A black musician named Daryl Davis has made it his life mission to dissolve racism. Particularly, he dialogues with White Supremacists, often befriending them and eroding their ideologies through his enduring, authentic relationship. He (and the film makers) also educate through usually unbiased sharing of history. The film also chronicles some of Daryl's story. He's lived a very extraordinary life, having shared the stage with many famous musicians, visiting over 50 nations, and has authored & acted. For most of his life, Daryl has pondered "Why do you hate me when you know nothing about me?" This burning question is his basis. He gives those who hate the color of his skin an opportunity to experience the quality human being that lives and loves from within that skin. He also returns the favor, and respectfully empathizes with his opposition - giving them time and space to express and wrestle with their convictions.

And what did really change? While whatching the images of police brutality towards black people, it felt like they were taken yesterday, there was even a moment when cops were standing upon a man who was saying "I can't breathe" (that moment really got me). The young black angry activists near the end, what did they really accomplish if in 2021 we're basically at the same point? Someone said that Daryl's approach might be a little bit too naive but it's really not: the real point is that he's the only one following that approach.

Daryl Davis is a serious man with a unique approach to a complicated issue. An accomplished piano player, Davis spends his free time collecting Ku Klux Klan memorabilia in the hopes of one day creating a Ku Klux Klan Museum. Odd enough already for a black man, but his collection is a bit more specific than that. Everything in his collection has been gifted to him by former Klan members who left the Klan after starting a friendship with Davis. So essentially, Davis befriends Klan members in the hopes of humanizing the black experience and collecting their robes, though he would insist there is no agenda and that they are truly his friends. He calls them his friends, he laughs with them. At one point the camera actually catches Davis adjusting the hood of a Klan member as he suits up. While this is perplexing to some people, it is absolutely infuriating to others. Just because the film is examining Davis closely though, do not assume the Director is attempting to sanctify him. Matthew Ornstein does a fantastic job of presenting both sides of a polarizing issue without ever landing the film squarely in either camp. In fact, the most engaging sequence in the film is a heated debate towards the end which reveals the many cracks in Davis's armor, a risky move with a title character so close to the end of the film. But Ornstein seems to know there is standing room on both sides of the issue and he, like the audience, seems to be treading a path back and forth between the two sides. This film may leave you with more questions than it answers, but it is certainly a conversation worth having.

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.

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"

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.

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?