JOHN G. JONES; REGULAR VERSUS IRREGULAR: PART II

JOHN G. JONES; REGULAR VERSUS IRREGULAR: PART II

By Fahim A. Knight-El

It appears once again that the John G. Jones argument of ‘clandestine' versus ‘regular’ Masonry has risen his head again on Facebook in which I published an article on this subject back on September 29, 2013, titled: ‘John G. Jones: The Masonic Clandestine Argument Just Will Not Go Away,” (reference: Fahim A. Knight-El http://fahimknightsworld.blogspot.com/2013/09/john-g-jones-masonic-clandestine.html ) but that was not the first time that I had written on this controversial topic of 'clandestine Masonry' versus 'Regular Freemasonry', but the power of social media (Facebook) has allowed this article to reach many more people by allowing them to have access to the above said article in real time. I wrote the article because we as so-called black Masons needed to have this conversation and I knew that it would invoke various emotions on both sides of the equation—there would be apologist and pundits weighing-in, but I have always written as a Free Thinker and I was not looking for Prince Hall Masonry nor John G. Jones Ancient Free and Accepted Masonry to endorse me or my writings because many of my brothers of Prince Hall persuasion do not have the courage or the intestinal fortitude to step outside the box to objectively discuss John G. Jones and other black non- Prince Hall Masonic Orders because the majority of these orders are viewed by Prince Hall Masons as being clandestine and get automatically dismissed as being bogus. Many Prince Hall brothers and even the intelligentsia of PHA believe that to openly talk with and/or about irregular or clandestine Masonic Orders in their mind is to give credence and credibility to their right to exist and they find this conversation to be taboo and undeserving and to do so somehow this is seen as a compromise against the various obligations they swore to uphold (it is prohibited in Prince Hall Masonry for them to have Masonic intercourse with a clandestine Mason).

Yet, I as a Prince Hall Mason do respect PHA efforts to not give recognition to some of these illegitimate Black Masonic Orders that have a questionable charter and their history is suspect. Many of these type clandestine orders operate under the disguise of shadiness and are duping innocent brothers out of hundreds of dollars and in some cases thousands of dollars by engaging in fraudulent and scam practices of Freemasonry (I will never support such un-Masonic conduct). I think for anyone to imply or subtly suggest that Brother Fahim A. Knight-El is writing and advocating in support of clandestine Masonry is an out right lie and a bit disingenuous. However, who granted the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) supreme authority over black Freemasonry and gave them the right to validate our Masonic charters and it is this so-called superior entity in Europe that I detest, because I do not believe nor accept that they should have the power and authority to declare the legitimacy of Masons the world-over (who gave them their charter in 1717?). I have no respect for the authority of the UGLE and may be my writings and views might even get me suspended and excommunicated, but I am willing to pay the price for standing on truth. My motto is speaking truth to power.

The Enlightened Europeans stole their knowledge from ancient Kemet (Egypt) and our original rights to practice Masonry were written in the Medu Neter. I am not on Facebook, but I have been informed that a brother named Omar Scaife is the Facebook administrator of a site called Regular vs. Irregular: The Great Debate and he claims to have over 2,000 members who have signed on to his Facebook forum and I think Masons post and debate issues germane to Freemasons on his page. I noticed on April 24, 2014, I had my smartphone with me and I noticed that I had a few hundred hits on the article “John G. Jones: The Masonic Clandestine Argument Just Will Not God Away” but at that point I did not know that it was being talked about and dissected on Omar Scaife’s Facebook page. Brother Thomas Brooks out of the Grand Lodge of New York stated: "the author of the blog is all about blackness...nothing to do with masonry". I challenged this brother on some ridiculous comments he made on his Facebook page relative to Egypt and Black nationalism; Please refer to my Blog link articled titled: Black Freemasonry and Egypt: Myth or Reality?” http://fahimknightsworld.blogspot.com/2013/07/black-freemasonry-and-egypt-myth-or.html .

There is no doubt Brother Brooks, I am an Afrocentric thinker and I make no apology for accepting and embracing my “Blackness”. Also, there is another brother from my Masonic jurisdiction of North Carolina named Bro. Antoine Lilly. I believe he is a member of A.S. Hunter Lodge number 825 in Durham, NC in which we both of us resides in Durham and he to have been critical of me (ironic all four Prince Hall Masonic lodges in Durham share the same Blue Lodge building). This is in part what Brother Lilly stated: "Bro. Knight is in my state and my district. I am going to see if he and I can find some time to sit down and discuss how damaging his work is. We shall see...” but I am willing to take on all of them and to suggest that my work is damaging, is definitely emotional and represents an unfair characterization and assessment of my body of Masonic literary work. I do not mind saying what is unpopular in order to raise the conscious level of the Craft, but you cannot do this with trying to play it safe--Jesus and Muhammad changed the world by daring to challenge the status quo of their times and they have gone down in history as two of the most influential men to have ever walked this earth . I do not have any ulterior motives other than advocating black Masonic unity, if I am guilty of anything, it is this conviction that I hold very close to my heart. So I would love to have the opportunity to meet and sit down with Brother Lilly, but I will not be defeated nor compromise my position. I have justified below why I find it plausible for black Prince Hall Masons and black non-Prince Hall Masons to have this conversation because of the Time and What Must Be Done.      

