The G.A.O.T.U. The Grand Architects Of The Universe



The G.A.O.T.U.

The Grand Architects Of The Universe

*This appears in Chapter 11 "A.E.A.O.N.M.S vs. A.A.O.N.M.S" of my book Eyes Wide Shut: The Science of Secret Societies:

Since the late 1700's, 1784 to be exact, to this day, the legitimacy of Black Freemasonry and Shriners has been legally challenged by White Freemasons and Shriners on a State and Federal level here in America. In many cases these legal challenges were upheld in a court of law and these white Freemasons or Shriners were able to successfully get injunctions against blacks from using their constitution, names/titles, rituals, emblems, constitution and regalia publicaly or privately in what became commonly known among Freemasonry as black "clandestine" [fraudulent] masons, lodges and Shriner temples. For example, on June 3rd, 1929 the Texas Supreme Court decided that the Negro [Black] "Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine of North and South America and its Jurisdictions" [A.E.A.O.N.M.S] were biting the White "Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine for North America." Even though this suit began in 1918 in Texas, it had grown to restrain and prevent blacks from imitating white temples throughout the entire United States. It was eventually decreed by the court that the A.E.A.O.N.M.S were restrained from using their name, any other name or distinctive words which can be considered a colorable imitation of the [white] Shiners.  It was also decreed that blacks couldn't use the words "temple" or "shrine", wear or display as an insignia or emblems of membership of any society or organization, corporate or otherwise, any of the emblems, insignia, paraphernalia, badges, jewels or head-covering, etc., which can be considered a colorable imitation of the [white] Shiners.   Since [white] American Freemasons colonial beginning and their [white] Shriner 1872 inception, there are literally hundreds of legal cases against blacks who have strived to 'freely' set up their own lodges and temples or be 'accepted' into white lodges and temples; the irony of being Free and Accepted, huh? There are also various legal cases of black Freemasons and Shriners taking other black Freemasons and Shriners for the same damn reasons: check out the case of Prince Hall Grand Lodge vs. the John A. Bell Grand Lodge.

Yes many blacks argue that Prince Hall, a black Freemason did it first when he got permission to set up African Lodge No. 459 in North America via a charter from Fredrick, Duke of Cumberland, Grand Master of the Most Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Ancient Masons on September 29, 1784. This was prior to George Washington and his working class cronies getting a charter from England. Yeah I've even heard the argument that black Shriners technically did it first because white Shriners were only a voluntary 'unincorporated' association since the 1870's while blacks got legally incorporated in Illinois in 1893, then incorporated again after it was abandoned in 1901 as a fraternal and charitable association under the Act of Congress of May 5, 1870. I can see the legitimacy of these claims and the idea that whites don't possess the exclusive or superior right to use the constitution, names/titles, rituals, emblems, constitution and regalia of Freemasonry or Shriners. All of it is originally derived or falsified from first world people; the original fathers and mothers of civilization, and white Freemasons and Shriners cannot chronologically, genetically, geographically or archeologically stake claim to that. Yet it's also important to keep in mind that the legal courts these legitimacy cases are tried in, the color of law and their assessment that some of us seek validation from is the legal arm of a system and status quo that's dominantly controlled by whites. This control, in the form of nepotism and white privilege, has allowed America to historically and legally establish superior rights for some of its citizenry and an inferior status of Slavery, Indian Boarding Schools, Segregation, Japanese Internment Camps, Racial Profiling, Women's Suffrage and etc. for others. In other words, the same way you historically had people of color fighting, assimilating, imitating and trying to integrate to be acknowledged, validated and accepted by those sitting in a public judgment seat, you had people of color 'privately' fighting, assimilating and imitating and trying to integrate to be acknowledged, validated and accepted by those sitting in a private judgment seat. People seem to only talk about black people openly trying to integrate white movie theaters, hotels, restaurants, schools and etc. Naw, you also had a simultaneous secretive movement of black people trying to integrate white masonic lodges and various other exclusively white auxiliary organizations including the shrine. Here's the kicker: you oftentimes had various black leaders outwardly promoting segregation, black self reliance and presenting themselves as black nationalists who were already secret initiates or trying to be initiated into some masonic lodge or other auxiliary organization that's legally considered a colorable imitation of its white superior counterpart or beholden to a white superior governing body.

Learn more about this HERE!!

