‘The Klan Whisperer’: Author befriends KKK members, convinces them to quit
By Breana Ross
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SILVER SPRING, Maryland (WBAL) — A collection of Ku Klux Klan hoods, robes and regalia sit in Daryl Davis’ Silver Spring home, each with its own story.
“He was the grand dragon of Baltimore,” said Davis as he showed one of the robes to WBAL-TV 11 News. “His day job when he was trying to bomb the synagogue? Baltimore City police officer.”
As a Black man, Davis has never worn any of the KKK items he now owns. He disagrees with all they stand for, but the items belong to former Klan members, people Davis befriended.
The KKK hoods, robes and regalia now serve as symbols of Davis’ ability to change minds.
“A Klansman or Klanswoman, or a neo-Nazi is not born with that robe and hood or that swastika,” Davis told WBAL-TV 11 News. “That is acquired. It’s learned behavior, learned ideology. What can be learned can be unlearned.”
Davis first learned about racism when he was 10 years old, when he said he was attacked by white spectators as the only Black Cub Scout marching in a parade in Massachusetts in 1968.
“At that age, I formed a question in my mind, which was, ‘How can you hate me when you don’t even know me?'” Davis said.
Decades later, after meeting a member of the KKK who was impressed by his piano performance, the question returned to Davis’ mind.
“Who better to ask that question of than someone who would go so far as to join an organization with an over 100-year history of practicing hating people who don’t look like them, or who don’t believe as they believe? Get back in contact with that Klansman and get him to fix you up with the Klan leader from Maryland. Start in Maryland, then go up north. Go down south. Go to the Midwest. Go to the West and interview other Klan leaders and members and write a book,” Davis told WBAL-TV 11 News.
Davis asked the Klan member he met to connect him with the grand dragon of the Klan in Maryland, Roger Kelly.
“He warned me. He said, ‘Darryl, do not fool with him. He will kill you.’ And, I’m like, ‘Well, that’s why I need to see him. Why would he kill me just because of the color of my skin? All this makes no sense. This is what I’m trying to understand,'” Davis told WBAL-TV 11 News.
Davis had his assistant set up an in-person meeting with Kelly and his bodyguard in 1990, but his assistant never mentioned Davis is Black.
“When they came into the room and saw me, they, like, freaked. They froze,” Davis told WBAL-TV 11 News.
But Davis said Kelly stayed and talked to him, marking the beginning of an unlikely friendship.
“If you spend five minutes with your worst adversary, you’re going to find something in common and that gap is going to narrow,” Davis said. “What’s happening is, it’s causing a cognitive dissonance in their brain because, at this point, they have found so much more in common with you than they have in contrast, because all the beliefs and myths that they had believed are getting dispelled, right?”
Davis spent time with Kelly, even attending KKK rallies with him and earning his respect. At a KKK rally filmed by CNN, Kelly spoke about Davis saying, “I would follow that man to hell and back because I believe in what he stands for and he believes in what I stand for. A lot of times, we don’t agree with everything, but at least he respects me to sit down and listen to me and I listen to him.”
After years of listening, one day, Kelly surprised Davis.
“He goes, ‘I’m leaving the Klan. I’m shutting it down,'” Davis told WBAL-TV 11 News. “He wasn’t handing it off to his second in command. He was shutting down his chapters, and he had, like, 13 of them in 13 different states. I was totally shocked.”
Kelly is not the only one Davis has convinced to leave the Klan. Davis documents his experiences with Klan members across the country in his two books, “Klan-destine Relationships” and “The Klan Whisperer.” He has befriended many Klan members, leading many to leave the group and give him their robes, which now serve as symbols of his ability to change minds.
“I know that over 200 have left,” Davis told WBAL-TV 11 News.
When asked how he thinks his approach of building understanding with people who think differently than him could build understanding among people with differing views today, Davis said: “I can tell you this. Every human being on this planet wants these five core values in their lives. Everyone wants to be loved. Everyone wants to be respected. We all want to be heard. We all want to be treated fairly and truthfully, and we all want the same things for our family, as anybody else would want for their family. And, if we can learn to apply those five core values when we find ourselves in an adversarial situation, or in a culture or society in which we are unfamiliar or uncomfortable, I’ll guarantee you that your navigation of that situation, that culture, that society will be much more smooth, much more positive, and much more productive.”
Davis said he would like to open his own museum with all the robes and regalia he has collected over the years. He will play the piano at a performance at The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia, on Feb. 22. The show is called “Thanks for the Memories,” and it honors artists who died in 2025.
Davis will also be speaking at New Spire Arts in Frederick on March 14.
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