What do you do when someone just doesn't like you? I mean really, really not like you. And you know it. And what if that person, or those people, have made an open show of that dislike, without apology? What would you do? Davis is no stranger to this experience and has chosen a unique, and often viewed as controversial, approach to such ponderings. He uses his boogie woogie piano to open doors to conversations that few would venture to start. Daryl endeavors to improve race relations and does not shy away from "reaching across the aisle" to members of the KKK.

Daryl Davis is an American R&B and blues musician, author, actor and bandleader, known for his energetic style of boogie woogie piano. Davis has played with such musicians as Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, B.B. King, Bruce Hornsby and Bill Clinton. His efforts to improve race relations, in which as an African-American, he engaged with members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), have been reported on by media such as CNN, Newsweek Magazine and the Washington Post. Davis summed up his advice as: "Establish dialogue. When two enemies are talking, they're not fighting." Daryl received rave reviews for his stage roles in William Saroyan’s "The Time Of Your Life" with a famed cast of Marcia Gay Harden, Brigid Cleary, Richard Bauer, Dion Anderson, and Henry Strozier. Davis was a key player in "Elvis Mania," which was extended by two months due to popular demand in New York City at an off-Broadway theater. He appeared in two episodes of the critically acclaimed HBO series, "The Wire." Davis is the author of the nonfiction book "Klan-destine Relationships," and he is the subject of the documentary "Accidental Courtesy."

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx