Grand Most Ancient Matron

Phines C. Jones

Rahab Grand Court

Heroines of Jericho

State and Jurisdiction of South Carolina

Prince Hall Affiliation

Phines C. Jones, Grand Most Ancient Matron

​Good Day Heroines and Knights,

​On May 25th, 2020, we witness the public lynching of Mr. George Floyd by members of the Minneapolis Police Department during an arrest attempt for passing a counterfeit $20 bill. It has later come to light that Mr. Floyd was innocent of the crime he was accused of. While it is the mission of all Police around our Country to apprehend all persons accused of a crime, it is also their mission to protect and serve the Public to which they police. It is their duty to apprehend criminals and ensure they receive their day in court where a jury of their peers decide their fate in accordance with the laws of their City and State. It is not the duty of the Police to be the judge, jury, and Mr. Flody’s case executioner.  Dr. Martin L. King Jr. stated in his famous Letter from a Birmingham jail “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” We as Prince Hall Heroines and Knights can not sit ideal and watch as Black Men and Women are murdered at the hands of those who have been sworn to be protectors of our community. To this I call for all that are able to ensure that you exercise the rights that our Ancestors fought and died for, these are the right to peaceful protest and the right to vote. We must exercise these rights. Through peaceful protest we can take our issues to the members of our Local and National Government. If these issues continue to fall on deaf ears we must then exercise our right to vote and remove these so-called leaders from the positions they hold. 
​
As Heroines and Knights we are to be the change we need to see in our Communities and in our Country. We can no longer sit ideally by and do nothing. Good citizenship is one of the tenants of Masonry as a whole, and I submit to you that allowing these atrocities to continue unchecked violates that tenant. While I am saddened that these protests have turned violent, the frustration is understandable. However, we as Heroines and Knights must ensure that we do not fall into the trap of allowing our anger to get the best of us. We must not allow the true cause of the protest to be hijacked by those who only wish to use violence to diminish our right to protest. Dr. King went on in his above-mentioned letter to say, “You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes.” If you replace the name Birmingham with Minneapolis, Columbia, New York, and Washington D.C. you will find this fits perfectly. 
​
For too long we as members of our organization have sat on the sidelines and watched as others fight the good fight. As a Veteran of the United States Army I took an oath to defend our Constitution against all enemies both foreign and domestic so let me be extremely clear: I in no way advocate violence, and I repeat we must use the proper channels at our disposal to effect positive change. However, we can not sit by while our people are being killed and the ones responsible for these acts go free. We must continue to educate ourselves and our children on the power we hold as Citizens and the proper way to utilize this power. Heroines and Knights please continue to be safe during this time and continue to observe the guidelines put in place by our Governor, your local Mayors, the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. May the Great I Am continue to bless and protect you and yours

Yours Under the Scarlet Line,
​
Antoinio N. Jackson
Knight Antoinio N. Jackson
Grand Most Worthy Josuha
Rahab Grand Court, Heroines of Jericho
Jurisdiction of South Carolina, PHA