked about education,
how you educated yourself
not only about this country
and history on both sides
but also about the Klan.
You're very knowledgeable
about the ranks,
about who holds what
position, what have you.
Can you speak a bit
about the role education
plays in connecting
with somebody
and what you've done
to prepare yourself
for these types
of conversations?
DARYL DAVIS: Absolutely.
No matter what kind
of conversation
you want to get
into, and I said,
you can take race off the table.
You can get into a
conversation about abortion,
or about climate
change, or whatever.
Learn as much as you can about
the other person's perspective.
Put yourself in their shoes.
How would they think
based upon what
you know about them or
about this ideology?
And then formulate your
defense about that.
Learn as much as you can.
And like I said, I'll
be 62 next month.
So when I was a kid, if I
wanted to learn something,
fortunately, my parents, we
had encyclopedias in the house.
I could just go down
in the basement,
pull one off the shelf, and
look up whatever I wanted to.
But if you didn't have
a set of encyclopedias,
you had to get up, get
dressed, go to the library,
either at your school or
the neighborhood library,
and read up on whatever
it is you wanted to learn.
Today, what do you do?
You Google it, right?
You have these resources
at your fingertips.
There is no excuse whatsoever
for you to go into any
situation, go to
a foreign country,
and not know the dos and
don'ts of how to behave or how
to communicate with somebody.
For example, we as
Americans oftentimes
think that people
in foreign countries
do the same thing we do.
Not always the case.
Not always the case.
For example, if
Chris here were to--
let's say I'm a business
man, he's a business man.
I want to conduct
business with him.
So I get together with him.
He invites me over to his home.
His wife prepares a nice dinner.
And I sit there, I eat
dinner, wipe my mouth,
fold my napkin up,
set it by the table
and we retire to the living
room for a cup of coffee
and talk some more business.
That's normal.
But if I were to go to
Norway, Chris is Norwegian,
and I want do some
import-export business
with this guy in Norway.
So we communicate
over the internet.
I fly over there to
make a deal with him.
And he invites me to his home.
And his wife prepares dinner.
I sit there, finish dinner,
delicious meal, wipe my mouth,
fold my napkin, put it at the
table, go to the living room.
I just told his wife that
I did not like the meal
and I'm never coming back.
How did I tell her that?
By folding the napkin.
That's an insult. You want to
ball the napkin up and put it
on the table.
So if you don't
know that, you might
go somewhere and, out
of your ignorance,
because you didn't
study up on it,
you're going to blow
your deal because you
have suddenly or rather
overtly insulted somebody.
And these are things
where we have no excuse
to, especially with technology
like Google that we can prepare
ourselves, look up how do we
greet somebody in this country
that I'm going to.
What should I do?
What should I not do?
The dos and don'ts.
Educate yourself.
Education is the key
to curing ignorance.
And I can tell you something.
A lot of the problem with
racism in this country is this.
It's a chain.
It starts with ignorance.
Ignorance leads to fear.
If you don't keep that
ignorance in check and cure it,
all right?
We fear what we
don't understand,
the things that we don't know,
of which we are ignorant.
If you don't keep that fear
in check, that fear in turn
will escalate and
lead to hatred.
Because we hate the
things that frighten us.
If you don't keep
that hatred in check,
that will escalate and
lead to destruction.
We want to destroy the
things that we hate.
Why?
Because they frighten us.
But guess what?
They could have been harmless
and we were just ignorant.
We saw that whole chain
unfold in Charlottesville
that same day when,
on August 12th,
there was a lot of ignorance
in Charlottesville.
There was a lot of fear.
There was a lot of hatred.
And it culminated in destruction
when a white supremacist
got inside his vehicle and
tried to murder as many counter
protesters as he
could by driving
full speed into the crowd.
He succeeded in
injuring 20 people
and murdering one young
lady named Heather Heyer.
Ignorance breeds fear.
Fear breeds hatred.
Hatred breeds destruction.
Sometimes I talk to elementary
schools, for example,
and middle schools.
And I'll just be talking
casually to these kids.
And then all of a sudden, out
of the blue I'll say, hey,
there's a snake
under your chair.
And they'll all jump and
scream and throw their legs up
in the air.
And then they realize
there's no snake there.
And they start laughing.
And I say, well,
why did you scream?
Oh well, I'm afraid of snakes.
I hate snakes.
Why do you hate them?
