JOHN G. JONES: THE MASONIC 'CLANDESTINE' ARGUMENT JUST WILL NOT GO AWAY

JOHN G. JONES: THE MASONIC 'CLANDESTINE' ARGUMENT JUST WILL NOT GO AWAY

By Fahim A. Knight-El

The United States of America was built on racism and injustice and our social experiences (values and morals) as a people were often shaped by the external world. This was superficial and often ego driven, it led us to view the world through a disdain prism which was rooted totally in a false subjective reality. When we began to grow internally and spiritually, we are allowed to free ourselves from the negativity of this world's order. The ancient masters understood this best in which brings me to the subject of Freemasonry, I embarked upon the Masonic journey some years ago; I was on a journey and search to find the truth and I was always curious about Freemasonry and prior to joining my intellectualism led me to research, study and learn as much as I could about the ancient fraternity. I learned very quickly that Freemasonry was a system of morality; veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols. It possessed a lot of wisdom and old age knowledge, but beneath it all was three basic principles: Morality, Friendship and Brotherly love. The mission was to make good men better.

I have always felt, that we have an obligation to enlightened people with the truth and if nothing else to strike their curiosity to desire to research and study for themselves all knowledge (in particular the knowledge of self) and derive from research and their own life experiences what the journey is about. I know many of my conscious brothers and sisters already know and understand that we are God and like minds in particular, will not find this statement as being heretic. Those of us who have been awakened have the ultimate responsibility to go after the 85% (those that have been duped by the bloodsuckers of the poor); the 10% are well organized and are carrying out their agenda—it is us who are failing in our duty (paraphrasing my Brothers of the Nation of Gods and Earths--better known as the Five Percenters: What is duty of the civilized man?)

I am always open to sharing what I know, with another Brother or Sister and offering whatever assistance I can to elevate one’s intellectual and conscious level. The topic of "clandestine versus regular Masonry", is a controversial topic and it's going to take some level heads on both sides of the equation to resolve this matter in the United States of America in particular, coming from Prince Hall Masonry and Ancient Free and Accepted Masonry (AF&AM). I am a Prince Hall Mason and there are many who belong to Prince Hall Masonic Order that will never engage in a discussion with non-Prince Hall Masons because of the label of ‘clandestine’, but I consistently receive a lot of email inquiries from ‘clandestine’ Masons and I am in constant dialog with them. Many would like to have better Masonic relations with Prince Hall Free and Accepted Masonry, but often the historical rift and division seems so wide and even I am not optimistic if there would ever be a reconciliation of sort, which will allow a reasonable discussion to take place in 2013. There is no doubt that Prince Hall Masonry is the ‘Big Elephant’ in the room and perhaps possesses more prominence than most other Black Masonic Orders in this country. However, there is a dark cloud over Black Freemasonry in the United States of America in particular, when it comes the legitimacy of black non-Prince Hall Masonic orders, which has stifled positive dialog among all Black Masonic Orders and has created a sense of organizational antagonism on both sides.

Thus, unfortunately, we do have some ‘clandestine’ Masonic groups that give Freemasonry a bad name and reputation. I am always telling brothers to do their own due diligence prior to joining any lodge and to be sure that the organization has a legitimate and recognized charter by some grand body of competent jurisdiction empowering it work, which authorizes them to practice the landmarks of Masonry. It cannot be a fly-by-night charter with no recognizable Masonic lineage. I chose to join a Prince Hall (PHA) lodge because they truly have a legitimate warrant/charter that goes back to 1784, so in that department they left no doubt about their history and legal right to authorize degree work, etc., and function openly as a body of Masons. I received this part of my experience with open arms; yet I had been a knowledge seeker prior to joining Prince Hall Masonry and although, the brotherhood respected me as a Free Thinker, it has become tedious work to move my brothers from knowledge stagnation after they have been raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason (third degree). I found myself introducing external knowledge, which gave more life to the science of Speculative Masonry and allowed them to put the historical pieces together and reconstruct Masonry from the history and culture of black people (the original Master Builders who proceeded the mythological story of Hiram Abiff) and upended the Eurocentric version of Freemasonry. This was challenging and it still remains a challenge because of the brainwashing that has occurred with people of African descent. But the PHA grand lodges and PHA Masonic history is solid; however, I do wish that they would use more of the original principles found in Kemet (Ancient Egypt) in the ritual work and may be it is true you cannot have everything in Masonry in one house.