I received a response on my Blog on April 23, 2014 relative to the above said article from a Prince Hall Masonic brother named Brother John L. Hairston MWPHGL of Washington and Jurisdiction who is a member of J. C. Logan Lodge #53 Free and Accepted Masonry in Seattle, Washington. I think Brother Hairston found it to be reprehensible and blasphemous for me as a Prince Hall Mason who is in good standings to suggest that some amicable resolution should take place between the former suspended and excommunicated Prince Hall Grand Lodge official John G. Jones lodges and Prince Hall Affiliated Lodges. I think it is really emotional and immature for Brother Hairston to assume that other non-Prince Hall Masonic orders will buy into these type fundamentalist ideas of allowing Prince Hall Masonry to determine their legitimacy, plight and right to self determination and according to Brother Hairston the only option on the table is for these alleged Masonic clandestine orders is to be ‘Healed’ and I guess join onto Prince Hall Masonry (I am not saying this is a bad idea but why should they and what would be the incentive?). Brother Hairston’s comments sounds more like a dictatorial manifesto and will serve as an antagonistic contradiction. What black people lack on all levels is unity and we often allow our petty differences to keep us divided and as a black nationalist I have worked my entire adult life to create a consensus and a black united front. I to abhor and detest these fly-by-night clandestine Masonic orders and they stand to be condemned, but I refuse to be judge and executioner.  

This is what Brother Hairston stated:  I think the proposal of "historical amnesty" for John G. Jones is out of the question. John G. Jones committed a Masonic Crime, was found guilty and expelled from Freemasonry. That is the FACTS, whether John G. Jones groups accept that or not. If we extend John G. Jones a pass for the damage he incurred on Freemasonry, then why not do the same for all of those who were expelled or indefinitely suspended”.

“I think John G. Jones members and sympathizers attempt to portray John G. Jones as the victim, and the subsequent bodies formed under his name as recipients of undue attacks from Prince Hall Masons. The fact is that there can be NO conversation until the John G. Jones group FIRST accept the TRUTH as it is. The debate continues, not because Prince Hall masons just need someone to kick, but because when we run into John G. Jones members they have SO MUCH MISINFORMATION on Prince Hall and the Organizations in the various states, and when there is an attempt to correct the misinformation and place them in the right standing with Freemasonry, there is where the debate ensues, based on denial. I see no olive branch being extended to a blatant clandestine group. But there is a way to end the rift. That John G. Jones members join a legitimate Lodge and be good members there”.

“Bro. Fahim A Knight El stated: "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."

“And added to that: "Freemasonry isn't nothing to be played with and some of these crooked fake orders threatens the legitimacy of all Masons."

“Clandestine organizations could never threaten the legitimacy of the Regular Freemasonry. The Legitimacy has been established, but it could make membership sleighted, because of the damage that has been incurred by these groups. Unity will come when they heal over into regular lodges and give up the illegitimacy of clandestine freemasonry”.

“There is LAW to this, and we must preserve the Order by observing the law. We erase what has been done already. We can just fix the problem. The opportunity to do so stands open to all members who find themselves in clandestine groups...knock on the door of a legitimate lodge and ask to join it”.

“The problem can be solved in one day, but it begins with John G. Jones groups recognizing that they are illegitimate and that their lineage is illegal, and then make the decision to take the PROPER STEPS to address that revelation”.        

Freemasonry is based on principles of good and the foundation of these principles is rooted in the various schools of thought of religious dogma, which was designed to establish a moral outcome. Thus, in Western Freemasonry these holy books are hailed on the alter and it’s taught that they should serve as our religious guide along with the square and compass. Yeshua bin Yosef (Jesus the son of Joseph) the carpenter became better known as the Christ (or within Christian religious ethos as the Son of God). The Bible tells us that Jesus was persecuted because his teachings challenged the Roman Emperor Pontius Pilate and the Roman Government—they proclaimed Yeshua Ben Yosef “the King of the Jews” but Jesus said that’s is who they say I am. Jesus was eventually hanged along side a murderer and a thief. But as Masons who proclaimed to be students of the scriptures and uses these holy books throughout our rituals (where is our moral compass?)

But lack mercy and compassion by ignoring these principles when it comes to how we view the shortcomings of humanity; no doubt perhaps John G. Jones made some mistakes, but we are talking about something that occurred over one hundred years ago, but here lies the hypocrisy; we automatically forgave our white Masonic Brothers who for over two centuries openly viewed Prince Hall Masonry as ‘irregular’. Some of this history was covered in Joseph Walkes book titled 'Black Square and Compass: 200 Years of Prince Hall Masonry' it is a Prince Hall Masonic staple and is considered a must read for PHA Masons. It was actually written as a rebuttal and refute (anti-thesis) to the so-called errors made in a book titled, "Official History of Freemasonry Among the Colored People in North America' by Wm. H. Grimshaw in which many Prince Hall scholars maintain that Grimshaw (an early PHA historian) distorted some of the historical facts and his scholarly credibility has been brought into question. Walkes’ work corrected these errors and half-truths that were presented as being factual by Grimshaw. Walkes also spearheaded the Prince Hall Phylaxis Society (the research arm of PHA).

