[Music]
well this is a police officer’s uniform
a Baltimore City police officer in
particular named Robert white he gave me
this uniform when he and I became the
very best of friends but you know I
first met Robert well I first heard
about Robert white when I was a teenager
and then I later met him
I met him just a month after he got out
of prison he was in prison serving a
sentence for assault with intent to
murder two black men with a shotgun and
another sentence conspiring to bomb a
synagogue in Baltimore now I am a
professional musician I tour all over
this country and around the world
playing music so how do I end up with a
policeman’s uniform he worked for the
police department by day but he also had
another job which required a different
kind of uniform
he was the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux
Klan for the state of Maryland this is
his robe this is what he wore when he
conspired to bomb the synagogue and when
he made plans to kill two Blackmun with
a shotgun to understand why I have these
items let’s take a little journey back
in my life I was born in Chicago in 1958
at the age of 10 in 1968 my parents had
moved to Belmont Massachusetts a suburb
of Boston I was one of two black kids in
the entire area at least in the school I
joined the Cub Scouts at the age of 10
at the invitation of someone one of my
white male friends and we had a march
from Lexington to Concord to commemorate
the ride of Paul Revere my den mother
let me carry the American flag and as I
was marching as the only black Scout in
this parade along with the Girl Scouts
Boy Scouts Cub Scouts and brownies
I think 4-h club was there at some other
organizations as I was marching down the
street somewhere along the parade route
I began getting hit with bottles soda
pop cans rocks and debris from the
street by just a small group of white
spectators mixed in with the all-white
crowd on the sidewalk this was the first
time I ever experienced anything like
this and I did not understand
I thought perhaps those people did not
like the scouts I did not realize I was
the only scout getting hit until my den
mother and the other Scout leaders came
rushing over and huddled over me with
their bodies and escorted me out of the
danger they never explained why even
though I kept asking why they hitting me
why they hitting me
what did I what had I done wrong when I
got home my mother and father who were
not at the March were fixing me up with
mercurochrome and band-aids and
to me how did you fall down and get all
scraped up I told them I didn’t fall
down I told them exactly what happened
for the first time in my life my parents
sat me down at the age of 10 and
explained racism to me I had absolutely
no idea what they were talking about it
was inconceivable to me that someone who
had never laid eyes on me never spoken
to me knew absolutely nothing about me
would want to inflict pain upon me for
no other reason than this the color of
my skin so I did not believe my parents
but more and more incidents began
happening and I realized my parents that
told me the truth I didn’t know why
people felt that way but I realized that
there were some people who did so at the
age of 10 I formed a question in my mind
that question was how can you hate me
when you don’t even know me so I grew up
in my adolescent years spending a lot of
time buying books on black supremacy
white supremacy the Nazis in Germany the
neo-nazis over here the Ku Klux Klan
anti-semitism trying to understand that
ideology trying to get the answer to my
question how can you hate me when you
don’t even know me none of these books
provided the answer so then in my adult
life I thought you know what who better
to ask how can you hate me when you
don’t even know me then someone who
would join an organization whose
historical premise has been hating those
who do not look like them and who do not
believe as they believe so I had my
secretary who books my bands and all
kind of stuff I said listen I want you
to get a hold of this guy his name is
Roger Kelly I acquired mr. Kelly’s phone
number mr. Kelly is what’s known as the
Imperial wizard Bob White was a grand
dragon meeting state leader Imperial
wizard is a national leader in the Ku
Klux Klan I was told do not fool with
mr. Kelly Daryl he will kill you
but I had to have the answer to my
question I was hoping it wouldn’t be the
final answer if I met him so I gave Mary
his phone number and said give him a
call do not tell him that I’m black but
see if you’ll sit down and and give your
boss an interview who wants to discuss
the Ku Klux Klan so she did mr. Kelly
agreed so we reserved a motel room Mary
and I got there early right on time to
the minute there was a knock on the door
Mary hops up and runs around the corner
opens the door in walks mr. Kelly and
his bodyguard the bodyguard was armed
the sidearm right here on his hip when
they saw me these kind of like froze
because either they were stretching the
white guy and I stood up and went like
this to show I had nothing in my hands
and I approached I said hi mr. Kelly I’m
Darrell Davis he shook my hand the
bodyguard shook my hand said come on and
come on and have a seat have a seat
mr. Kelly sat down and the bodyguard
stood at attention to his right and we
conversed agreed on some things
disagreed on other things but he let me
know he let me know that I was not his
equal I was inferior he was superior and
this was justified and determined by the
color of my skin I wasn’t there to fight
him I was there to learn from him where
does this ideology come from because
once you learn where it comes from you
can then try to figure out how to
address it and see where it’s going so
we continued conversing maybe about a
little over an hour into this interview
there’s kind of a strange noise in the
room cut off Clark and we all jumped and
I popped up out of my seat through the
table between us and I was ready to come
across that table and take down mr.
