CINCINNATI — World-renowned blues musician Daryl Davis, known for his work in convincing many Klansmen to denounce the KKK, spoke Wednesday at Cincinnati Country Day.
The school said junior Addison Heimann was so inspired while learning about Davis' activism that he spent time organizing and fundraising to bring Davis to school.
"I saw one of his TED Talks and it really just grabbed my attention, the adversity that he was going through and just the amazing work he did," Heimann said. "My dad and I actually reached out to him via email and I never expected him to respond, just because he's nationally known, and he did respond."
In his TED Talk, Davis spoke about befriending Klansmen — even attending KKK rallies — on his quest to understand the source of hate. While his musical talents led him to play with Chuck Berry, B.B. King and other legends, his work to improve race relations introduced him to a different group of people.
"Their wall is up, they're ready to go into attack mode, so I come and I'm the antithesis of that. I'm going to listen to you, let you get it all out," Davis said of his activism. "When I don't give them the reaction they're accustomed to, their wall comes down. Now they're more receptive to hearing what I have to say."
Davis has detailed much of his work in his book, "Klan-destine Relationships: A Black Man's Odyssey in the Ku Klux Klan."
While so much of his work is focused on race relations, Davis said the five basic tenets he's learned work for any difficult discussions.
"Everyone wants to be loved. Everyone wants to be respected. We all want to be heard. We all want to treated fairly and truthfully. And we all want the same things for our family as anybody else wants for their family," Davis said.
Heimann said he's already using what he's learned from Davis during his own conversations.
"If there's a political conversation going on or there's arguments going ... some of the skills he used like listening to people and not interrupting and really just not being offended by anything that anyone has said has sort of helped with any conversation really," said Heimann.
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