Klan and Black Legion meetings were usually held inside Masonic Temples and Halls in the Midwest during the 1930's. The Klan recruited almost exclusively from within Masonic ranks and often the membership of both organizations was indistinguishable. All of the Leadership of the old and new Klan were high degree Freemasons. The Ku Klux Klan was in fact a Masonic movement.
The Brotherhood and Racism
The book "Christianity and American Freemasonry" by William J. Whalen (Our Sunday Visitor:1987, pgs 23-25) discusses the racism of Freemasonry at some length;
An organization dedicated to brotherhood, Masonry ironically remains a bulwark of racial segregation in the United States. By 1987, decades after most American institutions had accepted racial integration, only four of the forty-nine Grand Lodges could count even one black member in their jurisdictions. As the author of a recent scholarly study of black Freemasonry observes, "The legitimation of social intermingling between black and white Masons has remained anathema in mainstream Freemasonry."' (Handbook of Secret Organizations by Whalen)
A lodge within the British military forces initiated Prince Hall with fourteen free black men in 1775 after the men had been rebuffed in their attempt to join St. John's lodge in Boston. Eventually the black Masons received a charter from the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England for African Lodge No. 459 (1784). Regular Masonry has continued to deny recognition to Prince Hall lodges, and individual lodges have barred black candidates by the simple method of the black cube.
Except for one curious exception, Alpha Lodge No. 1 16 in New Jersey, and a handful of blacks reported to be initiated by lodges in New York and Massachusetts, regular Freemasonry remains ninety-nine and forty-four hundredths percent white. A Prince Hall Mason may not visit a white lodge, nor a white Mason visit a Prince Hall lodge, without risking Masonic punishment. Albert Pike, no friend of blacks, admitted in 1875 "Prince Hall lodge was as regular a lodge as any lodge created by competent authority. It had a perfect right to establish other lodges and make itself a Mother Lodge."
When the Grand Lodge of New Jersey accepted several blacks into membership, other Grand Lodges decried the action and some severed fraternal relations with New Jersey. Mississippi was one. The Grand Master of that state wrote in 1908 "Masonry never contemplated that her privileges should be extended to a race, totally, morally and intellectually incapacitated to discharge the obligations which they assume or have conferred upon them in a Masonic lodge. It is no answer that there are exceptions to this general character of the race. We legislate for the race and not for the exceptions. We hold that affiliation with negroes is contrary to the teachings of Masonry, and is dangerous to the interest of the Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons."
The Prince Hall lodges include a number of distinguished gentlemen on their rosters such as Supreme Court Justice Marshall, Mayor Tom Bradley of Los Angeles, Dr. Benjamin Hooks of the NAACP, Mayor Andrew Young of Atlanta, and Mayor Coleman Young of Detroit. Of course, none of these black Masons would be allowed to visit a white Masonic lodge.
Whether Masonry influenced Southern mores or was simply influenced itself is hard to determine. Even during the civil-rights battles of the 1960s, knowledgeable blacks discovered that many of the leaders of the segregationist movement, such as Governors George Wallace of Alabama, Orval Faubus of Arkansas, and Ross Barnett of Mississippi, were also active Masons.
Resource:Acacia Press
In 1976 , the Masonic afflliate organization for girls, the International Order of the Rainbow, suspended all Iowa chapters of the group because one local chapter endorsed membership of a 12-year-old black girl.
According to press reports, Michelle Palmer, whose father is white and mother is black, had been invited to join the Rainbow chapter in Indianola, Iowa, and was approved by the local assembly in October of that year. However, officials at the Rainbow's international headquarters at McAlester, Oklahoma ruled that all 136 Rainbow assemblies in Iowa must disband by the end of the year because they did not follow "rules and regulations."
It was explained that the organization took disciplinary action on the basis of an unwritten law which excludes blacks from membership.
Freemasonry has many unwritten laws it seems.
I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either.