Kelly and the bodyguard because I knew
that mr. Kelly had made that noise I
didn’t know what that noise was I could
not discern it and I kept hearing the
voice of the person who gave me his
phone number saying Darrell do not fool
with Roger Kelly he will kill you I do
not want to die that day but I knew that
he made the noise and
I think what did I just deal what did I
just say to caution to make some kind of
weird noise and you know I’d gone into
what you call survival mode and survival
mode people will do one of three things
some people you know when you fear for
your life some people will just tense up
and start shaking and you can be taking
a hammer or bat and hitting them on the
head and they will not even be
deflecting the blow just be like this
that is called paralysis by fear and it
is a real thing
the second thing people will do is they
will try to run away as quickly as
possible to put as much distance between
the source of the fear and themselves
that is the best option if you can do
that however it was not an option for me
because you cannot outrun a bullet in a
motel room
I was not armed neither was my secretary
the only person I know for sure who was
armed was the bodyguard you can see his
weapon right here I did not know as mr.
Kelley had a weapon up under his jacket
or not he was wearing our dark blue suit
and tie the third option is do a
preemptive strike to mitigate the danger
in other words get them before they get
you so I was about to do that and when I
came up out of my seat I was looking
right into mr. Kelly’s eyes I didn’t say
a word but my eyes were speaking loud
and clear in fact my eyes were shouting
so loud he could hear my eyes my eyes
were saying to him what did you just do
well mr. Kelly’s eyes had fixated upon
mine and his eyes were silently asking
me the same question where the bodyguard
had his hand on his gun
but him back and forth between the clan
leader and me like what did either one
of y’all just do well Mary she realized
what happened
she had filled the hotel room ice bucket
with ice and put some cans of soda in
there to get them cold to be hospitable
and offer mr. Kelly a beverage the ice
had melted and the cans came cascading
down the ice and then it made that same
noise and we all began laughing at how
ignorant we all had been now I won’t say
this was a learning moment
but it was definitely a teaching moment
and what was taught was this all because
some foreign and underscore highlights
circle the word foreign entity of which
we were ignorant being the bucket of ice
in Kansas Soda entered into our little
comfort zone via the noise that it made
we all became fearful and accusatory of
one another
thus ignorance breeds fear we fear those
things we do not understand if we do not
keep that fear in check that fear in
turn will breathe hatred because we hate
those things that frighten us if we do
not keep that hatred in check that
hatred in turn will breed destruction we
want to destroy those things that we
hate why because it caused us to be
afraid but guess what they may have been
harmless and we were just ignorant we
saw the whole chain almost unravel to
completion had the bodyguard drawn his
gun and shot namely me or my secretary
because it’s his job to protect his boss
and protect himself or had I pounced and
hurt one of them trying to protect
myself or my secretary we did see we did
see that whole chain unravel to
completion three months ago
in Charlottesville Virginia two hours
from where I live because ignorance was
present fear was present hatred was
present and destruction occurred when a
white supremacist got in his car and
tried to mow down people and resulted in
killing one young lady named Heather
hire so we carried on with this
interview no more incidents I would
invite mr. Kelly to my home he would
come to my home he bring his bodyguard
bodyguard would sit on the couch next to
him sometimes the bodyguard would get
bored pull out his gun and start
twirling it on his finger like this
while mr. Kelly and I talked I would
invite over some of my other friends my
Jewish friends my black friends my white
friends are the people just to engage in
conversation with
to Kelly other than me I want him to
experience different people this went
off for a couple years he did not invite
me to his own but he would have dinner
or lunch at my table with me
this is inferior person that he deemed
not his equal after a couple years he
began coming down to my house by himself
a national leader in the Ku Klux Klan
and then he began inviting me to his
house I would see his Klan den and I
would take pictures and take notes for
my for my my own knowledge and things
then he began inviting me to Klan
rallies I’ve go to these Klan rallies
that have a 20 or 30 foot cross wooden
cross to beans tied together wrapped in
burlap the burlap was soaked in what
they call Klan Cologne
otherwise known as diesel fuel or
kerosene and Klansmen and clans women in
their robes and hoods and torches were
paraded around in a circle around the
cross and either the Grand Dragon or
Imperial wizard would say Klansmen halt
and they’d all stop then he’d say for
God and they say for God for a race for