Jesus (Yeshua Ben Yosef) ministry was rooted in love and it is one of the most often mentioned words in the New Testament. We came through the lodge quasi naked, bear and empty and could not even deposited any materialism/metal i.e. gold or silver or any currency of monetary value into the archives of lodge on our own behalf because we entered by being divested of all metallic substance. But someone vouched and openly offered on behalf of a destitute brother some monetary substance; you were not in a position that you could even see who offered up something of monetary value on your behalf.  Although, they appeared to be strangers and it was also to teach you that you have a greater responsibility and a charge to take whatever substances that the Grand Architect of the Universe has blessed you with and use it for the greater good of uplifting fallen humanity). It was also to teach us that throughout our lives we will encounter social, political and economic distress and will have to depend on others at some point for a helping hand and for assistance—how long is your cabletow? Yet, when we entered and in our most vulnerable state someone showed us brotherly love and friendship in which more importantly someone came to our rescue and this allowed for us to continue our journey of circumambulation (our guide insured us that no danger would come to us because our faith and trust was rooted in God).

I do not think that John G. Jones committed an unpardonable sin and he should forever be left in the abyss to burn in Masonic hell without ever revisiting this matter and issuing a formal resolution to end this historical dispute, if nothing else for the sake of black Masonic unity—we perhaps could argue the right and wrong pertaining to Brother Jones' history until the cows come home. However, if we can sit down with white Masons who for over 200 years openly practiced discrimination, segregation and racism against Prince Hall Mason and falsely labeled PHA as ‘clandestine’ and ‘irregular’ in which many of these white Grand Lodges jurisdictions were initially opposed to granting Prince Hall Masons the status of ‘regular’ Masonry, but lets be clear Prince Hall did not need the white Masons approval in the United States of America because of their longevity and possessing a legitimate Masonic Warrant from a traveling Irish Military Lodge in the 18^th Century. I am a member of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of North Carolina and its jurisdictions.

I can remember these ‘Negroes’ every year would have Grand Lodge sessions in Winston Salem, North Carolina and for many years the sitting Grand Master would openly put forth a resolution of Masonic recognition in support of the white Ancient Free and Accepted Masons (headquartered in Raleigh, NC off of Glenwood Avenue) and extend an olive branch of goodwill to their white Masonic counterpart. They often voted and accepted the white Ancient Free and Accepted Masons as a ‘regular’ body of Masons and issued formal statements of recognition. And, perhaps every year a few weeks after the Prince Hall Grand Lodge session the white Ancient Free and Accepted Masons held their Grand Lodge Session and each year they added to their agenda a resolution to accept black Prince Hall Masons as a legitimate and a ‘regular’ body of Masons within the State of North Carolina and each year up until recently the white Masons voted the resolution down and lacked the votes to grant PHA full Masonic recognition status (reference: Fahim A. Knight-El  http://fahimknightsworld.blogspot.com/2007/11/let-there-be-light-there-is-no.html .

The Raleigh “News and Observer” newspaper often after the white Ancient Free and Accepted Masons downward vote year-after-year, this medium would dramatize the event by writing and publishing something like White Masons and Black Masons still remain divided and segregated after one hundred thirty-eight (138) years; thus, for some Prince Hall Masons in North Carolina this was demoralizing because in the ex- slaves minds they had bought into the idea as a body of Masons on their recognition being approved by white Masons, which was to them an essential component to being viewed as ‘legitimate Masons’ (surely Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the father of Black History Month and author of the book titled, “The Mis-Education of the Negro” is turning over in his grave).

However, in October 2008, North Carolina white Ancient Free and Accepted Masons casted a vote of 642-328 finally recognizing Prince Hall Masons as a ‘regular’ body of Masons in North Carolina (if the truth be told they had to changed the voting rules to invite these ‘Negroes’ into the House but the staunch AF&AM racist did not want to forge this relationship). Some of these Negroes in my jurisdiction was yelling halleluiah and crying tears of joy because their ex-slave master’s children officially invited them into the house (many of them were already ‘House Negroes' and you should make no mistake about me because I am proud to be a ‘Field Negro’). The white Masons then invited these Negroes to the NC State Capitol grounds for an official announcement and recognition or some official recognition luncheon (Negro Masons at the State Capitol appeared to be proud hugging and kissing their white Masonic Brothers and for many of them for the first time as black Masons they felt whole) What a shame. I did not see fit to allow some white southern Confederates who wears the Masonic emblem of Square and Compass to erase 138 years of white supremacy and segregation to give me some fried chicken, a butter biscuit and some molasses along with a slice of watermelon and this was suppose to alleviate the practice of Masonic racism. No, I did not go to Raleigh to celebrate with my oppressor. I as a Prince Hall Mason stood as the lone dissenting voice of opposition. I told my Worshipful Master hell no; I was not going.

