There is no enemy when we show love
I recently listened to a JRE podcast, but this time the guest was truly remarkable. His name is Daryl Davis. He is a musician by trade, but over the last few years, he has converted 200 members of the Klu Klux Klan into normal functioning members of society once more. This is a remarkable feat for anyone, however, it is even more remarkable when you realise that Daryl Davis is a black man; the target for almost all of the KKK’s hatred. He has repeatedly put himself in dangerous situations to understand how and why these people think this way. He has spent thousands of hours and dollars travelling all over the U.S, having conversations with people who openly admit to hating him for the colour of his skin. Despite all of this, he would withhold judgement and would try to understand their reasoning and then try to show them that their hatred had been misled and there was no need to hate black people. To be able to stay calm, not lead with hatred or anger and instead treat them as he would any other person is inspiring.
Lately, I have been guilty of lacking the tolerance needed to sit down with those who have vastly differing opinions and politics and have an honest conversation without getting angry or despairing. However, I have made a conscious decision to follow people of different political persuasions on my social media to prevent an existence in an echo chamber. Being the son of an immigrant and now living in Madrid it is no secret that I did not agree with Brexit, but some of my best friends did vote for Brexit and consequently Boris Johnson in the most recent elections. As a result, some of the discussions we have had have been quite heated but have always remained respectful. My problem has been engaging in discourse with people who are on the extremes. I assumed that they are so far gone it was pointless and any conversation would be futile because we don’t even have points where we can see where each other is coming from. Daryl Davis has shown that I was flawed in my thinking.
There is a far-right party in Spain that has gained a lot of traction in the 2 years, called VOX. They gained 52 seats in last years general election and now are the third most powerful party in Spanish politics. I used to think that any VOX voter was some old man who wanted Spain to return the Franco era. However, over time I have realised that there are a lot of young people who are working-class/middle-class who voted for this elitist right-wing party. I even know of a gay VOX sympathiser. I have started to have more conversations with these people and have realised that their reasons for voting for VOX are far more nuanced than I had previously wanted to believe. I still don’t agree with their politics, but I now understand that they are not all racist, homophobic, sexist, archaic dinosaurs who want to stop the spread of wealth and even if they are, Daryl Davis has shown that I can still find something we have in common if I look hard enough, after all, we all human beings.
I think that politics can bring out the worst form of tribalism in most of us. We choose a side and then begin to pick holes in the other party’s manifesto in order to protect our own manifesto. We refuse to acknowledge that the other party may have some good points and put the blinkers on and fool ourselves into believing that our preferred party is without fault. This is true of party and personal politics, at least it has been with me at times over my life. The more time I spend conversing with the other side, the more I understand why they believe the way they do. Whether I agree or not is almost irrelevant. Clearly, someone is not a good or bad person based solely on their beliefs. I am now trying to be more like Daryl Davis and trying not to dismiss anyone, despite what they may have done or believed, because he has shown that no one is ever truly a lost cause.
By Seb Siracusa
