Daryl Davis Quotes

Author Image

Daryl Davis

Profession : Musician

Birth : March 26, 1958

I was no stranger to racism. Having grown up a black person in the '60s and '70s, I knew that prejudice was common.

Daryl Davis

I am not so naive as to think everyone will change. There are certainly those who will go to their graves as hateful, violent racists.

Daryl Davis

I never set out to convert anyone in the Klan. I just set out to get an answer to my question: 'How can you hate me when you don't even know me.'

Daryl Davis

Music absolutely played a massive role in bridging many gaps in the racial divides I would encounter.

Daryl Davis

There have been some incidents in which I was threatened and a couple of instances where I had to physically fight. Fortunately, I won in both instances.

Daryl Davis

I have just about every book written on the Klan and I've read them all.

Daryl Davis

There has always been a great deal of racism in the U.S. before and after Obama.

Daryl Davis

I try to bring out the humanity in people.

Daryl Davis

I don't consider myself to be a racist, but to me there's not much difference between a black racist or a white racist.

Daryl Davis

We've simply been putting Band-Aids on the wounds of racism. We haven't drilled down to the bone to get to its source.

Daryl Davis

Chuck Berry had a very profound impact on me. The man was a genius.

Daryl Davis

We would not have rock and roll without Chuck Berry, and when I first heard Chuck Berry, I fell in love with that music, and when I saw him, I changed my whole career trajectory that I was on as a kid.

Daryl Davis

Back in the day, prior to rock and roll, music halls, concert venues were segregated if they allowed black people in at all. You know, there were ropes that went around the sitting sections with signs hanging that would say, 'Sitting for white patrons only,' or 'Colored sitting only.'

Daryl Davis

Every racist that I know - and I know a lot of racists - every racist that I know voted for Donald Trump.

Daryl Davis

There are plenty of people, including good friends of mine, who are not racist, and who voted for Trump. A lot of people wanted a change from what they were accustom to for the last decades... they wanted a change of the status quo, a changing of the guard. And they were willing to overlook his misogyny, his racist or bigoted comments.

Daryl Davis

1983 - Country music had made a resurgence in this country so I joined a country band. I was the only black guy in the band and consequently, usually the only black guy in many of the places where we played.

Daryl Davis

Music is my profession but learning more about racism on all sides of the tracks was my obsession.

Daryl Davis

It was incomprehensible to me that someone who had never seen me before, someone who knew absolutely nothing about me, would want to inflict pain upon me for no other reason than the color of my skin.

Daryl Davis

If you have an adversary, an opponent with an opposing point of view, give that person a platform, regardless of how extreme it may be.

Daryl Davis

When something bothers me, I try to learn about it.

Daryl Davis