In this high time of #BlackLivesMatter activism and people of color positioning themselves to be socially conscious talking heads to bang on the system, all of this is very important to consider. Why? Because everybody is not who they say they are. This living contradiction amongst some people of color has been a consistent historical narrative here in America, or wherever you see colonialism around the globe. As a minority group in this capitalistic society, some of us measure success as individual accomplishment, how much money we can make and how high we can climb a social ladder and get close to those who print the capital and made the ladder. In the process, some of us, often secretly, join certain organizations, have certain associations, establish certain relationships and even change certain ideals in order to "so-called" be a part of the club. Don't get me wrong, ambition, having aspirations and setting goals is not negative in and of itself. There are many people I know who are doing very positive things personally and collectively. It's when people have no integrity or compromise their integrity to get money and ascend a social ladder when it becomes negative. At one point in time the black church, social clubs and Freemasonry were the only game in town. As much as was humanly possible, some of us used these platforms to do for self while striving to maintain our cultural integrity. Today, with the illusion of integration, many of these houses of worship, clubs and organizations are only a shell of their former self and holding people of color back more than healing and helping them. With the creation of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (OFBCI), changes in the law of how nonprofit organizations can legally operate and the modification of bylaws and unspoken membership rules/regulations of certain organizations, people of color who are not striving to do for self are even more beholden to the legal arm of a system and status quo that's still dominantly controlled by whites. What do I propose? Definitely not the attitude some of us have that, "If we can't beat them, lets join them -and use what hookups they got to succeed or bring knowledge to the lodge or temple and make it better." I know brothers who joined the lodge or temple with those idealistic intentions only to realize after the fact that 1.) So-called hookups are limited to when, how and if they choose to hook.., you.. up and 2.) You're not going to walk in and change an institution and ideology that's beholden to a white Masonic and Shriner tradition that's formally been in tact for a combination of over 400 years.  If our goal is genuinely cultural freedom then we must make choices to remove the vices and entanglements to anything that's restricts our ability to live our culture free. This means we must not join any organizations, have associations, forge relationships and even change certain ideals that will get us more entangled. That's like saying we're striving to save money to buy a house and then turning around buying a new car with a lease that's crippling our pockets. That's backwards. Some entanglements are more difficult to remove than others. Some people are striving to be more entrepreneurial and work for themselves, those are the employment entanglements they're dealing with. Others are investing in solar paneling or live off of the grid. Still others may be fighting addiction while others are figuring out ways to create a homeschooling consortium for their community. Whatever those entanglements may be, the struggle to free ourselves from them is worth it, don't you think?

Peace,

Saladin

Beyoncé: The Duchess of Viralshire

Beyoncé

The Duchess of Viralshire  

When Beyoncé broke the internet Super Bowl week with the release of her Formation video, Super Bowl Halftime Performance and Take My Hand, Precious Lord mini-documentary, two things primarily happened; people reacted and people responded. From Political Talking Heads, Barbershop Talk, 15 second Instagram Vloggers, Conspiracy Theorists, Conservatives and Entertainment Bloggers, everybody and they Momma had something to say, positively and negatively. On February 9th, one of my colleagues Salim Adofo, Vice-Chair of the NBUF [National Black United Front], shared this poignant thought via his Facebook Page which effectively summarizes the same perspective I share:

"You can have whatever critique of Beyoncé that you want to have. The fact is she has help to keep the conversation of Black Resistance alive and in the mainstream media for the time being. I see this as a teachable moment. I understand the power and influence a mega star like Beyoncé has and if an incorrect message is sent out, it could be very misleading. Beyoncé is going to do what she is going to do. I cannot control that. However what I can control are the elements of my own cipher. I just need to perform my duty as a civilized man and continue to teach freedom, justice and equality. This gives me another avenue to educate some one that I may have not been able to reach before." 