I have made every attempt to open dialog between Prince Hall Free and Accepted Masonry and Ancient Free and Accepted Masonry (AF&AM). I have tried to present objective information and focused more on writing about the subject from a non-bias perspective. I know there are a lot of ‘clandestine’ Masonic Orders out there, who uses the principles of Masonry to dupe the innocent and they are often hustling and running con games in order to benefit themselves financially and monetarily. These type brothers give Freemasonry a bad name and it compromises the good principles of Morality, Friendship and Brotherly love, which encompasses the foundation of Freemasonry. Some may disagree with Prince Hall Masonry because they are very particular about legal Masonic Charters and Dispensations, but this idea protects and weed out those fly-by-night Masonic Orders. Masonry is a beautiful system of Knowledge that is embedded in the ancient wisdom of the original man; if taught properly you could see the links between the Nation of Gods and Earths, Islam, Kaballah, Judaism, Christianity, Kemetic science, New Age, etc. Now, we all have an obligation to challenge those who falsely use Masonry by standing properly on the Square. We have to know which way we are traveling.

I am going to use the term 'amnesty' loosely when referring to Brother John G. Jones, the former Prince Hall Grand Lodge official from the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge F & A.M. State of Illinois who was ex-spelled, excommunicated, and suspended in 1904 (Reference: Ezekiel Bey; (http://www.thephylaxis.org/bogus/johnjones.php). Jones was also one of the founders of Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine in 1893 better known as the black Shriners. I think this conflict and/or disagreement took place over 100 years ago and 'amnesty' should be granted as a step in the right direction, but this also will require AF&AM of the John G. Jones Masonic lineage to view this from an egoless perspective. For example, it should not be said, "who does Prince Hall Masonry think they are to issue our founder historical 'amnesty?' "; this would be the wrong approach to all of us who are willing to go forward for the sake of unity and to bring forth an amicable resolution in this divisiveness—there has to be some give and take on both sides of this argument.

Prince Hall Masonry should just issue an 'amnesty clause' and wipe their hands clean of this historical Masonic disagreement with their former Grand Lodge officer Brother Attorney John G. Jones and enter into a covenant with John G. Jones lodges and establish recognition, which would only serve the good of all Masonry. I know my Brothers Ezekiel Bey and Emanuel Stanley over on the Prince Hall Masonic Blue-Lite Research Discussion Group http://blue-lite.com/ would, perhaps disagree with many of my contentions and of course they would not sanction this type of discussion and even my Brother and friend Ralph McNeal, Jr., might even disagree with my contentions in this matter as well, but the soul singer and follower of Elijah Muhammad, Sam Cooke wrote and sang the song that ‘A Change is Gonna Come’.  However, this issue has historically lingered on for decades and the wounds from the breakup has never been healed, rectified and/or atoned for and, therefore, even in 2013, we are still debating whether or not John G. Jones Masonic lodges should be considered a 'regular' body of Masons and to me this is ludicrous.

I would agree with my pundits that essentially this is an old argument, but what's ironic about this argument, is that it just won't go away. I think it stays on the Black Masonic radar screen because the historical debate still remains very much unresolved and continues to serve as an artificial barrier that impedes Black Masonic unity. I think what I have proposed above is just one way of settling these disputes and allowing other Black Masonic brothers to be granted full and complete recognition and once and for all rid ourselves of these useless squabbles. I think John G. Jones Grand Lodges (Ancient Free and Accepted Masons) and Prince Hall Grand Lodges (Free and Accepted Masons) should desire to end this so-called legitimacy debate once and for all; by Prince Hall Masonry issuing an olive branch and rescinding and/or exonerating all the historical charges/allegations waged against Brother John G. Jones by passing a binding resolution declaring that Jones’ suspension and excommunication be rescinded and grant him all the rights he earned before the fallout (of course 100 years later this will only serve as a formality).

Yet, as I stated above by granting him amnesty could perhaps begin the healing (of course even this would only serve as a formality as well) and allow this part of our Masonic history to be ever put to rest. But let me be clear, this proposal and resolution will not absolve John G. Jones Ancient Free and Accepted Masonic lodges of their independence and sovereignty, however, it will allow us to recognize each other, establish visitation, attend ritual work and raisings, etc. The John G. Jones Masonic charter would be recognized and accepted by Prince Hall Grand Lodges and let this serve as plan of allowing these Masonic Orders an avenue to work towards establishing better relations with each other. I know that there are Brothers who are Prince Hall Masons and they will always view Ancient Free and Accepted Masonry as a ‘clandestine’ order and there are brothers who are of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons would probably say who cares what PHA thinks of us. We have to move beyond those polarized positions in order to demonstrate to our grand children and great grand children that a body of black men took positive steps to end the Masonic Willie Lynch Syndrome. (Reference: Fahim A. Knight-El Blog: http://fahimknightsworld.blogspot.com/2011/12/clandestine-versus-regular-freemasonry.html).