a race for country for country Klansmen
have broached the cross and it all
closed in to the base of the cross
Klansmen light the cross and they throw
their torch down at the foot and whoosh
this big cross would be on fire there
you go there’s one one rally such rally
with the Klansmen that’s conversing with
the Klan at a rally and here’s a rally
with the cross on fire now they would
give speeches I would take more notes
and try to absorb and try to understand
not that I’m believing in what they’re
preaching but I’m trying to learn and
understand what is the impetus for it so
as for awhile
CNN got wind of this and wanted to do a
story on me they knew me as a musician
they knew who mr. Kelley was as a Klan
leader so they followed me to a rally
first they came to my gig on Friday
night to show what I really do and then
Saturday morning they followed me to a
Klan rally two hours from my house and
they said to me do you
thank mr. Kelly will even talk to us I
said I will do better than that
when this rally is over I will get mr.
Kelly the Imperial wizard of the clan to
come to my house and you can interview
the clan leader inside a black man’s
house I said oh okay so they filmed the
rally and when the rally was over I
spoke with Roger Kelly told him what was
going on and he agreed he drove without
his bodyguard
two hours out of his way sat in my
basement and interviewed was CNN and I’m
gonna end this clip was shown every hour
for 24 hours all over the world I want
to show it to you right now and I want
you to pay particular attention to what
mr. Kelly says he says that even though
he and I would do different things
together it did not change his views on
the Klan because his views from the Klan
had been cemented in his mind for years
then he goes on to say how he believes
in separation of the races because he
finds that to be in the best interests
of all races but listen to what he says
about respect towards the end of the
clip please show the clip Davis is one
of the few african-americans you will
ever find attending a KKK rally more
than attending he is welcome it’s been a
tough day for the Klan their Maryland
rally found many local residents
rejecting the message of white
separatism after it’s over Darrell Davis
hangs around backstage with his friend
Klan wizard Roger Kelly
it’s not unusual for blacks and whites
to be friends but it is unusual to find
a black man in a Klan leader chatting
pleasantly over an orange soda after a
Klan rally the relationship started over
a book Davis was writing the secretary
set up an interview with Roger Kelly but
didn’t tell him Davis was black they
talked and talked some more
Davis hurting about the Klan Kelly
learning about Davis we get to know one
another and we do different things you
know it’s it hasn’t changed my views
about the Klan you know because my views
on the Klan has been pretty much
cemented in my mind for years Kelly and
his Klan friends go to hear Davis and
his band
and Davis goes to their rallies i sat on
the front row and I listened to each all
kinds Minh speak some things I agreed
with other things they did not agree
with Davis thinks that his presence
promotes badly needed understanding hate
stems I believe from fear a fear of the
unknown and I think this is all across
the board regardless of whether it’s a
Klansmen or anything else but he has no
illusions about the Klan if he did his
friend would be quick to disabuse them
and I believe in separation of the races
I believe that’s in the best interest of
all races does he really has friendship
transcended the color barrier listen to
Kelly a Klan rally the strange
relationship of a KKK wizard and his
black buddy
in Washington I’m call Hill show CNN
Sunday morning respect is the key
sitting down and talking not necessarily
agreeing but respecting each other to
air their points of view because of that
respect and my willingness to listen and
his words to listen to me he ended up
leaving the Klan and there’s his robe
right there I am a musician not a
psychologists or sociologists if I can
do that anybody in here can do that take
the time to sit down and talk with your
adversaries you will learn something and
they will learn something from you when
two enemies are talking they’re not
fighting they’re talking is when the
talking ceases that the ground becomes
fertile for violence so keep the
conversation going
thank you all very much
you
well this is a police officer’s uniform
a Baltimore City police officer in
particular named Robert white he gave me
this uniform when he and I became the
very best of friends but you know I
first met Robert well I first heard
about Robert white when I was a teenager
and then I later met him
I met him just a month after he got out
of prison he was in prison serving a
sentence for assault with intent to
murder two black men with a shotgun and
another sentence conspiring to bomb a
synagogue in Baltimore now I am a
professional musician I tour all over
this country and around the world
playing music so how do I end up with a
policeman’s uniform he worked for the
police department by day but he also had
another job which required a different
kind of uniform