Oh, well, they're slimy.
They're bad.
They'll bite.
And da, da, da.
Well, there's your ignorance.
Snakes are not slimy.
Snakes are dry, OK?
And not all snakes are bad.
So there's your ignorance.
And you say, I'm
afraid of snakes.
I hate snakes.
So then I ask, OK, well, there
is no snake under your chair.
But let's just say there was
a snake under your chair.
What do you want
me to do about it?
They all say, kill it.
There's the
destruction, all right?
We need to stop
worrying about the hate.
Let's stop worrying
about the hate.
Let's stop worrying
about the fear.
Let's go to the source.
The source is ignorance.
And there is a
cure for ignorance.
And that cure is
called education.
If you cure the ignorance,
there's nothing to fear.
If there's nothing to fear,
there's nothing to hate.
If there's nothing to hate,
there's nothing to destroy.
You have two kinds of people.
You have people
who are ignorant,
and you have people
who are stupid.
And some people define
ignorance and stupidity
as being synonymous.
Me, I don't.
For me, personally,
an ignorant person
is someone who makes the
wrong decision or a bad choice
because he or she does
not have the facts,
does not have the
proper information
to make a good choice
or the correct decision.
You give that person
the facts, you
have alleviated their ignorance.
A stupid person is someone
who has the facts, who
has the right information,
and they still
make the wrong choice.
For example, if I were to
paint the walls in a room,
and I don't post any signs
that say, wet paint, stay off
the walls, anybody
walking into that room
is ignorant to the fact
that the walls are wet.
And they might go and
lean up against the wall.
And now they've got
paint on their clothes
because they didn't know.
I can fix that.
I can post signs that say,
wet paint, stay off the walls.
I can stand in the doorway,
tell each person coming in,
hey folks, gather
around the center.
I just painted these
walls five minutes ago.
They're still wet.
So now everybody has the facts.
Everybody has the education.
Everybody has the
proper information.
But still, one person goes
and leans against the wall.
And now he wants to know why
there is paint on his clothes.
It's because he's stupid, OK?
So fortunately, there
is a cure for ignorance.
It's education.
Unfortunately, there is
no cure for stupidity.
If you give somebody
the education
and they choose not
to use it, there's
nothing you can do
until they employ it.
CHRIS: Remind me not to invite
you to my future second grade
classroom.
[LAUGHTER]
I don't want any
parents calling me up.
So you said something
really key there
in terms of provide
the information,
you can cure the ignorance.
We think here at
Google that we're
providing a lot of information.
DARYL DAVIS: And you are.
CHRIS: We're providing access
to the world's information.
That's part of our mission.
But there are stupid
people out here.
So bringing those
people to the table
has been a hallmark of the
last 35 years of your life.
So can you talk
a little bit more
about how you bring people who
otherwise would have access
to information, who maybe
not choose to look into it,
but have access to it?
How do you bring
them to a point where
they want to even listen
to the information and then
from there to ingest it and
possibly change ideology?
DARYL DAVIS: Right, OK.
I just want to point
out one thing though.
Not everybody--
I'm not considering
everybody who is a white
supremacist or whatever
to be stupid.
CHRIS: OK.
DARYL DAVIS: Many of them
are not stupid by any means.
They go from third grade
dropout all the way to President
of the United States.
President Warren G. Harding
was sworn into the Ku Klux Klan
in the Green Room
of the White House.
President Harry
Truman had joined
the Klan for a very short time
before he became president.
He didn't like it.
He got out and became president.
Supreme Court Justice Hugo
Black was in the Ku Klux Klan
when he got the appointment
to the Supreme Court.
He had to leave the Klan to
sit on the Supreme Court.
Senator Robert Byrd, who just
passed away a few years ago,
oldest living senator
from West Virginia.
He was a Klansman
back in the 1940s.
So it ranges from the
guys who throw chairs
on Geraldo and
Jerry Springer all
the way to college graduates
with advanced degrees.
The stupid part is thinking
that the color of your skin
gives them superiority.
But academically they're
all across the board.
You bring them to the
table by inviting them
to a conversation.
Don't frame it as a debate.
Yes, you are going to
debate something for sure,
but frame it as a conversation.
Because when you say
debate, people's walls go up
and they're ready to
defend something and engage
in some kind of verbal combat.
But say, look, I
want to understand
why you feel the way you do.
I want you to convince me that
I should think about things
from another point of view.
