Live, at this moment (7 am - 11 am ET), the Russ and Dee Show radio show on 101.1 FM, "the Voice of Alabama," has "outed" governor Bob Riley for being a Freemason. They read the 1876 Grand Lodge Masonic Resolution (below) supporting racism and keeping Freemasonry all white.Go here and then click in the upper right to listen to their stream.
Dee repeatedly has called for Gov. Riley to resign from the racist lodges of Alabama and, if he wants to be governor of all the people, not just whites, he should join the alternative, non-racist United Grand Lodge of America.
Russ and Dee supported Riley's losing opponent in the primary, and have gleefully jumped on the "Riley is a racist Mason" bandwagon.
I didn't hear about this show until well after it started this morning, and so I've heard only the last hour and a half or so. During that time, I heard at least two members of the United Grand Lodge of America call in and make very poignant points about the real purpose of Freemasonry. This tended to subdue Dee (who pretty much ran the show... we didn't hear from Russ much) a bit, with her congratulating the UGLA callers and saying they were the "hope for the future."
Several Antient Masons called in as well, defending their racism. The final caller, a proud southern Illinois redneck who sounded like he had a wad of terbacky in his mouth, defended Antient Masonry by saying that only "clandestine" Masons, which he defined as not having been chartered, are disallowed, and that there have been no qualified black applicants. He also tried to say that Masons were only following rules set down by the "founder" of Freemasonry, King Solomon (later he referred to King Solomon as "King James"), when they disallowed blacks in their lodges. He proudly boasted he was a "32nd degree Mason."
In 1876, the Alabama Grand Lodge passed the following resolution, "as to Negro Masons."
When Dee read a few passages of it to the final caller, he said, "Oh, it says that?", and all the wind went out of his sails.
From the Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Alabama 1876
Page 23 & 24
“As to Negro Masons”
“Whereas, the question of the recognition of Negro Masons has been made more than usually prominent during the last year; and whereas this Grand Lodge has a well-settled opinion upon this subject, which she desires most respectfully and fraternally to express to her sister Grand Lodges everywhere, and especially to those of the United States; she deems the present a fit opportunity to set forth the reasons which impel her to that opinion.
1. It is indisputable that whatever theory we adopt as to the origin of Masonry- whether that which carries it back to the original Father of mankind, and his immediate descendents;, or to Enoch and Noah; or to the building of King Solomon’s Temple; or arising from the constitutions of Pythagoras; or if we trace it back to the Eleusinain Mysteries; or to those of Ceres, and the institution of the Bacchanalia; or, what is most probable of all, the incorporation of the Roman builders under Numa Pompilius that theory carries us back to the Caucasian Race.
2. Masonry was originally, what it is mainly today, a social institution; intended for those who daily mingled in the ordinary walks of life, in business, in pleasure, and in the family circle; into which it is not credible that anyone of the Negro or any other of the inferior races, could have been admitted.
3. That Negroes have of late years been admitted into Lodges of Free Masons is due, it is believed, to the sympathy which has been excited for them by anti-slavery societies generally, and particularly by those of the United States; and that any were admitted during the revolutionary war by traveling Lodges belonging to the British Army, was due to the feeling which existed at that time against American patriots; a proceeding entirely at variance with the object of the formation of such Lodges, they having no right to confer the degrees upon any citizen or resident of the county in which they might be sojourning, but only upon members of the army to which such Lodges belonged.
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.”
Resolution passed
For more information, see Alabama Grand Lodge Facts.
Image: Grand Master Frank W. Little with Brother Bob Riley at the Clay County Courthouse cornerstone removal ceremony in Ashland, AL on Aug 12, 2006.
Masons | Masonic Tolerance | Bob Riley | Freemasonry | BurningTaper.com | Grand Lodge of Alabama | Racism | United Grand Lodge of Alabama| Burning Taper
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