he was the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux
Klan for the state of Maryland this is
his robe this is what he wore when he
conspired to bomb the synagogue and when
he made plans to kill two Blackmun with
a shotgun to understand why I have these
items let’s take a little journey back
in my life I was born in Chicago in 1958
at the age of 10 in 1968 my parents had
moved to Belmont Massachusetts a suburb
of Boston I was one of two black kids in
the entire area at least in the school I
joined the Cub Scouts at the age of 10
at the invitation of someone one of my
white male friends and we had a march
from Lexington to Concord to commemorate
the ride of Paul Revere my den mother
let me carry the American flag and as I
was marching as the only black Scout in
this parade along with the Girl Scouts
Boy Scouts Cub Scouts and brownies
I think 4-h club was there at some other
organizations as I was marching down the
street somewhere along the parade route
I began getting hit with bottles soda
pop cans rocks and debris from the
street by just a small group of white
spectators mixed in with the all-white
crowd on the sidewalk this was the first
time I ever experienced anything like
this and I did not understand
I thought perhaps those people did not
like the scouts I did not realize I was
the only scout getting hit until my den
mother and the other Scout leaders came
rushing over and huddled over me with
their bodies and escorted me out of the
danger they never explained why even
though I kept asking why they hitting me
why they hitting me
what did I what had I done wrong when I
got home my mother and father who were
not at the March were fixing me up with
mercurochrome and band-aids and
to me how did you fall down and get all
scraped up I told them I didn’t fall
down I told them exactly what happened
for the first time in my life my parents
sat me down at the age of 10 and
explained racism to me I had absolutely
no idea what they were talking about it
was inconceivable to me that someone who
had never laid eyes on me never spoken
to me knew absolutely nothing about me
would want to inflict pain upon me for
no other reason than this the color of
my skin so I did not believe my parents
but more and more incidents began
happening and I realized my parents that
told me the truth I didn’t know why
people felt that way but I realized that
there were some people who did so at the
age of 10 I formed a question in my mind
that question was how can you hate me
when you don’t even know me so I grew up
in my adolescent years spending a lot of
time buying books on black supremacy
white supremacy the Nazis in Germany the
neo-nazis over here the Ku Klux Klan
anti-semitism trying to understand that
ideology trying to get the answer to my
question how can you hate me when you
don’t even know me none of these books
provided the answer so then in my adult
life I thought you know what who better
to ask how can you hate me when you
don’t even know me then someone who
would join an organization whose
historical premise has been hating those
who do not look like them and who do not
believe as they believe so I had my
secretary who books my bands and all
kind of stuff I said listen I want you
to get a hold of this guy his name is
Roger Kelly I acquired mr. Kelly’s phone
number mr. Kelly is what’s known as the
Imperial wizard Bob White was a grand
dragon meeting state leader Imperial
wizard is a national leader in the Ku
Klux Klan I was told do not fool with
mr. Kelly Daryl he will kill you
but I had to have the answer to my
question I was hoping it wouldn’t be the
final answer if I met him so I gave Mary
his phone number and said give him a
call do not tell him that I’m black but
see if you’ll sit down and and give your
boss an interview who wants to discuss
the Ku Klux Klan so she did mr. Kelly
agreed so we reserved a motel room Mary
and I got there early right on time to
the minute there was a knock on the door
Mary hops up and runs around the corner
opens the door in walks mr. Kelly and
his bodyguard the bodyguard was armed
the sidearm right here on his hip when
they saw me these kind of like froze
because either they were stretching the
white guy and I stood up and went like
this to show I had nothing in my hands
and I approached I said hi mr. Kelly I’m
Darrell Davis he shook my hand the
bodyguard shook my hand said come on and
come on and have a seat have a seat
mr. Kelly sat down and the bodyguard
stood at attention to his right and we
conversed agreed on some things
disagreed on other things but he let me
know he let me know that I was not his
equal I was inferior he was superior and
this was justified and determined by the
color of my skin I wasn’t there to fight
him I was there to learn from him where
does this ideology come from because
once you learn where it comes from you
can then try to figure out how to
address it and see where it’s going so
we continued conversing maybe about a
little over an hour into this interview
there’s kind of a strange noise in the
room cut off Clark and we all jumped and
I popped up out of my seat through the
table between us and I was ready to come
across that table and take down mr.