I want to try to see things
from your point of view.
I'm here to listen.
That's one thing they don't get.
Because usually it's something
or it's somebody pushing back,
pushing back.
So they're happy.
Now they have a platform.
And the more they talk, the
more flaws you're going to find.
Especially if you're right.
And just let them come out.
And then you just
make a mental note
and you address
each one of them.
Because at the end
of the day, I've
seen this happen
many, many times.
At the end of the
day, we each have
to go home and think
about the interaction
that we had with one another.
And then what happens
with them is they think,
what Daryl said is,
I think, is right.
But he's black.
But it's right.
But he's black.
So it's a cognitive
dissonance kind of thing.
And then they struggle.
Because how can a
black person be right?
We're criminals.
We're on welfare.
We have small brains.
And then they have
to decide themselves
do I continue living my life
as a lie, or do I turn around
and live the truth.
That's their struggle.
And they convert themselves.
That's why I say I
don't convert them.
I'm just the impetus to
give them food for thought
and allow them to process it.
CHRIS: That's powerful.
And I think you brought up
a point about your education
background and how you're not a
sociologist or a psychologist,
the experts we typically
turn to to change ideology.
But instead, you got to
people through music.
So can you talk
a little bit more
about how music and
other mediums like sports
and technology can
actually bring people
into the conversation,
and how you've
utilized not just your music but
also your love of this country
to bring folks into rooms?
DARYL DAVIS: Sure.
I mean, music is a common
denominator for everybody.
And there's that
old adage, what,
music soothes the savage beast.
Something like that.
We all like music.
Even neo-Nazis like music.
Klansmen like music.
Black supremacists like music.
Everybody likes music.
So for example, if--
let's say I want to
go out dancing today.
What's today?
Today's Friday, right?
So Friday night I want to
go out and do some dancing.
So I go to some club.
It might have a live band.
It might have a DJ, whatever.
So I'm there and a
good song is playing.
And the dance floor is full.
And I want to dance.
First thing I'm
going to do is I'm
going to look around and see
if I see a single lady there
who's not attached to anybody.
And I see her right there.
What's your name?
AUDIENCE: Renna.
DARYL DAVIS: Renna.
I see Renna, and she's
sitting at the bar
and she's doing like
this on the bar.
So obviously, you're beating
to the beat of the music.
Obviously, she
enjoys that song too.
Now, I don't know Renna.
But I'm going to
walk up and say, hey,
would you like to dance?
She'll say, yeah.
She pops off her bar stool and
we're out on the dance floor.
If it's a slow song,
Renna and I are like this,
dancing around in a
circle, all right?
I don't even know her, but
I got my arms around her.
If it's a fast song,
we're apart shaking
or whatever we're doing, right?
At the end of the song,
being the gentleman
that I'm supposed to be, I
escort her back to her seat.
By the way, my name's Daryl.
What's your name?
Renna.
And so Daryl, what do you do?
I say, well, I'm a busboy
at the local restaurant
down the street.
What do you do, Renna?
She says, well, I'm
president of Google.
[LAUGHTER]
Where would two people
that far at opposite ends
of the spectrum, not just
job wise but financial
wise, everything
wise, come that close
without even knowing each other?
Music brought us
together, all right?
Here at Google, if you
have a Google party,
chances are most
people are going
to be in technology,
development, IT,
all this other kind of
stuff, a lot of computer,
a lot of technological things.
But if you go to a nightclub
or a music festival,
people are going to be there
from all walks of life.
They'll be the Google
workers, the restaurateurs,
the person who paints the double
yellow line down the street,
the person who picks up your
trash on Saturday mornings.
Everybody is there.
Music is a great thing
to bring people together.
CHRIS: Absolutely.
All right, so one more question
from me and then we'll do Q&A.
So you can start lining
up at the microphones
if you have any questions.
So one thing that we spoke
about before this conversation,
and I would love the
room to hear this piece,
is around how we apply
this in our lives in 2020.
And so of course, there's
racism and destruction
pervading our city here
in New York, our country,
and our broader world.
But you mentioned how
you've been to 57 countries
on six continents.
And I know you're a true
believer in travel being
one of the ways that we remove
ourselves from ignorance
and gain an understanding
of culture and life.
So can you just give
us some advice one,
about the role of
travel in bringing
us closer to other
people, but also
how we can apply what you have
learned through your journey
to our day-to-day
lives as we engage
with this multi-ethnic,
multi-diverse company and also
city that we live in?