On a personal level, I like Beyoncé's business acumen, work ethic and of course her beauty and sex appeal. Above all, I enjoy seeing how she communicates the complex dimensions of a woman; it's a level of sophistication you oftentimes don't see. Many women, especially in mainstream entertainment, are one maybe two-dimensional. If they ooze sexuality, that's all you see and it may take them a lifetime to change that perception. If they're chronically single and about that turn-up lifestyle, they may never successfully transition into a wife or mother, even if they got married and had a child. Beyoncé is an archetype of a woman's multi-facets. She's able to successfully and seamlessly articulate a variety of a woman's dimensions, which are, yet definitely not limited to, a Mother, Diva, Daughter, Sister, Wife, Bonnie [partner of Clyde] Queen, Girlfriend, Round The Way Girl, Sexy/Erotic, Activist and etc. Beyoncé's most recent manifestation is the real Sasha Fierce; the archetypal Phoenix from the X-Men, Dr. Jean Grey's alter-ego and one of the most powerful mutants. If you understand the context in which Stan Lee created the X-Men, the correspondence of Professor X. to Martin Luther King Jr. and Magneto to Malcolm X., what I'm saying makes perfect sense. In my assessment, some of the women who don't like Beyoncé oftentimes dislike one of her dimensions. Sometimes it's the same dimension they have yet to manifest. In other words, some women who criticize Beyoncé about her sex appeal, don't have sex appeal. Not all women are like that, some are, and those who are express it on social media every day. Some women simply don't agree with Beyoncé publicly displaying her sex appeal and think she needs to be more modest, more like a Sade. I can understand that concern for her or any woman's safety and any thinking person should. America is historically misogynistic, chauvinistic, [white] patriarchal and much of its low-brow citizenry still openly objectify, oppress and brutalize females/women with impunity. I talked about some of these standards in my article Is Bill Cosby Innocent or Guilty? This concern for her or any woman's safety doesn't mean that I think women should wear scent neutral potato sacks to not set off the savages. It does mean that I think we need to work towards a paradigm shift in terms of better educating our young girls and boys about self respect and respect for each other. It also means that if we want to teach that respect we need to consistently demonstrate it in our everyday lives and help each other do the same. Some of us, men and women, are savages and aren't going to do anything about our level of respect. When this is the case, it's important for us to manage our children's expose to this and help insure this kind of mentality isn't poisoning the wishing well of our next generation. As our children become young adults, adults and then possibly parents, they will make their own decisions about what they agree and disagree with. For those of us who care, it is our job is to make sure that the legacy we're creating, and will ultimately leave behind, helps lead our future generations in the right direction.

In seeing events like Beyoncé's recent media storm, it all comes down to asking ourselves, "What are you going to do about it?" -regardless if we're Team Reaction or Team Responded. One of the things that I've always strongly advocated is to critique something with contributions. Everyone has an opinion yet everyone is not willing and able to offer anything above and beyond that opinion. That inactivity changes nothing, especially when that critique is negative, and that's a double whammy. Even if it's a positive critique, we can still do something above and beyond that opinion. For example, I like the Hip Hop artist Earl Sweatshirt who was a member of the group OFWGKTA. Not only are my critiques of his music generally positive, I literally support his brand; a took two youth to a concert, I exposed thousands of listeners to him by featuring his music on a Musicology Episode of my show Atlantis Build Talk Radio, and I purchased some of his music and merchandise. I may not like everything Earl Sweatshirt does but if I do, I support it, with more than an opinion. If I don't, and I publicly share that critique, I offer some contribution as an alternative. I likewise don't like everything Beyoncé does artistically yet there are some things I do. In 2013 I screened Bey's 'Life Is But A Dream' documentary for an International Woman's Day event I co-hosted and again in 2014 for 9-12 year old youth in my STYA Program. If you haven't seen the documentary I encourage you to check it out, it's very insightful and especially empowering for girls and women of color to see. 

Queen Cee, owner of Queen Dollylama

Seeing all of these critiques I contacted one of my sisters in Canada, Queen Cee, who among many other things she does as an artist/activist such as the Be-You-tiful Girls Club initiative, owns and operates a company called Queen Dollylama that creatively re-images dolls to give them a naturally unique, ethnic and artistic look. As there is a lacking of dolls that are Afrocentric, she also specializes in re-imaging dolls of color. My idea was to build upon the positive momentum of Beyoncé using part of her platform to project black consciousness and culture into the mainstream media and collaborate with Queen Cee to customize a collectors edition doll that reflects these ideals of black resistance, #blacklivesmatter, Black Panther homage and of course #Formation. When complete I'm going to do an online drawing and give it away to one of my supporters. I will be sharing the rules of how to enter the drawing via my Facebook Page and Twitter so if you're not connected with me via Facebook and Twitter you'll need to in order to stay informed. 

In doing this project I am demonstrating what it means to "critique something with contributions" and expose my subscribers to Queen Dollylama and the work Queen Cee has been doing for more than two decades to advocate positive cultural expressions of people, especially women, of color. Events like Beyoncé breaking the internet will continue to be landmark moments within the chronology of our people that shapes the humanity geography of this world, whether we like it or not. The bottom line is we must be mindful of our position of power to consistently control this narrative. Not with an opinion, with contributions that are purposeful and a part of our legacy. Stay tuned for the Queen Dollylama Giveaway!

Peace,
Saladin