WEBVTT

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So a black guy walks into a bar -

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sounds like the beginning of a bad joke;

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I see people shifting around a little bit,

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but it gets better -

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and the first thing he sees
is everybody else in there is white.

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So he sits down at the piano
on the stage with the band, to play,

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and on the band break,

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a white gentleman
comes up to him and says,

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"You know, this is the first time

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I ever heard a black man
play piano like Jerry Lee Lewis."

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Well, the black pianist
tries to explain the black origin

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of boogie woogie, rockabilly,
and rock and roll to this gentleman,

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but he didn't buy it.

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But he wanted to buy
this black guy a drink.

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So they went back to the table.

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He had a beer, the black guy
had a cranberry juice,

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and they began talking.

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And then the white gentleman says,
"You know, this is the first time

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I ever sat down and had a drink
with a black man."

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Well, the first thing
that occurs to the black guy is,

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this guy is having a night of firsts.

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And when he asked
the white gentleman why -

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how can that be? -

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the white gentleman revealed
that he was a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

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Well, this guy
was having a night of firsts.

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My first experience with racism
occurred when I was 10 years old,

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in 1968.

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My family had just moved
to a place called Belmont, Massachusetts,

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and I was one of two black kids
in my entire school.

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Ten years old in fourth grade.

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I joined the Cub Scouts,
and we had a parade, a march,

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from Lexington to Concord, Massachusetts,
to commemorate the ride of Paul Revere.

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Somewhere down the parade route,
as I was marching with my fellow scouts,

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I began getting hit by bottles,
soda pop cans, rocks

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and debris from the street

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by a small group of white spectators
off to my right on the sidewalk.

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I had no idea that I was
the only person getting hit

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until my den mother
and other scout leaders

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came rushing over and huddled
over me with their bodies

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and escorted me out of the danger.

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And they never explained
why this was happening to me.

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And I had no clue.

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When I got home,

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my mom and dad were fixing me up
with Band-Aids and Mercuorchrome,

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and they explained to me
why I was the target of these projectiles.

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At the age of 10,
I formed a question in my mind,

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and that question was,

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How can you hate me
when you don't even know me?

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So years later, here I am,

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a college graduate
with my degree in music,

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and I'm sitting at a bar

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at a table with a member of the KKK.

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I'd been seeking the answer
to that question for years,

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unable to find it.

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Now, here's my opportunity.

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For who better to ask than someone
who would join an organization

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who historically, their premise has been
hating those who do not look like them

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and who do not believe as they believe?

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Who better to answer that question,

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How can you hate me
when you don't even know me?

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I persuaded this Klan member
to give me the contact information

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for the leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

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He reluctantly provided it to me

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on the condition that I not reveal
where I got it from.

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The Klan leader's name was Roger Kelly.

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I had my secretary contact Roger Kelly

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because I decided
I wanted to write a book.

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I wanted to sit down and interview
Klan leaders and Klan members

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all around the country

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and ask them that question.

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So I was going to start right there
in Maryland, where I currently live.

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So I had her contact Roger Kelly
and not tell him that I was black

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but ask him if he would consent
to sitting down with her boss

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and giving him an interview.

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So he agreed.

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I arranged a hotel room for us to meet in.

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And when he arrived
with his armed bodyguard,

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they were shocked to see that I was black.

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And I could see apprehension on them.

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And I stood up and went like this
to show I had nothing in my hands

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and invited them in.

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They came in, Mr. Kelly took a seat,

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and the bodyguard
stood at attention to his right.

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He had his sidearm
right here in his holster.

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And we started this interview process.

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Everything was going along fine.

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He let me know that, indeed,
I was inferior

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due to the color of my skin -

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that made me inferior.

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But I wasn't there to fight with him,
I was there to learn from him

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where these perceptions came from.

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Because in order to address something,

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you have to learn how
they got there in the first place.

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So I'm listening.

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A little while later into this interview,

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a strange noise occurred,
kind of a (Quack), and we all jumped.

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And my eyes locked
with Roger Kelly's eyes.

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I knew he had made that noise
because I didn't make it.

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And my eyes were silently asking him,
"What did you just do?"

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Well, his eyes had fixated on mine,

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and he was silently
asking me the same question.

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The bodyguard had his hand on his gun,

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looking back and forth
between the Klan leader and myself,

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silently asking, "What did
either one of you all just do?"