I think we as former enslaved people of African descent were definitely brainwashed and division on the plantation was advocated over unity and togetherness (this is recorded in the Willie Lynch letter and although many have dismissed this as a forged document, but it adds up the Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome theories). Yeshuaa Ben Yosef (Jesus the son of Joseph) and better known in western society as the 'Christ', he taught a ministry of love (love is one of the most often mentioned words in the New Testament). The working tool (Holy Bible) in most Western Freemasonic lodges are assembled on the alter in conjunction with the Square and Compass; the Bible is not placed on the alter as a religious guide nor is it meant to represent a dogmatic symbol of the faith of Christianity. Yet, many wise men would agree that pure and unadulterated truth is found in the principles of all the great religions (not necessarily in the theological interpretation) that borrowed from the various philosophical schools of thought, which have been used to set up moral and ethical guidance for humanity. This is no better represented in the most accepted definition of Freemasonry that I have found. I think there are many definitions floating out there about what Freemasonry is and/or isn't. But this is the one that resonates with me: Freemasonry is a beautiful system of MORALITY veiled in ALLEGORY and illustrated by SYMBOLS. This definition encompasses and tells us that morality has to be the foundation that undergirds our Craft—our mission is rooted in Morality, Friendship and Brotherly Love.

I think the biblical Cain and Abel story was borrowed from the Kemetic (Egyptian) folklore of Aset (Isis), Osar (Osiris), and Heru (Horace), which was rooted in polarity—of negative and positive energy (charges) good and evil and viewed and dramatized as acts of human betrayal (recorded in Biblical tales such as the Cain and Abel story). I heard Dr. Minister Khallid Abdul Muhammad once stated that we were ‘Negroes’ (the walking dead) before we accepted the truth and the knowledge of self; well, I am of the opinion, that the process of becoming God like is a tedious process and we cannot get there overnight and it will require us to be patient with one another and be willing to forgive each other when it is necessary. We must be willing to seek atonement and reconciliation with brothers and sisters that have fallen short of what the plumb, level, and square (the standard bearer that should be used to measure character in Speculative Masonry and were the sciences that gave perfection to operative masonry) represents for us who took the various oaths and charges that each degree required and mandated. I think from time-to-time we all need to revisited those charges and allow ourselves to soak in those pristine principles and verbally recite them. I too fell in love with the symbolism associated with the esoteric, Gnostic and Occult because it demonstrated the connective linkages of the ancient wisdom and knowledge that eventually gave birth to religion.

If a non-Prince Hall Masonic Orders has legitimacy, then they should be willing and have the capability of defending their charter, warrant and/or dispensation and demonstrate that they have the legal Masonic rights to practice the ancient landmarks of Freemasonry. Freemasonry isn't nothing to be played with and some of these crooked fake orders threatens the legitimacy of all Masons. I am about Black Masonic unity, but nothing bothers me more than to meet an allege brother who do not have legitimate Masonic credentials (he may even present me with 'yours for mine', but its a fake document from a irregular Masonic jurisdiction); yet if you can give me the token, sign and word unlike most Prince Hall Masons, I will still consider you to be a brother (but we are taught in Prince Hall Masonry not have Masonic intercourse with a so-called ‘clandestine’ Mason).

We as Prince Hall Masons unjustly whip other non-PHA Masons over the head, if they cannot trace their origin or charter back to the United Grand Lodge of England (I personally do not recognize the United Grand Lodge of England as having supreme authority over black Freemasonry and it is this view that separates me from the brain thrust of PHA Masonry). Now, keep in mind Prince Hall Masonry for over 200 years did not have full Masonic recognition from UGLE and it has only been in the last five to ten years that a UGLE decree was bestowed upon Prince Hall Masonry (although still in the United States there are, perhaps 11 States that have not recognized Prince Hall Grand Lodges as legitimate)—the battle of Prince Hall Masonry recognition has been won in small increments and has been on-going; the historical authorities would be Roundtree, Alton G., and Paul M. Bessel (2006).  “Out of the Shadows: Prince Hall Freemasonry in America, 200 Years of Endurance”. I would have desired for us to trace our Masonic origins back to ancient Kemet (Egypt) rather than settling on Eurocentric recognition. I also believe that once a Masonic order has proven themselves to be long standing and credible and has demonstrated a positive track record by following and implementing the Masonic Landmarks these credentials should allow them to be viewed and accepted as a legitimate and 'regular' body of Masons.

