logo
episode-header-image
May 2024
1h 35m

Daryl Davis on Befriending the Klan

YASCHA MOUNK
About this episode

Yascha Mounk and Daryl Davis discuss his lifetime of convincing Ku Klux Klan members to renounce racism.


Daryl Davis is an American R&B and blues musician, author and social activist. Davis estimates he has been the direct or indirect cause for over 200 conversions from the Klan. He is also a member of the Board of Advisors for the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism.


In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Daryl Davis discuss how a childhood experience with racism inspired him to interview and befriend members of the Ku Klux Klan; the importance of remaining “pro-human” even in the face of hatred and bigotry; and whether his faith in humanity feels out of tune with the current political moment.


This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.


Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight.

If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone.

Email: podcast@persuasion.community 

Website: http://www.persuasion.community

Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry


Connect with us!

Spotify | Apple | Google

Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion

Youtube: Yascha Mounk

LinkedIn: Persuasion Community

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Up next
Aug 23
Why Do We Always Think We're Right? (Rerun)
What transforms reasonable people into an angry mob? Why are we so eager to dismiss those who disagree with us as inherently evil? These are questions which Jonathan Haidt has spent his career trying to answer. One of the world’s most influential social psychologists and a member ... Show More
50m 3s
Aug 20
Arlie Hochschild on Trump Voters, Old and New (Rerun)
Arlie Hochschild is an author and professor emerita of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. Her books include Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right and Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right. In this week’s conversatio ... Show More
57m 11s
Aug 16
The Good Fight Club: Trump's Firings, Reinventing Liberalism, and the Rise of AI
In this week’s conversation, recorded live in D.C. at the “Liberalism for the 21st Century” conference, Yascha Mounk, Francis Fukuyama, Steven Pinker, and Sabina Ćudić discuss Trump’s firings and what this means for the civil service, how to build a positive case for liberalism, ... Show More
55m 25s
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2021
540: Daryl Davis | A Black Man's Odyssey in the KKK Part Two
Daryl Davis (@realdaryldavis) is a musician, author, lecturer, host of the Changing Minds podcast, and anti-racism activist featured in the documentary Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America. [This is part two of a two-part episode. Make sure to catch part one here!] Wh ... Show More
48m 39s
Aug 2021
Daryl Davis: Reaching out to the KKK
Stephen Sackur speaks to Daryl Davis, a black musician who has spent four decades trying to talk to America’s most diehard racists, the Ku Klux Klan. He claims to have forged friendships with white supremacists and opened their minds, but is reaching out to the KKK a distraction ... Show More
23m 36s
Mar 2021
Thinking 2.0 (with Adam Grant)
On this week’s episode of Stay Tuned, “Thinking 2.0,” Preet answers listener questions about possible sedition charges against the Capitol insurrectionists, and Trump lawyer Sidney Powell’s unusual motion to dismiss a defamation suit stemming from her false election fraud claims. ... Show More
1h 1m
Oct 2022
Ep. 1048 - Our Successful Rally Sends Leftist Goblins Into Fits Of Satanic Hysteria
Click here to join the member exclusive portion of my show: https://utm.io/ueSEm  Today on the Matt Walsh Show, our big rally in Nashville was a major success, even in spite of the satanic leftist zombies who showed up to try and derail the event. We’ll recap it all for you today ... Show More
1h 6m
Jun 2016
Ep. 3 David Baugh on ‘Defending My Enemy’
Why did a black defense attorney, who fought against segregation in high school and battled racism in the courtroom, volunteer to defend the First Amendment rights of an Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan? David Baugh is a Richmond, Virginia-based attorney, who, while serving on ... Show More
37m 48s
Jun 2020
Black Lives Matter and Anti-Racism
This episode was made to demonstrate the importance of listening to a voice that has been suppressed for far too long. We hope that through our open conversation we can encourage open ears, minds, and hearts, and ultimately work toward achieving a long-lost sense of empathy. Only ... Show More
58m 26s
Nov 2021
11/30/21: Booster Shots, Fauci Comments, Twitter CEO, Amazon Union, Chris Cuomo, Waukesha Memory-Hole, Hillary's Legacy, Conservative Happiness, and More!
Krystal and Saagar provide their perspective on Biden's booster shot plan, Fauci's outrageous comments, Twitter's new CEO, unionization at Amazon, Chris Cuomo's coverup, Waukesha massacre memory-hole, Hillary Clinton's legacy, why conservatives are happier, and more! To become a ... Show More
1h 30m
Oct 2022
Ep. 1037 - Protesters Claim That My Speech Threatens Their Very Existence 
Click here to join the member exclusive portion of my show: https://utm.io/ueSEm   Today on the Matt Walsh Show, protesters swarmed outside my speech on a college campus last night, screaming that my presence threatens their very existence. I want to talk about that claim today a ... Show More
58m 23s
Listen to millions of songs and podcasts on Anghami