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Well, my secretary realized
what had happened.

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She had filled the ice bucket with ice
and put cans of soda in there

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to be hospitable and offer
everybody beverages.

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Well, the ice bucket
was sitting on top of the dresser.

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The ice had begun melting,

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and the cans of soda
cascaded down the ice,

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and that's what made the noise,

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and we all began laughing

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at how ignorant we all were.

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But this was a teaching moment.

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I won't say anything
was learned at that moment,

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but a lesson was taught.

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And that lesson was this:

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All because some "foreign" -

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and underscore or highlight
the word "foreign" -

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entity of which we were ignorant,

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that being the bucket
of ice and cans of soda,

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entered into our little comfort zone
via the noise that it made,

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we became fearful
and accusatory of each other.

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Thus, ignorance breeds fear.

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If we don't keep that fear in check,

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that fear, in turn, will breed hatred

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because we hate
those things that frighten us.

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If we do not keep that hatred in check,
that hatred will breed destruction.

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We want to destroy
those things that frighten us

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and that we hate.

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But guess what.

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They may have been harmless,
and we were just ignorant.

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So we saw the whole chain
almost unravel to completion

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had the bodyguard drawn his gun

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and destroyed either myself
or my secretary.

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So like I said, we all began laughing
and carried on with the interview,

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and there were no more problems.

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Over time, Mr. Kelly
would come down to my house

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and continue these interviews.

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He would even have dinner
and lunch at my table.

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Or we would go out
and have dinner and lunch.

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Now, this was somebody
who considered himself superior

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and me inferior.

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We continued this relationship.

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He did not invite me to his house.

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But after a couple of years,
he began inviting me to his home.

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I would see his Klan den,

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and I'd take some pictures
and some more notes for my book.

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Then he began inviting me to Klan rallies.

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I'd go to these Klan rallies
and watch these Klansmen and Klanswomen

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in their robes and hoods

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parade around this big,
20- to 30-foot cross,

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set it on fire, and it would (Whoosh),

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and they'd parade around
and give all these lectures -

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take some more pictures and notes.

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Well, CNN wanted to do a story on this.

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They knew who I was through music,

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and they knew who Roger Kelly was
through the Klan.

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So I'm going to show you this clip
that was shown every hour for 24 hours

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on CNN and on HLN all over the world.

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And I want you to pay particular attention
to what Mr. Kelly says.

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He says that even though he and I
would do different things together,

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it did not change his views on the Klan,

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because his views on the Klan
had been cemented in his mind for years.

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And then he goes on to say how he believes
in separation of the races.

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But also listen
to what he says about respect,

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and then listen
to the commentary at the end

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that the two CNN anchorpeople give.

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Show the video please.

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(Video) [CNN Sunday Morning]

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Bob Cain: Welcome to this final hour
of CNN Sunday morning.

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I'm Bob Cain, in today for Miles O'Brien.

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Joie Chen: Good morning
to you all. I'm Joie Chen.

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BC: Friendship can transcend
all kinds of boundaries.

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JC: Just look at us.

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And two men in the Washington area

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are showing that even
an African American man

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and a member of the Ku Klux Klan
can find common ground.

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CNN's Carl Rochelle reports.

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(Piano music)

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CR: Daryl Davis plays a hot piano.

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It's part of the show,
and it makes him stand out.

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(Boogie woogie piano music)

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He also stands out here.

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Davis is one of the few African Americans
you will ever find attending a KKK rally.

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More than attending, he is welcome.

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Roger Kelly: I got more respect
for that black man

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than I do you white niggers out there.

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(Shouting)

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CR: It's been a tough day for the Klan.

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Their Maryland rally
found many local residents

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rejecting the message of white separatism.

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After it's over, Daryl Davis
hangs around backstage

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with his friend, Klan wizard Roger Kelly.

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(Chatter)

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It's not unusual for blacks
and whites to be friends,

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but it is unusual to find a black man
and a Klan leader chatting pleasantly

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over an orange soda after a Klan rally.

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The relationship started
over a book Davis was writing.

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His secretary set up
an interview with Roger Kelly

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but didn't tell him Davis was black.

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They talked, and talked some more.

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Davis learning about the Klan;
Kelly learning about Davis.

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RK: We get to know one another,
and we do different things, you know.

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It hasn't changed my views
about the Klan, you know,

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because my views on the Klan's been
pretty much cemented in my mind for years.

