There's an AP story out that boils my blood.
Ok, not really boil, but it did upset me.
Typical scratch-the-surface, fail-to-dig-deep reporting.
Here's the link.
I am a Mason.
Are there racists? Yep. Are there racists in ________ organization? The National Association of _________? Sure. Racists are everywhere.
But to label the organization itself as racist does not scratch the surface.
It's an EASY story to write. There are "white" lodges and "black" lodges. Obviously, it must be racism. (Never understood how something like that equals racism, but organizations such as the National Black Coaches Associaton, or the Congressional Black Caucus, for example, aren't. They meet the definition, but not the PC definition.)
Short story? Yes, racism has existed. OF COURSE IT DID. When Freemasonry was founded, it was not commonplace for blacks and whites to associate together at the social level (or any other level, for that matter). So, after centuries of being separate, both sides did not easily accept (and some still haven't) the idea of potentially giving up their identities in the name of curing the perception of continued racial factors.
Freemasonry does exclude. No women, for example. But then, there are gyms that don't admit men. That said, I haven't found a more accepting organization... it's universal around the world, and I've seen all types (of men) whom I am proud to call Brothers. And the skin color isn't the first thing I notice about them.
But skin color is so easy to write about.
4 comments:
Note: From the Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Alabama 1876
Page 23 & 24 photo copy is available
The Grand Lodge of Alabama DOES NOT RECOGNIZE Prince Hall Masons (African-Americans) and any Lodge under current Grand Lodge Edict or Law would be in violation if they have African-American members according to official Grand Lodge Resolution.
“As to Negro Masons”
4. Although it is usually said that Masonry is universal, and that in every clime Masons are to be found; yet it is only universal in so far as the Caucasian Race has carried it into every quarter of the globe; and if that race has sometimes admitted Negroes, and others of the inferior races, it has done so in violation of the original and fundamental laws of the Fraternity.
5. In view, therefore, of these facts, indisputable as they are conceived to be, the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Alabama seizes the present as a fit and proper occasion, to declare its purpose, under no circumstances whatever acknowledge the legality of Negro-masons, such acknowledgement being foreign to the original purpose of the Fraternity, and introducing an element of demoralization into the society.”
http://alabamagrandlodgefacts.blogspot.com/
fm,
Very good. You have illustrated that in the past the Lodges did not associate with each other. As I stated, whites and blacks didn't socialize together. Is it difficult to believe, that 11 years after the end of the Civil War, whites did not want to admit blacks? Of course not.
However, it is also a 130 year old reference and it's value towards current arguments is slightly diminished.
Now, being myself a SC mason (and for those who aren't masons, one state has NO jurisdiction over any other), I can tell you... as I did in the post... that racism still exists. Therefore the argument that you SHOULD have used is this:
It takes a long time to purge racism from an organization. One of the base ways to change is within, through the membership. In SC, for example, the reference is still there that a member must be "free-born", or not born as a slave. Of course, it's no longer a problem. But what does still hold back integration in the Lodges is the membership vote.
A member may ban a prospective member for any reason, and the vote is secret (the "Blackball").
So, as long as there is one person sitting in the Lodge who doesn't want blacks (or people with warts for that matter or whatever their personal hang-up), then it won't happen.
But, people still keep trying.
It IS changing. It's no longer institutionalized, like so many former things in the country. One could easily show documents where the country originally counted blacks as three-fifths of a person (hint: it's on display in the National Archives), but that doesn't mean we still do.
Never heard of such a thing. My dh is a Mason, Member of the Rose Croix and the Shrine.
But we live N of the border.
I'll have to mention it to him.
And we were the end of the Underground Railroad. That by no means says things are perfect. And yes, all it takes is 1 black ball and that person cannot join that group.
The Grand Lodge of Alabama resolution is still in effect it NEVER was changed. Then in 1999 this happened.
http://web.mit.edu/dryfoo/Masonry/Reports/alabama_99.html
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