Daryl Davis: Black American blues musician goes inside the KKK

In Klan-destine Relationships: A Black Man's Odyssey in the Ku Klux Klan, Daryl Davis tells the story of his interactions with the Ku Klux Klan, beginning with a chance meeting in a bar where he was playing his music, and leading to a long-term friendship with KKK members who came to understand that skin colour does not determine a person's worth, and to rescind their earlier views.

As a teenager, a member of the Ku Klux Klan told Daryl Davis that he would be shipped back to Africa. Over twenty years later, Davis can still feel the terror of that experience. Motivated by an intense need to understand such an extreme form of racism, he began to compile information on the infamous organization. Since then, Davis has set his sights on forming relationships with Klan members to get to the heart of their hate.

I don't pretend that anyone living outside the United States can fully understand the historical and emotional foundations of this story, but as a human story it is a compelling one. Davis' is a competent writer, if not a gifted one, and he tells his story with a performer's sense of timing and rhythm. It is a readable book, even beyond the events that he recounts. The courage of this man in walking into potentially dangerous situations with a profound and optimistic belief in music as a bridge between human differences and the power of one-to-one relationships to overcome prejudice and fear makes this a compelling story. Listening as Davis tells his story to a live audience, however, is even more compelling -- the videos of his public lectures that are available online are both entertaining and thought-provoking.

Featuring interviews with former leaders of both the Ku Klux Klan, the national Alliance and the NAACP, as well current White Power advocates, The Daryl Davis Project, a documentary film , is due for release in late 2012. "This controversial feature-length documentary directed by Owen Cooper and Thiago Da Costa tackles the chronic issue of racism in a 'post-racial" United States," according to Figura Media, the production company, and "will show from both sides that we still have a long way to go to total understanding and acceptance in this allegedly 'post-racial' society."