'Illustrious' Trent Lott 33�
December 6, 2002
Charleston Daily Mail: Expelled Masons leader says meeting was worst time of his life - 8/12/10
Both Leading Candidates For Georgia Democratic Party Governor Nomination are Freemasons - 02/07/09
New York Times - Black Member Tests Message of Masons in Georgia Lodges - 02/07/09
Washington Post - Masons' spat over black inductee spills into court - 30/06/09
Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Atlanta Masons sue state body - 30/06/09
Indian Country - Something missing from PBS's 'Tecumseh's Vision' - 12/05/09
South Africa Secret Society Afrikaner Broederbond extends friendly hand - 03/08/07
Masonic order coming to town - 24/07/07
Victory party to be held at Texas Masonic Children's Home Accused of Racism - 13/01/07
Going from all-white to all welcome - 13/01/07
Call for Masonic Politicians to quit Whites Only Grand Lodge of Alabama - 27/10/06
MSNBC - Black Minister receives threat after joining Rhode Island white masonic lodge - 26/10/06
Sweet Home Alabama, Masonic Meltdown - 11/10/06
Gov. Riley defends Masonic membership - 07/10/06
Ala. Governor Defends White Masonic Unit - 29/09/06
Ala. Governor Defends White Masonic Unit - 29/09/06
Latino Concert Canceled, Shrine Temple Accused of Racism - 24/08/06
Concert Promoter Accuses Shriners of Racism and Fraud - 18/08/06
Racism in Masonry Today as described by a recently
demitted 32 degree Scottish Rite Freemason
The Truth About Freemasonry, by Chuck Easttom 32
----- Original Message -----
From: Chuck Easttom [email protected]
Newsgroups: alt.freemasonry
Sent: September 15, 1999 9:33 AM
Subject: THE TRUTH ABOUT MASONRYI was not going to do this but, I feel I need to make this posting.
For a time I was an avid defender of masonry in this newsgroup ( I still have nothing against it per se). My masonic credentials are numerous and lengthy. I was Senior Warden of Durant Lodge #45 Durant Oklahoma, "C" certificate lecturer from the Oklahoma Grand Lodge, 32d Scottish Rite Mason McAlester Valley (and active in performing Scottish Rite degrees), Past Patron of OES Chapter #17,Sr. DeMolay, and Shriner. About 2 months ago I resigned from all of this.
I see too extremes in this newsgroup: 1. Anti masons who , in their paranoid delusions, blame masonry for every evil in the world.
2. Staunch apologists who refuse to acknowledge real problems.
I would Like to set the record straight and tell the truth:
First of all to the anti masons - despite my deep involvement in masonry I never saw one single shred of anything even remotely resembling satanism. I never met one single mason who I would have even suspected of satanism. I was quite active in doing scottish rite degrees, and saw absolutely nothing that would conflict with any of the mainstream monotheistic religions. I also never saw any evidence of any conspiracy to cover up any crimes committed by masons, or any conspiracy to influence politics. These conspiracy theories and satanism theories that anti-s come up with are pure delusion.
Now for the other side, or put another way: why did I resign? Well I can only speak for Oklahoma Masonry (and I travelled extensively in Oklahoma):
1. Racism is rampant here. Over half the members I have met openly announce that they will resign the day that a "nigger" sets in an Oklahoma Lodge. Racist jokes are common place just before or after a masonic function. One of our past grand masters even made racists jokes at a District meeting.
2. We are not even a little bit selective about the white people we let into lodge. In Oklahoma if you are white and are not on America's Most Wanted, then some lodge will let you in. I personally know of A lodge Jr. Warden who was renown in his town as an alcoholic and wife beater. He was widely known as such when initiated, passed, raised, and when elected to office. And this is not at all an exception in Oklahoma. In fact the bulk of attending masons (those that show up) are usually from the lower end of society. They are the poorly educated , bigoted,and often ignorant. I know of past masters that won't keep a job, past masters that are renown for their beligerant attitude,etc. They seeem perplexed that the few members in the lodge that have some community standing (be they a teacher, doctor, etc.) don't show up for meetings. Well its because they are embarressed to be seen with their lodge brothers. I am also not talking about 1 or 2 incidents. In my entire district their are maybe 6 to 8 masons that I would not be ashamed to have show up at my job. I had one past master show up at my office on one occaision having worn the same clothes for several days. When I joined not one person that signed my petition even knew me at all. I asked friends and coworkers, none had ever had any inquiries about my character. Frankly noone in the lodge cared as long as I was willing to pay the dues. But maybe its different elsewhere.
3. We lead a man to believe that he will learn great philosophical truths. This is what originally attracted me to masonry as I have always been a student of philosophy. Yet the "teachings" of masonry are the most mundane and common place lessons that virtually all men have already heard elsewhere. When we charge a man for degrees in which he learns "lessons" that he already knows, we are in effect defrauding him.
4. Few Oklahoman masons take it seriously. Even those who memorize the degree work frequently don't even know the meanings of the words they memorize much less the meanings (you would be amazed how many think the word "alllusion" is "illusion".
Franklly masonry is not evil, its not a conspiracy, etc. It is simply (at least in Oklahoma) a club for old men and rednecks to go to and give each other important sounding titles.
Now I am donning my asbestos suit...
-- Chuck Easttom
http://www.geocities.com/~chuckeasttom/Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
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