DARYL DAVIS: Well, yes,
exposure is a big key.
Here at Google, you have
a very diverse company,
people from all walks of
life, all persuasions,
all colors coming
together on a daily basis.
A lot of businesses
don't have that, folks.
I have performed in
49 of our 50 states.
And I don't see a
whole lot of that.
I see it right here.
I've seen it in
some other places.
But it's rare.
And you are at an
advantage here.
And Google putting on this kind
of a talk, a few years back
having this kind of
conversation was taboo.
People did not want
to discuss race.
No, no, no, no, can't
talk about that.
Keep that under the carpet.
Lock it in the closet.
Turn a blind eye to it.
If you don't see it,
it doesn't exist.
So you all are benefiting
from these kinds of things.
Don't take it for granted.
Share with other people.
I call it walking
across the cafeteria.
Oftentimes in metropolitan
cities like New York
or near where I live
Washington DC, people
from different backgrounds
will work on the same project,
in the same cubicle
even, together.
Well, what happens
at 12:00 noon?
They go downstairs
to the cafeteria.
And blacks sit with blacks,
Hispanics sit with Hispanics,
and so forth.
They tend to, we
call, self-segregate.
Now does that mean
that they're racist?
No, it does not mean
that they're racist.
People tend to feel more
comfortable around somebody
who shares their language or
their culture or their color
or whatever it is they
believe, all right?
And there's nothing
wrong with that.
If it gets too extreme, then
yes, you cross that line
into supremacy or separatism.
But every so often take a
walk across the cafeteria
and sit with someone else
that you don't normally
sit with every time you go
downstairs for lunch or dinner.
Because we all have
something to teach,
and we all have
something to learn.
And the more we
talk to one another,
the more we find
out how much more
we actually have in common.
And somebody has the answer
to a question we've had.
And we have the
answer to a question
that they may have had.
But those questions
will never be
answered if you don't come
in contact with one another.
I was telling Chris earlier
about one of my favorite quotes
of all time.
It's by Mark Twain.
It's called the travel quote.
And Mark Twain said, travel is
fatal to prejudice, bigotry,
and narrow-mindedness.
And many of our people need
it sorely upon these accounts.
Broad, wholesome, charitable
views of men and things cannot
be acquired by vegetating in one
little corner of the earth all
one's lifetime.
And that is so true.
And as our country becomes
more and more diverse,
we need to catch up and
get to know one another.
I can't tell you how much
it pained me back in 2008.
Every time you
turn on the news, I
don't care if it
was CNN, MSNBC, Fox
News, during the presidential
campaigns and stuff
all they talked about was
could a black man be president.
Could a woman be president?
Could a Mormon be president?
We're talking about Mitt
Romney and Hillary and Obama.
Who cares?
Who cares whether it's a
woman, a black, or a Mormon?
I want somebody that can
run this country regardless
of what they are, all right?
We call ourselves a
first-world country.
Yet there are third-world
countries out here
that have female presidents,
female prime ministers.
Their ideology far
supersedes ours.
They may be nowhere near
where we are in technology,
but their ideology
far supersedes ours.
Why are we so worried about what
somebody-- where they worship
or what color they are?
We want somebody that
can lead the country.
We had the same thing happen
in 1961 with President Kennedy.
The question was
could a Catholic be
president of the United States.
He was the first
Catholic president.
Who cares?
When are we going
to get over that?
You would've thought we
learned our lesson back then.
So this is what's important.
We have enough
information right here,
right here at our fingertips,
to learn about people.
Let's educate ourselves.
Let's educate one another.
That education and
exposure are the key
to a lot-- to solving
a lot of our problems.
CHRIS: Thank you.
DARYL DAVIS: Thank you.
AUDIENCE: My question
is along the lines
of what you were talking about
with educating and listening.
In my experience, I've had
a roommate, for example,
who was from was from
northern Virginia
and asked me one time about do
I believe in white privilege.
And then that opened up a
conversation to kind of talk
about some of these things.
But in that process, I
found that as I listened
to him and some of
the sources that he
was listening to or
ingesting and tried
to share and just
listen to his, that we
run into, or within our--
within this age,
this technology age,
we also run into the issue of
somewhat of an echo chamber.