These Negroes did not even ask for a formal apology (they were just happy to now be called a 'regular' body of Masons by white Masons and in their minds nothing else mattered); they were too happy to be accepted by the devil and forgave the white Masons for their racist practices. Yet, John G. Jones is not entitled to some leniency—or forgiveness these ‘Negroes’ did not blink an eye in forgiving the white Masons for 138 years of practicing hatred and bitterness that caused irreparable damage to Prince Hall Masons reputation that ultimately affected the image and impacted how they were viewed nationally and internationally by other Masonic jurisdictions—their segregation was rooted in the history of white classism and white privilege. Jones was not involved in denying black Masons the right to be seen and treated as an upright man and perhaps many of these white Confederate Masons in North Carolina had ancestors who lynched black men and owned slave plantations in North Carolina and even had ties to the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klans, but we found forgiveness in our hearts to exonerate them for committing the greatest crime ever committed against humanity, which was white North Carolinians involvement in Chattel Slavery.

Our quest is to acquire the knowledge of self (this was denied to us for 310 years). But remember for decades and centuries racism existed inside of our great institution of Freemasonry in the United States (the fraternity of brotherly love). Prince Hall and 15 other Black men may have been initiated and raised by an Irish Military Lodge in 1784, but the fight for equal Masonic Brotherhood with their White counterparts in the United States has always been a struggle. The mindset of White Supremacy has always saw people of African descent as not being their biological, racial and culture equal. The fight for Black Masons to get formal recognition has been ongoing for over 200 years because of this mindset. Still in 2014, as I write this article nine (9) southern states still have not recognized Prince Hall Masonry as a legitimate body of Freemasons; this polarity has left some historical bitterness between White Freemasons and Black Prince Hall Masons in this country. Now, that is not to say that their hasn't been some sincere efforts on some White Masons part to eradicate these false and artificial barriers and to pursue a unified brotherhood. So how do you make man whole in which the U.S. Constitution classified us as being 3/5 of a human being (sub-human)? And most of all taught and espoused that we came from the dark continent of Africa who so-called made no worthwhile contribution to human civilization. It perhaps hasn't been but about fifteen years that Prince Hall Masons finally received recognition from the United Grand Lodge of England and even this was somewhat conditional.

So this is where I find the likes of Brother Hairston and other Prince Hall Masons lacking in moral judgment (slavery created a new Negro, one who loves his master more than he loves his self and his own people), but even their positions is often rooted in the Willie lynch syndrome and self-hatred is forever occurring in a people who were robbed of the knowledge of self and kind, in particular when we can sit down with our open enemies, but cannot sit down with our brothers to seek ways that we can unify and rectify a one hundred (100) year old disagreement and rift (This is the epitome of hypocrisy). We know that John G. Jones was a suspended and excommunicated former Prince Hall Grand Lodge representative from the State of Illinois and many of us one hundred (100) years later are still stuck right there and refuse to seek atonement and reconciliation.

For example, throughout the history of so-called African Americans, we have witness black churches and black organizations split, fratricide, splinter and divide itself based on doctrine and dogma and/or over money, titles, materialism, etc., in which often these divisions are driven by super egos. African Methodist Episcopal Church and African Methodist Episcopal Zion (I do not think Richard Allen and Absalom Jones could have anticipated how the pervasiveness of these present day black religious contradictions have gotten out of control) and we have witness various religious denominations (Catholic Church versus Protestant Church—Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation; he wrote the 95 thesis) have outright physical and legal fights have ensued where two Christian congregations are at war; yet when the dispute clears often both aggrieved parties still professes to be Christian and are allowed to have all the rights and privileges to function under the banner of being a legitimate Christian church.

Some historians maintain that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975) and Master Fard Muhammad (1877-?) were both students of the Marcus Garvey's Movement and some believe that they definitely were part of Noble Drew Ali’s (1886-1929) Moorish Science Temple of America (they refer to Elijah Muhammad as Elijah Poole-Bey) in which the Nation of Islam, Universal Negro Improvement Association and the Moorish Science Temple have had these quasi ongoing disputes of how these groups and leaders were formulated (it appears we tend to always lend more credibility to the so-called parent organization). This argument between Prince Hall Affiliated Masonry and John G. Jones as I have stated above is over one hundred (100) years old and it is evident that John G. Jones affiliated lodges have been around for over a century and it looks like they are not going anywhere. I think most of my Prince Hall Masonic brothers are a bit emotional about who should be considered “clandestine” and “regular” Freemasons and this stifles the quest for a real debate and it only allows the argument to fester.  

I therefore standby the fact that there should be some unbiased and objective dialogue between Prince Hall Masons and other non-Prince Hall Freemasonic orders in order to establish a covenant and/or if nothing else a memorandum of understanding—but to ignore other Freemasonic Orders, it only demonstrates and represents a level of immaturity on our part. These steps can occur in increments before moving towards full recognition. I have known old court cases that were adjudicated under U.S. Jurisprudence in which our legal system allows for us to overturn convictions, grant clemency, pardon and commute sentences—this is fundamental to our democracy. But I guess this should never be applied to John G. Jones and many of these Prince Hall Masons leading this negative charge are Christians.

