Georgia freemasons at loggerheads over admission of black man to lodge

The Guardian ^ | 03 July 2009 | Chris McGreal

[BGHater]

• 26-year-old African American admitted to Atlanta lodge • Issue headed for Masonic trial and state courts

There is much about Freemasonry that remains shrouded in mystery to the outside world. But a group of members in the US state of Georgia appear to have clarified one thing - the supreme being in which all Masons are required to believe is not likely to be black.

Freemasonry lodges in Georgia are at loggerheads over the admission of a "non-white" member to an organisation that was founded on the principles of the Enlightenment but which is apparently still struggling to catch up with the latter part of the 20th century.

Now the issue is headed for a Masonic trial and the state courts after some lodges in Georgia sought to revoke the charter of one in Atlanta for admitting Victor Marshall, a 26-year-old African-American army reservist, last autumn.

The Atlanta lodge has fought back in the state courts by seeking to block the move on the grounds that is based on "racial animosity and hatred".

The row blew up after Marshall attended a celebration in Savannah in February to mark the 275th anniversary of a lodge in the city. Although there are other Masons of colour in Georgia, including Asians and Hispanics, some members were disturbed to encounter a black man and laid a complaint that he did not belong.

"There were ill-informed brethren who were surprised that there was an African-American brother," David Llewellyn, a Freemason and lawyer for the Atlanta lodge, told the New York Times, "and some of them were very upset".

The stipulations to join the Masons are that members must be male, not slaves, of good character and have faith in a supreme being but no mention is made of racial origin.

[the invisib1e hand]

what, no satire tag?

[BGHater]

Come on, not everyday do you see, loggerhead in a title not involving a turtle.

[FlingWingFlyer]

LOL!

[TheThirdRuffian]

Wow, what a bunch of jackasses.

Race is SO not an issue in NM grand lodge.

[70th Division]

Nor in Michigan. What a bunch of clowns. We party with our brothers. Race is just not an issue. Content of their heart not the color of their skin. Ya I’m a brother.

[omega4179]

I wonder how many Skull n Bones are teh Blackz.

[narses]

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[DieHard the Hunter]

Is it clear from this that the Georgia lodge objects to this particular member because he is black? Or are there other grounds? Is it his “blackness” that is at issue?

[AppyPappy]

There are black lodges in the South.

[George from New England]

Are the “black lodges” Black-Only groups?

[kalee]

In the small town where I live in NC. There are 2 separate lodges, one white and one black.

[AppyPappy]

Yes. Blacks only.

I was in a “white” fraternity in college. When we started initiating black members, the black fraternities complained that we were stealing their members. It was made worse when one of our black members was elected school president.

[spetznaz]

It depends ...in Edmond, Oklahoma, the lodge there once blackballed a friend of mine (who was a white American) because he had a black girlfriend. Next year, another friend of mine (this time an Indian Kenyan ...which is ironic considering what happened the year before) managed to get accepted. The year after that, even after being told that they had become more enlightened (read: less dumb), I decided to approach another lodge. My Indian-Kenyan friend had told me that they had changed, but I couldn’t bring myself to waste time at the particular lodge. I am exceedingly happy where I am.

[personalaccts]

I was raised in Va no issue. Members of our lodge even visit the Prince Hall lodge in DC

[JoeProBono]

"Most Worshipful Brother F. Ray Jackson, Grand Master of Masons in Georgia, sir:

What about Georgia? When will the Grand Lodge of Georgia accept black Masons as Masons?

When will we overcome the shackles of our own minds and actually live up to the Masonic tenets of the Brotherhood of All Mankind?

When will the rest of the Masonic world stop laughing at what they think of (and rightly so) as the good ol' redneck racist boys down south?

I and countless other Masons in good standing call upon you, the "elected" leader of Masons in Georgia, to stop the racism. Don't hide behind the supposed need for committees and discussions and votes at some Grand Lodge communication five years from now. If you can excommunicate Masons with the stroke of a pen like you and your predecessor Bro. Garner did last year with his edict, you, sir, can recognize Prince Hall Masons with a simple edict as well.

Yeah, many Georgia Masons will be unhappy. Some may even hate you for it. Some may fume and fret and threaten to never attend Blue Lodge again. So what?"

[70th Division]

I will tell you, here in Michigan one of the few things we got going for us is that the Okemos lodge has reached out through out the state. We are best friends with the Detroit lodge and we party often. I have a brother who traveles the state. And when he arrives he looks up a lodge. And when he leaves he is a friend and brother. That IS and what is SHOULD be. PERIOD. Ya, I am a Masonic brother.

[LongElegantLegs]

Loggerheads were iron tools used to heat pitch. Pitch, as in ‘pitch black’. OMG RACIST!!!

[SQUID]

I’m starting my own lodge of Free and Accepted General Contractors. We are way better than the plumbers and masons.

[PalmettoMason]

So Mote It Be, Joe!

I would like to issue the same challenge to the Grand Master of Masons here in South Carolina.