Kelly and the bodyguard because I knew
that mr. Kelly had made that noise I
didn’t know what that noise was I could
not discern it and I kept hearing the
voice of the person who gave me his
phone number saying Darrell do not fool
with Roger Kelly he will kill you I do
not want to die that day but I knew that
he made the noise and
I think what did I just deal what did I
just say to caution to make some kind of
weird noise and you know I’d gone into
what you call survival mode and survival
mode people will do one of three things
some people you know when you fear for
your life some people will just tense up
and start shaking and you can be taking
a hammer or bat and hitting them on the
head and they will not even be
deflecting the blow just be like this
that is called paralysis by fear and it
is a real thing
the second thing people will do is they
will try to run away as quickly as
possible to put as much distance between
the source of the fear and themselves
that is the best option if you can do
that however it was not an option for me
because you cannot outrun a bullet in a
motel room
I was not armed neither was my secretary
the only person I know for sure who was
armed was the bodyguard you can see his
weapon right here I did not know as mr.
Kelley had a weapon up under his jacket
or not he was wearing our dark blue suit
and tie the third option is do a
preemptive strike to mitigate the danger
in other words get them before they get
you so I was about to do that and when I
came up out of my seat I was looking
right into mr. Kelly’s eyes I didn’t say
a word but my eyes were speaking loud
and clear in fact my eyes were shouting
so loud he could hear my eyes my eyes
were saying to him what did you just do
well mr. Kelly’s eyes had fixated upon
mine and his eyes were silently asking
me the same question where the bodyguard
had his hand on his gun
but him back and forth between the clan
leader and me like what did either one
of y’all just do well Mary she realized
what happened
she had filled the hotel room ice bucket
with ice and put some cans of soda in
there to get them cold to be hospitable
and offer mr. Kelly a beverage the ice
had melted and the cans came cascading
down the ice and then it made that same
noise and we all began laughing at how
ignorant we all had been now I won’t say
this was a learning moment
but it was definitely a teaching moment
and what was taught was this all because
some foreign and underscore highlights
circle the word foreign entity of which
we were ignorant being the bucket of ice
in Kansas Soda entered into our little
comfort zone via the noise that it made
we all became fearful and accusatory of
one another
thus ignorance breeds fear we fear those
things we do not understand if we do not
keep that fear in check that fear in
turn will breathe hatred because we hate
those things that frighten us if we do
not keep that hatred in check that
hatred in turn will breed destruction we
want to destroy those things that we
hate why because it caused us to be
afraid but guess what they may have been
harmless and we were just ignorant we
saw the whole chain almost unravel to
completion had the bodyguard drawn his
gun and shot namely me or my secretary
because it’s his job to protect his boss
and protect himself or had I pounced and
hurt one of them trying to protect
myself or my secretary we did see we did
see that whole chain unravel to
completion three months ago
in Charlottesville Virginia two hours
from where I live because ignorance was
present fear was present hatred was
present and destruction occurred when a
white supremacist got in his car and
tried to mow down people and resulted in
killing one young lady named Heather
hire so we carried on with this
interview no more incidents I would
invite mr. Kelly to my home he would
come to my home he bring his bodyguard
bodyguard would sit on the couch next to
him sometimes the bodyguard would get
bored pull out his gun and start
twirling it on his finger like this
while mr. Kelly and I talked I would
invite over some of my other friends my
Jewish friends my black friends my white
friends are the people just to engage in
conversation with
to Kelly other than me I want him to
experience different people this went
off for a couple years he did not invite
me to his own but he would have dinner
or lunch at my table with me
this is inferior person that he deemed
not his equal after a couple years he
began coming down to my house by himself
a national leader in the Ku Klux Klan
and then he began inviting me to his
house I would see his Klan den and I
would take pictures and take notes for
my for my my own knowledge and things
then he began inviting me to Klan
rallies I’ve go to these Klan rallies
that have a 20 or 30 foot cross wooden
cross to beans tied together wrapped in