“Mackey’s Jurisprudence of Freemasonry” was written in the 1850s by Albert Mackey and although Robert I. Clegg (1927) and later Louis Blakemore (1953) has revised this book, it is still a book of interpretation and a work in progress (more of a living document) as the Masonic scholar Allen E. Roberts (author of the book titled, “The Craft and Its Symbols”) who was partial to defraying Masonic jurisprudence and law to ones particular Masonic jurisdiction. We should not be threatened by other non-Prince Hall Masons and it would be wise to take notice of all the historical legal battles and hurdles that Prince Hall Masons had to overcome in the United States of America in order to be viewed and accepted as a legitimate body of black Freemasons—although, most of their struggles were rooted in combating racism and white supremacy. It still behooves me how we can be so insensitive to other Masons and their struggles.

We cannot change what took place over 100 years ago, but we have the ability to impact the present and the future by being good stewards of the Masonic ship. My wife purchased a book titled, “How to Forgive, When You Can’t” by Jim Dincalci and this book enlightened me to the power of forgiveness. It is incumbent for us black Masons to take the necessary steps to unify and move forward in the spirit of brotherly love and move away from these sectarian disputes and arguments about who should be labeled clandestine or regular Masons.  

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

          

MOORISH AMERICAN SOVEREIGNTY: MYTH OR REALITY?

                      MOORISH AMERICAN SOVEREIGNTY: MYTH OR REALITY?

By Fahim A. Knight-El

 

 

I keep my Black’s Law Dictionary close by me at all times and it serves as my top legal reference book. So I wanted to start this discussion of Moors and Sovereignty with defining and looking at the term Sovereignty. Sovereignty: “is the quality of having an independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make laws that rests on a political fact for which no pure legal definition can be provided. James Bryce in the book “Studies in History and Jurisprudence” stated: It is well {distinguish} the senses in which the word Sovereignty is used. In the ordinary popular sense it means Supremacy, the right to demand obedience. Although the idea of actual power is not absent, the prominent idea is that of some sort of title to exercise control. An ordinary layman would call that person (or body of persons) Sovereign in a State who is obeyed because he is acknowledged to stand at the top, whose will must be expected to prevail, who can get his own way, and make others go his way, because such is the practice of the country. Etymologically the word of course means merely superiority, and familiar usage applies it in monarchies to the monarch, because he stands first in the State, be his real great or small.” (Black’s Law Dictionary 7^th Edition)

I was led to write this brief article because a long time personal friend named Minister Ray Muhammad who joined the Nation of Islam in Baltimore, Maryland as a member of Muhammad’s Mosque # 6 under the leadership of Minister Louis Farrakhan. Brother Ray Muhammad who I would consider for many years being a Farrakhan loyalist and had served as minister over Muhammad’s Mosque #34 in Durham and had also been a member and registered Muslim in the Nation of Islam since 1980. It was Minister Ray Muhammad’s early work in the Mid-Atlantic region and in the south that laid the present day groundwork in this region of the country for the Nation of Islam to be successful today; preaching and teaching Islam in small rural cities such as Greenville, South Carolina, Fayetteville, North Carolina, Kings Mountain, NC, Charlotte, North Carolina, Raleigh, NC, Dunn, North Carolina, Henderson, North Carolina, Greenville, North Carolina, Rocky Mount, North Carolina, etc. He called it pushing the program and given the people the life given teachings; this brother paid a price to assist Minister Louis Farrakhan in the early work of rebuilding Nation of Islam after Imam Warith Deen Mohammed destroyed the good work of his father, the Messenger of Allah. Perhaps a few years ago Minister Ray Muhammad and I, along with some other brothers was having dinner at Select Seafood (black owned restaurant) in Durham, North Carolina and he started talking about issues relating to Moorish/Aboriginal/ Native Americans Sovereignty.

I listened very tentatively because this was a new spin coming from Minister Ray Muhammad and somewhat a quasi departure from Farrakhan’s line. Although, Farrakhan’s teacher Elijah Muhammad taught separation and called for some territory or land that we can call our own inside the United States or outside country. Minister Farrakhan is fully aware of the Moorish arguments, but like most charismatic leaders his followers have to be nurtured and spoon fed—many will never be prepared to take the next step. The ideas that Minister Muhammad was conveying led him to be very excited and no doubt I saw it in his eyes that he believed in the validity of this new insight which he had come to embrace. However, me knowing him, it appeared to have been a new awaken and definitely a slightly different course in his political and social development—and he was testing these theories out amongst some of his closes comrades in Durham. The conversation was not necessarily the making of strange bed fellows i.e., the Nation of Islam and the Moorish Science Temple have historical roots and there are some theological intertwines between the two organizations (some historians maintain that the Moorish Science Temple of America, which was founded by Prophet Noble Drew Ali in 1913 in Newark, New Jersey was the forerunner organization to the Nation of Islam). Yet, I did not know, if Muhammad knew that I had personally evolved to another level and had made a mental paradigm shift long before this meeting and this is why I was open to these views because I had already expanded my Third Eye (Reference: Essien-Udom Black Nationalism: A Search for an Identity in America).  

