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NILES -- A black author and musician said the "power of dialogue" can ignite change in people as he shared his experience of having personal interviews with members of the Ku Klux Klan who later left the group after meeting him.
Daryl Davis, a motivational speaker, shared his story and performed music Sunday at the Eastwood Event Centre as part of "Klan-destin. Hate Undone: Conversations That Ignite Change."
The event was hosted by the Braceville Community Foundation as part of the Project Railyard campaign.
Davis, 65, of Maryland, said he lived in Europe until he was 10. He was the only son of parents who worked for the U.S. Foreign Service through the U.S. State Department at the American Embassy.
He said he went to different schools in Europe alongside children of different backgrounds, cultures and races.
Davis showed a picture of when he was in second grade in 1965 with a white teacher and a black teacher and a diverse classroom of students with some Americans and others from other countries.
He then showed a school photo from 1968 when he was in fourth grade in Massachusetts and is the only black child in the classroom. Davis said he and one other student were the only black students in the school.
Davis said all his friends were white and he joined the Boy Scouts. At age 10, when he was marching in a parade with the Scouts, he had pop cans and other items thrown at him and heard yelling from a group of people watching the parade on the sidewalk.
"At the age of 10, I had no idea why these people were throwing things at me. I thought they didn't like the Scouts. … When I told my parents what happened, they sat me down and explained to me what racism was. I at age 10 had never heard the word racism. I had no clue what my parents were taking about. My 10-year-old brain could not process the idea that someone who had never seen me before or spoken to be me before and knew absolutely nothing about me would want to harm me for no other reason than the color of my skin. It made no sense to me. How can someone hate me when they don't even know me? I spent many years looking for that answer," Davis said.
He said he has met and been exposed to people from different backgrounds, cultures and races and felt he was treated better by people outside the United States than in his own country.
"Through my travels around the world no matter how different the people may be, I always conclude one thing. That everybody I have met is a human being," Davis said.
Davis said five core values he follows are that every human being wants to be loved, wants to be respected, wants to be heard, wants to be treated fairly and all want for our family what everyone else wants for their family.
"It is important that we apply these five core values. Not having dialogue is a missed opportunity for conflict resolution," he said.
MUSIC CAREER
After graduating from college with a music degree in 1980, he became a full-time professional musician touring the country and other parts of the world.
He joined a country band in the early 1980s when country was popular and performed at the Silver Dollar Lounge in Maryland, which was for white people only.
"People there liked my music and me being part of the band," he said.
While there, he met a man who was a member of the Ku Klux Klan who was interested in speaking with him.
"That question since I was 10 of how can someone hate me when they didn't know me fell right into my lap. Who better to ask that question of than someone who joined an organization like the Ku Klux Klan who has more than a 100-year history of practicing hating people who don't look like them or who don't believe what they believe," Davis said.
He said with that man's help, he was able to get in contact with Roger Kelly, who at the time was the Grand Dragon Klan leader and later Imperial Wizard in Maryland, to interview him.
Through his work, Davis became the first black author to interview Ku Klux Klan members for a book with face-to-face interviews.
"I had my Bible with me ready to ask him where in the Bible it says blacks and whites must be separated," he said.
Davis said when Kelly first met him and realized Davis was black, Davis could see there was apprehension about the interview, but soon the two began talking.
He said following the initial interview, Kelly would come to Davis' house -- first with a bodyguard and then without a bodyguard -- for further interviews.
Davis said Kelly later invited him to his home and had Davis attend Klan rallies, where racist remarks were spoken.
The story of the talks between Davis and Kelly were covered by CNN.
Davis said there were other Klan members who would speak to him at their homes, but others would not.
"There were some who were suspicious why a black man was interested in interviewing the Klan. I told them where I stood, but I wanted to treat them fairly," he said.
Davis said he also corresponded through letters to James Earl Ray, who was sent to prison for shooting Martin Luther King Jr.
While he did believe Ray was a racist, Davis said he never believed Ray killed King.
"We call our country the greatest country in the world. Maybe we are the greatest when it comes to technology. We can communicate through email any place on this earth or to someone on the moon but many of us have difficulty talking to the person who lives next door because he or she is a different color, religion or persuasion. Before we can call ourselves the greatest, maybe our ideology should catch up to our technology," Davis said.
Foundation member Nelson Toles, son of Ted Toles Jr., a Negro League baseball player, said Project Railyard aims to raise awareness of prejudice, racism and human trafficking. The project works to preserve the history locally of the Underground Railroad and the African-American history of Braceville.
Foundation member Tamara Shavers, daughter of Ernie Shavers, heavyweight boxer, said Ohio ranks sixth in the nation for human trafficking.