I wrote at least two or more articles on my Blog in which I was challenged in a debate by two of Dr. Malachi Z. York-El followers and scholars, Kedar Griffo and Michael Berkley (Berkley also claimed that he was a once Prince Hall Mason who I believed was raised in a PHA military lodge) they also both claimed to have been Masons connected to York’s 'clandestine' Masonic order. Dr. York was the cult leader of the Nuwaubians, a pseudo Black Nationalist organization that delved into many different philosophical schools of thought ranging from Islam, Moorish Science, Kemetic Science, Hebrew Israelite, Native American rites and culture, Metaphysics, Esoteric, Gnostic, Occult, Alien Space and UFOs diatribes, Christianity, Freemasonry, Rock and Soul Music, New Age, Western Cowboy culture, etc. He changed identities and names more than the average person drinks water. He is now serving a life sentence (convicted to 135 years) in Federal Penitentiary Colarado Super Max. Dr. York had purchased huge acres of land in a little rural town named Eatonton, Georgia and built a compound (architecture design was a replica of pyramids found in Kemet Egypt) for he and his followers—The U.S. Government accused him of multiple rapes of underage girls who were members of his organization, sex molestation of minor age girls, violating of RICO Statues, IRS tax evasion, etc.

However, perhaps unknowing to Dr. York, the U.S. Government sent agent provocateurs who may have infiltrated his inner circle and ultimately worked to set him up. He had been on the FBI watch list (Cointelpro and later the Homeland Security list) since he led a large Islamic group in the 1970s thru the early 1990s called the Ansaar Allah Community in Brooklyn, New York. I believe the government kept dossiers on the enigmatic Dr. Malachi Z. York-El but often these type ego-driven cult leaders almost always are trapped off by money, sex and lies (they become consumed by the world of materialism). Dr. York in my opinion, was a highly intelligent man and although, his brand of Freemasonry would be considered ‘clandestine’; he had the ability run circles around most high degree Masons because he was well studied and well learned. There was a lot that I disagreed with Dr. York (Pops), but he was a wise teacher and I am the beneficiary of some of his teachings and knowledge. But I still maintained that Dr. Malachi Z. York-El had established a bogus Freemasonic Order and his alleged Blue Lodge affiliation and the appendent and auxiliary bodies membership in which he claimed to have belonged were also clandestine and irregular. (Reference: Fahim A. Knight-El Blog:  http://fahimknightsworld.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-rebuttal-to-ancient-free-and.html)

These two said individuals had falsely accused me of hiding behind white Freemasonry in which in reality I have never supported or shown any allegiance to Eurocentric Freemasonry and have consistently denounced the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE)—just go all the way back and re-read through my Blog archives. My research has always taking me back to ancient societies such as Kemet (so-called Ancient Egypt) and not Greece, Rome, or England, etc. The UGLE is a baby entity relative to being established in 1717. Yet, as I have maintained in this article and in previous writings, we are not going to allow nor give legitimacy to fly-by-night clandestine Masonic groups that have a questionable history and charter; and we have a duty to expose these type bogus Grand Lodges and jurisdictions that have an undocumented charter and questionable Masonic linage. (Reference: Fahim A. Knight-El Blog:  http://fahimknightsworld.blogspot.com/2009/07/table-talk-with-ancient-free-and.html )

Furthermore, I am not going to allow someone either to hide behind my opposition to the UGLE and try to justify their own clandestine Masonic existence. These bogus groups should be held accountable and exposed. I often receive tons of emails from brothers who were manipulated and deceived by these type clandestine groups and I have assisted many of them with getting on the correct Masonic track. So, I view the Prince Hall Phylaxis Society and work, as a valuable resource, but that does not take away from my skepticism of Prince Hall Masons acting as the authority in determining which other so-called Black or so-called African American Masonic group should be considered legitimate and a regular body of Masons.   

I do not have all the answers to these complex issues facing Black Masonic entities that were established after 1784. Prince Hall Masonic Order often act as the black supreme authority in these type discussions and sometime this position eschews objective and unbiased debate; thus, forbidding reasonable assessment and evaluation from those black Masonic orders of non-Prince Hall origin. Now, in the grand scheme of things, it truly does not matter because it isn't about what Masonic Jurisdiction you belong, or the type of Masonic emblem you wear on your finger or lapel or Square and Compass on the back of your car. But what matters is the quality of ones character. I will salute and recognize a brother regardless, if he belongs to a three letter or four letter Masonic organizations. I do not have too see the charter that he is under because his character should exemplify the power of the circumference of the knowledge, which will translate into him being an upright man standing perpendicular on the principles of Brotherly love, Friendship and Morality.

Fahim A. Knight-El Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of goodwill, of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolism and reinterpreted the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlightened world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight-EL can be reached at fahimknight@ yahoo.com.

Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-El