And so while he said he
wanted to listen and hear
some of the things
that I would share,
he could also just be very
close-minded in the sense
of giving me more of
what he was listening to.
So for example, like picking
up a book I would suggest,
reading 10 pages, coming
back to his points.
So how do you--
so I guess the
question is twofold.
How do you really continue
to educate and listen
in those conversations
where that's happening
and also deal with the
technology, the echo chambers
that technology creates
that kind of prevent
some of those walls
from being broken down?
DARYL DAVIS: Yeah, echo chambers
are probably the biggest
detriment, because people
surround themselves with people
who believe as they believe.
And so it just bounces back and
forth, reinforcing each other.
But you've got to keep
planting that seed and deal
with these people one-on-one.
Because they will.
They may not break down
in front of you and say,
you've got a point
there or whatever.
Sometimes they will.
But at home, they do that.
Trust me, they do that.
Because when they
change, I question them.
What was the change?
And they tell me, well, I
got to thinking about it.
I got to thinking about it.
So that way you're not present,
and they're on their own,
and they're weighing it.
So when they're not around
their little echo chamber,
they're in their bedroom
getting ready to go to sleep,
it's swirling around their head.
And they're having
that push-pull.
Well, Caleb made a point.
But he's a Democrat, or
he's black, or he's gay,
or he's whatever.
Whatever I'm not.
But he's right.
So they struggle.
But then they got to figure out,
was I ignorant or am I stupid?
And nobody wants to be stupid.
AUDIENCE: Thank you.
DARYL DAVIS: Thank you.
CHRIS: Thanks, Caleb.
I think also the
listening piece, right?
You talked a lot
about how you have
to take in what that
person is saying
but also give an understanding
to their context, right,
and where they come from.
And then you're able to actually
break down some of those walls.
DARYL DAVIS: Listening
is very important.
And it's important to
do it respectfully,
even though you may not respect
what they're-- the content
of what they're saying.
Give them the respect
of allowing them
to air their point of view.
CHRIS: Absolutely.
DARYL DAVIS: And chances
are, they will reciprocate.
CHRIS: Thank you.
AUDIENCE: I just want to say
thank you for coming, Daryl.
It's really great to hear.
DARYL DAVIS: Thank
you for having me.
AUDIENCE: Excellent talk.
So along those
lines of technology,
I wanted to hear
your take on how
to avoid your
conversations getting spun
and getting taken out of context
and getting changed so they
serve some other viewpoint.
Because there's a lot
of people in this room,
and one person could
take this conversation
and write something
mean on Twitter
and blast it to
a million people.
So as you use technology
more and you're showing up
in the news and
you're coming here,
how do you make sure that
your point is getting across
and those conversations
are happening?
DARYL DAVIS: That's something
that you can't avoid.
And that has happened
to me numerous times.
People have put out memos on me.
And one person printed in the
newspaper, the first black KKK
member.
Which is stupid, because if
the KKK had black members
it wouldn't be a KKK.
[LAUGHTER]
But that's something
you cannot avoid.
People will always be
trying to put a spin on you
or twist your narrative.
I mean, that's been the case
since the beginning of time.
Because you take religion,
even Christianity or Judaism,
why are there so many different
denominations of Christianity?
Methodists, Presbyterian,
Baptists, Lutheran,
on and on and on.
They all-- we all read
the same King James Bible,
but each denomination
takes those verses
and interprets them
a little differently,
or twists them to suit
their own narrative.
And the Klan does
the same thing.
And people will do that
for whatever reason.
So you, at the end
of the day, the truth
will always prevail, all right?
So yeah, people will spin
you around, et cetera.
But I started out
playing the blues.
And there's a blues song.
And the blues always
tells the truth.
That's why the blues
is still around today.
And there's a blues
song that says,
if the washing don't get
you, the rinsing sure will.
So you always tell the
truth, and that will always
come through.
Eventually, those lies
will fall by the wayside.
And I can't quote the name
of the person right offhand,
but let me paraphrase the quote.
The mass promulgation of a
lie does not make it the truth
anymore than the mass disbelief
of the truth makes it a lie.
You follow that?
CHRIS: Thank you
all for joining.
Thank you, Daryl, for coming
into Google in New York.
DARYL DAVIS: Thank you.
CHRIS: And have a great weekend.
DARYL DAVIS: And thank you all.
[APPLAUSE]
CHRIS: Thanks, Daryl.
Thank you.