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CRF: Kelly and his Klan friends
go to hear Davis and his band.

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(Boogie woogie band music)

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And Davis goes to their rallies.

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Daryl Davis: I sat on the front row,
and I listened to each Klansman speak.

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Some things I agreed with;
other things I did not agree with.

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CRF: Davis thinks that his presence
promotes badly needed understanding.

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DD: Hate stems, I believe, from fear,

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from fear of the unknown,

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and I think this is all across the board,

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regardless of whether
it's the Klansmen or anything else.

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CR: But he has
no illusions about the Klan.

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If he did, his friend
would be quick to disabuse them.

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RK: I believe in separation of the races.

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I believe that's in
the best interest of all races.

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CR: Does he really?

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Or has friendship
transcended the color barrier?

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Listen to Kelly at a Klan rally.

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RK: I will follow
that man to hell and back

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because I believe in what he stands for,
and he believes in what I stand for.

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A lot of times
we don't agree with everything,

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but at least he respects me
to sit down and listen to me.

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And I respect him
to sit down and listen to him.

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CR: The strange relationship
of a KKK wizard and his black buddy.

00:12:15.531 --> 00:12:19.761
In Washington, I'm Carl Rochelle,
CNN Sunday Morning.

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BC: Strange.

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It's a good adjective - strange.

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JC: Certainly that.

00:12:24.441 --> 00:12:25.440
(Video ends)

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DD: Okay.

00:12:26.600 --> 00:12:31.119
You heard the Klan leader say
that he respected me.

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What's up with that?

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He's the Klan leader. I'm a black guy.

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He said, "We may not agree on everything,

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but at least he respects me
to sit down and listen to me,

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and I respect him
to sit down and listen to him.

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Very important, folks.

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If you have an adversary,

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you don't have to respect
what they're saying,

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but respect their right to say it.

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And have that conversation.

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We spend too much time
talking about each other,

00:12:56.720 --> 00:12:57.872
at each other,

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past each other,

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and not enough time
talking with each other.

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That is respect.

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Okay?

00:13:04.991 --> 00:13:06.059
(Applause)

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Thank you.

00:13:07.070 --> 00:13:10.361
And as a result of that respect,

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over time,

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Mr. Kelly began rethinking his ideology,

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and that cement that held his ideas
together in his mind for so long

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began to crack and crumble
and then fall apart.

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And then just a few years back,

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Mr. Kelly decided
to give up the Ku Klux Klan -

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he renounced it
and gave me his robe and hood.

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This is the robe of the Klan leader!

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(Applause)

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Right here.

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This is the same robe
you saw him wearing in the video.

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And of course, this is the hood and mask.

00:13:48.091 --> 00:13:52.022
Keep in mind, when two enemies
are talking, they're not fighting,

00:13:52.022 --> 00:13:53.051
they're talking.

00:13:53.051 --> 00:13:56.154
They might be yelling and screaming,
but at least they're talking.

00:13:56.154 --> 00:13:57.952
It's when the talking ceases

00:13:57.952 --> 00:14:00.343
that the ground
becomes fertile for violence.

00:14:00.343 --> 00:14:02.442
So keep the conversation going.

00:14:02.442 --> 00:14:05.484
People learn racism through dialogue.

00:14:05.484 --> 00:14:07.532
Somebody tells them about it.

00:14:07.532 --> 00:14:09.453
So if you can learn it through dialogue,

00:14:09.453 --> 00:14:11.823
you can also unlearn it through dialogue.

00:14:12.053 --> 00:14:14.412
So a black guy walks into a bar,

00:14:15.092 --> 00:14:17.013
sits down at the piano,

00:14:17.013 --> 00:14:19.183
and then a conversation starts.

00:14:20.941 --> 00:14:23.673
(Boogie woogie piano music)

00:16:00.464 --> 00:16:02.885
Thank you all very much. Thank you.

00:16:02.885 --> 00:16:04.635
(Applause) (Cheers)

00:16:05.795 --> 00:16:06.843
That's -

00:16:06.843 --> 00:16:08.003
Thank you.

00:16:08.003 --> 00:16:09.013
(Applause) (Cheers)

00:16:09.013 --> 00:16:10.094
Thank you.

00:16:10.094 --> 00:16:12.404
(Applause) (Cheers)

00:16:14.114 --> 00:16:15.594
Thank you.