Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America
Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America
| 13 March 2016 (USA)

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Daryl Davis has an unusual hobby. As a musician he has played with legends like Chuck Berry and Little Richard, but in his spare time he likes to meet and befriend members of the Ku Klux Klan. Join Daryl on his personal quest to understand racism.

Reviews
Aedonerre I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.
Helllins It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.
Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
Delight Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.
kosmasp How to engage a deeply racist person? Or does it even make sense to talk to someone who says demeaning things about you and other people? This is an in-depth look into the mindset of one individual who takes on the Ku Klux Klan and other like minded individuals, but not literally. He goes on and talks to them.As he says, how can they hate him, when they don't even know him? Of course there is also resistance from people to what he's doing. So while, he does reach people with this method, there are others who will not be convinced no matter what. Not to mention other people of color who label him a traitor to their kind and cause. The documentary does not shy away from moments like that either. So while you may think it's just uplifting, we also do get the darker side ... and moments that feel awkward. All in all a really good documentary, showing us many angles to a person ... and his "fight"
Bread-n-Circuses There really is a war which has gone on and is going on between truth, peace and love vs. lies, war and hate. The struggle is between the light of truth and the darkness, occluding that truth, not relating to skin color in this context. Daryl articulately asks a simple self evident and self answering question something we learned the answer to in grade school. Listen for it. Another reviewer calling Daryl's approach to curing anger between blacks and whites 'simple' as a term of denigration, implying Daryl might be 'simple' and not worth listening to. A good question to ask ourselves might be - Who of all the complexity purveyors in this film are outright making money or at least on another level stoking their ego from their public political position, as a professional advocate of a cause they espouse? Follow the money to find the jive talkers. Buy this film and support a great cause.Daryl is a decent musician, who has played with some true hero's of American music - even showing us some stride piano playing at one point in the film which is very technical. Daryl is not failed at life, like his detractors and frankly like some of the world's most evil demagogues were and are before they rose into whom they became infamous. Daryl is hip, educated, and worth listening to! Is he making money himself from this film? I hope he is. I don't feel shaken down for buying it.
gavin6942 Daryl Davis is an accomplished musician who was played all over the world. He also has an unusual hobby, particularly for a middle aged black man. When not displaying his musical chops, Daryl likes to meet and befriend members of the Ku Klux Klan.This film shows Davis' interactions with KKK members and white Aryans, but even more interesting (perhaps) is that it provides contrasting views of his activities from members of the Southern Poverty Law Center and Black Lives Matter. While the SPLC is probably correct in saying theirs is a wholesale rather than retail approach, the Black Lives Matter movement comes off in a negative light here. In some ways, they seem as anti-white as their foes seem anti-black. And that solves nothing.By a sheer, terrible coincidence, the film became something of a memorial for Frank Ancona, the Klansman depicted at the opening and close of the documentary. Ancona was found shot dead in Missouri on February 11, 2017, two days before the airing of the film on PBS. Did Davis attend his funeral?
JustCuriosity Accidental Courtesy was well-received at its World Premiere at Austin's SXSW Film Festival. Its protagonist musician Daryl Davis seems well-intentioned in his peculiar efforts to reach out to Klansman. He seems to think that if he – as a black man – can just talk to these Klansman he can talk them out of their racist. The view seems really naive. Over 30 years, he seems to have won over a few Klansman, but none of his arguments seem to really address the deeper issues. The KKK is only the tip of the iceberg and none of his arguments ever get at the structural causes of racism or the deeper roots of institutional racism. Human contact can certainly breakdown some boundaries and its positive if a few of these extremists get to know a black man and learn that he is human and begin to rethink their views. But I was really glad that the film makers realized how deeply limited Davis's approach was and decided to include his critics from the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Black Lives Matter movement. The film is entertaining and well- filmed, but got a bit repetitive after a while as we saw Davis's numerous encounters with different Klansman. Davis is an interesting idiosyncratic character, but his approach to racism is ultimately a bit simplistic.