Music is his profession, ridding people of hate is his passion
Prohuman Foundation co-founder Daryl Davis spoke with Mike Unger for Bethesda Magazine, recounting his late start in music at age 17, his 32-year run as Chuck Berry’s pianist, and how rock and roll helped break down segregation by bringing black and white audiences together. Davis answers whether he has ever lost his faith in humanity, and discusses how patient dialogue, mutual respect, and universal needs have helped hundreds renounce hate.
DAVIS: I never set out to change anybody. I thought that’s who they are. All I wanted to know is: How can you hate me? You don’t even know me. Just tell me that and then we’ll say goodbye and part ways. And something interesting happened. Over time, interviewing these people, some of them began changing. When the first person quit, I thought it was a fluke. But then it happened again and again. I began wondering, what is it that I’m doing that’s causing them to quit?
Black History is American History
It deserves complete integration, not a specially designated month.
Prohuman Foundation co-founders Bion Bartning and Daryl Davis wrote in The Wall Street Journal that Black History Month, though originally intended to “honor overlooked contributions and correct historical omissions,” has evolved into a practice that mistakenly treats black history as separate from the broader American story.
When history is segmented by identity, Americans are encouraged to see parts of the national story as belonging to “them” rather than “us.” Shared ownership gives way to selective identification. Shared understanding yields to grievance. The result isn’t deeper appreciation but greater distance.
Black Americans didn’t merely experience American history; they shaped it. From agriculture and industry to constitutional law, military service, music and civil rights, the nation wouldn’t exist as it does without their contributions.
The answer isn’t to abolish heritage months out of impatience or indifference. It’s to make them irrelevant by fulfilling their original purpose.
When we stop talking to one another, fear fills the vacuum.
Conversation is a civic—and moral—responsibility.
In an op-ed for The Salt Lake Tribune, Annie Caplan and Becca Kearl of Living Room Conversations argue that recent tragic ICE-related shootings have heightened fear and polarization, reducing complex human lives to competing narratives. They advocate respectful dialogue—built on humility, patience, and courage—as a civic and moral duty.
We owe each other more than slogans and certainty. More than instant judgment and moral posturing. More than the comfort of choosing sides without listening.
We owe each other the practice of dialogue.
Cultivating Character Through the Heart, Mind, and Will
Psychologist Angela Duckworth spoke with Thomas Burnett on the Templeton Ideas Podcast about her work helping young people cultivate strengths of heart, mind, and will to build meaningful lives. They discuss the difference between achievement and deeper virtues, the origins of Character Lab, practical strategies for enabling and modeling character, and AI’s potential risks and benefits with respect to relationships and learning.
DUCKWORTH: [Y]oung people are amazing… they are so much more than their IQ scores or their marks on very narrow measures of achievement.
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Opinions expressed in selected articles do not necessarily reflect those of the Prohuman Foundation. We value diverse perspectives that enrich our understanding of topics close to our mission: to promote the foundational truth that we are all unique individuals, united by our shared humanity.