    

I have over the years received a lot of emails from various Moors and/or Moorish sympathizers who identified with some aspect of the Moorish Science doctrine. Many of them often baffled me because they have this faint idea about proclaiming a declaration of Sovereignty in which a number of legal issues ranging from citizenship to reinterpreting the United States Constitution is on the table for discussion. Many also believe that United States Courts have no jurisprudence over them and pursuant to their sovereign status courts have a legal obligation to exempt those of Moorish ancestral from standing trial in U.S. criminal and civil courts. Some have even invoked diplomatic immunity status (and believe that the U.S. Courts have no jurisdiction to adjudicate over them as a sovereign Moorish Individual and their cases should be handled no different than an international diplomat). These arguments are too complicated for me to decipher and I do not want to appear judgmental because their arguments are rooted in a legitimate historical paradigm that qualifies Africans (or Asiatics, Moors, so-called American Negroes, etc.) for rightly due repatriation which should involve the rights to African descendents (Moors) to determine whether or not they wanted be an American citizen, reparations (blacks never received their 40 acres and mule promised after slavery)—their sense of entitlement is rooted in the devastation, brutality and dehumanization carried out by the evil system of Chattel Slavery which systematically cut off their heritage and culture linkages to Africa.

The Sovereign Moors justify their legal position based on the wording of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1857 Dred Scott ruling, which described black people as “beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations, and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.” And it is this impetus that drives Africans in the Western Hemisphere and their pursuit of attempting to finding a nationality. I as a so-called black man who is one of the descendents of slavery, and as I stated above, I find myself very sympathetic to this cause. But here is the problem that Chattel Slavery left us with and the insurmountable damage heaped on those who now are left to bear this burden; there were very few official records kept on slaves and even the first U.S. Census in 1790, which was implemented some two hundred and thirty-five (235) years after the advent of slavery. They only listed African slaves as property under the slave masters’ family heading and often only by first names and by gender, which most details relating to the slaves were scarce —this tragedy still haunts even the possibility of people of the African descendents who have been scattered throughout Diaspora to truly find their lost ancestors. (Reference: Paul Finkelman; “Slavery in the Courtroom: An Annotated Bibliography of American Cases”).

It has been this tragedy that has led to many Black Nationalist and Pan-Africanist organizations (and Race Leaders) and black leaders for over the last four centuries putting forth various racial philosophies pertaining to a people who were totally stripped of every conceivable thread that linked them to their original lands, culture, religions, language, tribal origins, etc. This left a historical void and various Moorish organizations have always sort to connect the so-called American Negro to the biblical history of the ancient Canaanites and Moabites and has proclaimed that black people were the lost and original descendents of the ancient Moors. Some of their critics would view this contention as nothing, but a romanticized and an exaggerated view of history that lacks real evidence or proof that African Americans are descendents of ancient Moabites.

Many Moors have been falsely accused of  trying to find ways to exploit this history by so-called unjustly denouncing the legitimacy of the United States Government and all of its legal and political entities (they see the U.S. Government as a corporation and Moors have the right not to enter into contractual agreements with the government unless you give up your sovereign individual rights) of being in violation to act as the legitimate governing body over their rights as members of the historical sovereign aborigines (they have treaties signed between Morocco and the United states as documentation proclaim themselves as Free Moors). They further believe that by law they should be exempted and exonerated from the Internal Revenue Service (taxation without representation is tyranny and the establishment of the Federal Reserve and the IRS is bogus as well as being unconstitutional) and challenges the U.S. Government’s ability to legally enforce the 16^th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and/or even having the authority to mandate that Moorish citizens pay Federal and State income taxes to an outlaw government.  They also view how home mortgages are notlegally binding and question civil law versus martial law; they fall outside of the avoidance and evasion laws in which they share this view with white Sovereign advocates (Patriot Movement) in the United States of America. Yet, by me knowing the history of Cointelpro—I know that the U.S. Government has sent agent provocateurs to infiltrate, disrupt, spy and eavesdrop on all facets of the Moorish Science Temple leadership, in particular the Moors who advocates sovereignty.  

I was instructed to listen to Brother Yahudah (LD Belton-El Bey)—this Brother articulates better than some well trained attorneys that have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to attend and be educated at Yale or Harvard University Law Schools and I must say his level of breaking down U.S. Federal Statues and redefining legal terms under Moorish legal Codes was astounding and convincing—if his message was truly reaching the black masses, it would without a doubt jolt the thinking of African Americans and perhaps lead them to draw the conclusion that there is some thing much more sinister and complex in which the U.S. Government desire to keep us ignorant by constantly feeding us propaganda and disinformation by using the mass media to negatively taint this issue and systematically derailing our efforts to tie ourselves to a legitimate nationality as being the true descendents of the ancient Moors (Muur—Moroccans and Mauritians—lets be clear I am not referring to the present day light skinned imposter Arabs and Berbers who occupies these African lands today).  The original Moors were very dark skinned aboriginal people in which they reigned from the Maghreb region deep down into what is deemed Sub-Sahara Africa. (Reference: Bandele Yobachi El-Amin; “Moor's, Moabite and Man: Reflection and Redemption”).