burlap the burlap was soaked in what
they call Klan Cologne
otherwise known as diesel fuel or
kerosene and Klansmen and clans women in
their robes and hoods and torches were
paraded around in a circle around the
cross and either the Grand Dragon or
Imperial wizard would say Klansmen halt
and they’d all stop then he’d say for
God and they say for God for a race for
a race for country for country Klansmen
have broached the cross and it all
closed in to the base of the cross
Klansmen light the cross and they throw
their torch down at the foot and whoosh
this big cross would be on fire there
you go there’s one one rally such rally
with the Klansmen that’s conversing with
the Klan at a rally and here’s a rally
with the cross on fire now they would
give speeches I would take more notes
and try to absorb and try to understand
not that I’m believing in what they’re
preaching but I’m trying to learn and
understand what is the impetus for it so
as for awhile
CNN got wind of this and wanted to do a
story on me they knew me as a musician
they knew who mr. Kelley was as a Klan
leader so they followed me to a rally
first they came to my gig on Friday
night to show what I really do and then
Saturday morning they followed me to a
Klan rally two hours from my house and
they said to me do you
thank mr. Kelly will even talk to us I
said I will do better than that
when this rally is over I will get mr.
Kelly the Imperial wizard of the clan to
come to my house and you can interview
the clan leader inside a black man’s
house I said oh okay so they filmed the
rally and when the rally was over I
spoke with Roger Kelly told him what was
going on and he agreed he drove without
his bodyguard
two hours out of his way sat in my
basement and interviewed was CNN and I’m
gonna end this clip was shown every hour
for 24 hours all over the world I want
to show it to you right now and I want
you to pay particular attention to what
mr. Kelly says he says that even though
he and I would do different things
together it did not change his views on
the Klan because his views from the Klan
had been cemented in his mind for years
then he goes on to say how he believes
in separation of the races because he
finds that to be in the best interests
of all races but listen to what he says
about respect towards the end of the
clip please show the clip Davis is one
of the few african-americans you will
ever find attending a KKK rally more
than attending he is welcome it’s been a
tough day for the Klan their Maryland
rally found many local residents
rejecting the message of white
separatism after it’s over Darrell Davis
hangs around backstage with his friend
Klan wizard Roger Kelly
it’s not unusual for blacks and whites
to be friends but it is unusual to find
a black man in a Klan leader chatting
pleasantly over an orange soda after a
Klan rally the relationship started over
a book Davis was writing the secretary
set up an interview with Roger Kelly but
didn’t tell him Davis was black they
talked and talked some more
Davis hurting about the Klan Kelly
learning about Davis we get to know one
another and we do different things you
know it’s it hasn’t changed my views
about the Klan you know because my views
on the Klan has been pretty much
cemented in my mind for years Kelly and
his Klan friends go to hear Davis and
his band
and Davis goes to their rallies i sat on
the front row and I listened to each all
kinds Minh speak some things I agreed
with other things they did not agree
with Davis thinks that his presence
promotes badly needed understanding hate
stems I believe from fear a fear of the
unknown and I think this is all across
the board regardless of whether it’s a
Klansmen or anything else but he has no
illusions about the Klan if he did his
friend would be quick to disabuse them
and I believe in separation of the races
I believe that’s in the best interest of
all races does he really has friendship
transcended the color barrier listen to
Kelly a Klan rally the strange
relationship of a KKK wizard and his
black buddy
in Washington I’m call Hill show CNN
Sunday morning respect is the key
sitting down and talking not necessarily
agreeing but respecting each other to
air their points of view because of that
respect and my willingness to listen and
his words to listen to me he ended up
leaving the Klan and there’s his robe
right there I am a musician not a
psychologists or sociologists if I can
do that anybody in here can do that take
the time to sit down and talk with your
adversaries you will learn something and
they will learn something from you when
two enemies are talking they’re not
fighting they’re talking is when the
talking ceases that the ground becomes
fertile for violence so keep the
conversation going
thank you all very much
you
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