But I am not totally convinced that the Sovereign argument will ever hold up in United States Federal Courts and this is why you have seen petitions, writs and legal motions denied relative to Moors seeking to use this status as a defense. There was a lot the Sovereign Moors could have learned from the experiences of Minister Silis Muhammad CEO of the Lost-Found Nation of Islam headquartered out of Atlanta, Georgia and Attorney Harriett AbuBakr who started in 1998 doing yeoman’s work in the United Nations. Minister Silis Muhammad and his legal team eventually received audiences from the United Nations Human Rights Commission in particular, dealing with the question of reparations for so-called African Americans who he claimed were victims of ethnocide, genocide, forced assimilation and institutionalized racism for over 400 years. (Reference: Silis Muhammad; “Reparations petition for United Nations assistance under Resolution 1503 (XLVIII) on behalf of African-Americans in the United States of America).

Chattel slavery left the so-called black man and woman of America with the historical inability to trace their family lineage beyond the 1800s (prior to this time large scale plantation slave records were not recorded on black slaves; although some of the early U.S. Census reports do list slaves in some detail described as property). These crimes has led us to being semi-vagabonds on the earth who are constantly in search of an identity and nationality—when you rob a people of their land, names, God, culture and heritage, etc., and declare it illegal to identify with our native tongue and tribes this has left us forever in search of a long lost heritage. Many of us find comfort under the banner of Islam, Moor, Hebrew Israelite, etc., these religious and nationality labels are a direct result of the affects of Chattel Slavery. Minister Silis Muhammad was doing some very interesting work on the level of the United Nations in the areas of human rights. But he initially was met with many legal obstacles because blacks, Negroes, Afro American, African Americans, Colored people, etc., had no legal or recognized identity in which would allow our grievances to be heard on the United Nations level. He had to declare us under the collective nationality/racial designation and classification of ‘Afro-descendants’ in order to be even heard by this august body which to move his human rights case forward. (Reference: Ida Hakim; Reparations: The Cure For America’s Race Problem”).

I personally see this as an uphill battle and I think that the history of Chattel Slavery (1555-1865) definitely left a scattered and somewhat landless people in dire need to reclaim their sovereignty and all other rights pertaining to the victims and lost descendents of the greatest crime ever committed against humanity. So this historical criminal act left over 100 million so-called Africans who were stolen and sold into the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Middle Passage—displaced from the continent of Africa (Nubian lands) as wandering and roaming nomads. But some scholars maintain that the Nubian people had settled on what is called the continent of North America may-be anywhere from 16,000 years to 30,000 years prior to Caucasian and European expeditions and the indigenous people were also in Central and South America and had established advance societies. Dr. Ivan Sertima wrote about this in his monumental book titled, “They Came Before Columbus: African Presences in Early America”, there is now plenty of historical evidence that substantiate this as being valid and credible. 

Some even claim that modern America is a geographical extension of the lost continent of Atlantis. It is also believed that the Moors were master cartographers and maritime voyagers who had been sailing across the Atlantic Ocean long before the Spanish and the Portuguese—Christopher Columbus (aka Christabul Colon) actually was using Moorish maps that were confiscated after Moors met their decline in Europe; some time after conquering and influencing European societies from the Mediterranean Sea up to the borders of Southern France (8th Century to 15th Century) these travel expedition routes which were established by the Moors were confiscated and stolen by European nations—later used to exploit and disrupt the harmony and Peace of the so-called ‘New World’. No doubt, Ferdinand and Isabella (Spain) and Jewish money changers used the Moors seafaring expertise to so-called venture into the 'New World'.  (Reference: Stanley Lane-Poole, “The Story of the Moors in Spain”) and (Reference: John Henrik Clarke: Christopher Columbus and the Afrikan Holocaust: Slavery and the Rise of European Capitalism).

The question of indigenous people sovereignty actually has a legal precedent (For example: Native Americans have won some quasi rights to sovereignty inside the U.S. and conduct custom and tribal affairs as an independent nation, although many of the set aside reservations are deplorable—however, their laws and courts are recognized by the United States Government). Now, why cannot this same legal standard be applied to people of African descent or Moorish descent; some social scientist would view this as a stretch because Africans who were enslaved came from every corner of Africa and was not considered one unified racial/ethnic homogenous society of people; unless you have sought to identify the entire continent of Africa as being of Moorish descendants. But the original inhabitants of those who settled in the Western Hemisphere are not without legal challenge because of how the United States jurisprudence system was set up, which was rooted in the legal terms of white supremacy and racism. (Reference: Bandele Yobachi El-Amin; “Moorish/Muurish Treaties: Guide to Treaties and Declarations”).

 The United States Constitution, itself wrote people of African descent (Moors) in as being 3/5 of a human being—subhuman (no rights that were bound to uphold or respected by the Caucasian); yet here is a nation of people under the Shaykamaxum Atlan Amexem Empire, Jabbar Gaines-El, Taji Tarik Bey and sister Queen Renita Bey of an organization called Great Seal Moors directing our attention to laws, statues and has even filed litigation and grievances to be recognized and viewed as a Sovereign nation based on nationality/racial/ethnic, etc., claiming to be descendants of people that had established original landlord rights and operated under a judicial system that predated the U.S. Constitution. Queen Renita Bey: argues that as descendants of “visiting” Europeans who were never granted citizenship by the Moors, white people can never be sovereign in this land. “If they want to be sovereign, they’ve got to go home. They cannot be sovereign here.”

The indigenous tribal people had also established a complex system of spirituality, culture, folkways, dispersed justice and functioned as a sovereign independent nation before the white robber barons arrived—through military force and diseases wiped out almost entire nations of North American Asiatics. However, the aboriginals (native Americans) did not have the challenges that the so-called African Americans (or Africans) have been faced with, which is legally trying to prove that they are direct blood lineages from the ancient Moors and this kinship ties us directly to U.S. territories that have been stolen, illegally confiscated and has been erroneously seized (initially by external colonialist and imperialist forces) under forfeiture laws established in federal courts and state courts by imposters who have established a shadow government (now in existence for over 250 years) sort of function under the false pretense of 'legitimacy'.

I am of the opinion that the Moorish fight for sovereignty and argument for a recognized nationality first needed to be fought in the United Nations—by bringing our case to the Human Rights Commission and having a seasoned legal team to establish a recognized nationality where by the those that were forcibly brought against their will and was enslaved for 310 years desire to make a legal petition in which this people who now represents 40-60 million would first move this body to declare the right for these people to once again to be recognized as a sovereign nation classified as indigenous Moors. Therefore, once the legal question of nationality is resolved then we make another legal motion to make these victims whole via reparations and repatriating these indigenous Moors back on land and property that had been illegally stolen. Also, allow the case to be presented in the legal framework and codes of the Shaykamaxum Atlan Amexem Empire and/or other indigenous sovereign entities existing inside the United States of America. The challenge is huge.  

         

I have watched Youtube clips of Taj Tarik Bey and he to put forth some convincing arguments as well, relative to the question of Moorish Sovereignty. There is brother named Dr. Ali Muhammad (I stopped taking him and the likes of Brother Sara Suten Seti and Brother Polight serious—well read brothers who are using knowledge as a showboat to create an intellectual brand for themselves—their various debates and techniques are sicken) who has done a two part lecture titled, "The Science of Law and Commerce" in which historically they believe that we are part indigenous people as Moors (African Americans) and we share a legal/ethnic lineage with the Native Americans (who the United States recognize them as a sovereignty entity inside of America) and in the 1700s Morocco was the first nation to formally recognize United States sovereignty from Great Britain. There were legal treaties signed between the Moors and the United States Government that granted the Moors citizenship within citizenship and they were granted rights and privileges as a sovereign and legal nationality within the United States of America.

President Woodrow Wilson officially recognized the Moorish Science Temple of America (MSTA) as a legal incorporated entity and accepted the Moorish Americans as a legitimate nationality bound by the rights and privileges bestowed to other independent people of the earth. The Moorish Science members were giving nationality cards and this ensured them that they were not just Negroes, Ethiopians, Colored men, Blacks, Africans, etc., but they had a nationality that the United States Government agreed to recognize. Lets me be clear the Moorish Science Temple Grand Sheik, Brother R. Jones Bey (leader within the Moorish Science Temple founded by Prophet Noble Drew Ali in 1913) has made it perfectly clear that his movement does not support the Moorish Sovereignty sects that exist inside America. Many sovereign Moors have opted out of getting state drivers licenses and there are universal documents that act like a passport, driver’s licenses and even appear to have some type of diplomatic immunity associated with this new set of identification which comes under certain legal positioning associated with the concept of sovereignty. I think you can have a dual citizenship (Jewish-Israelis often have both citizenship in United States and Israel) and based on states rights—license plates and drivers license are so-called unconstitutional under certain state laws according to Moorish jurisprudence, but this is rooted in their rejection of the 14^th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Let me stop here because I am not an expert on this matter, it is really outside of my realm and to complicated for me to explain.

However, I think the biggest challenge to the Moorish Sovereignty movements and ideas will be having to confront the various levels of reactionaries laws and policies that have been implemented by the office of Homeland Security, which many of the old and new agencies have unprecedented powers and authority to scrutinize the American people without due cause. The concept of Sovereignty threatens the very nature of how the three Branches of Government were intended to be established and quite sure the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Secret Service, Federal and State Prosecutors, State Police, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement etc., have been working overtime in order to determine if the Black Nationalist Moorish organizations are involved in any subversive activities that potentially undermines the United States Government. They have the United States Patriot Act, National Defense Authorization Act, Military Commission Act, Anti-Terrorism Bill, etc., legislation in place to combat even the perception of the Sovereign movement committing treason or sedition.

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