2.5 welcome back to Nami Nami now you know and we’re going to pick up right where we left Anthony I’d love for you to talk to us a little bit about how you came to reach out to NAMI so I got a phone call from you and an email and and
Here we are I know you all are interested the Prince Hall Shriners right did I say that right you did and um being involved with the walk this year and we’re looking forward to that on May 18th at the Sam Houston park in downtown Houston tell us a little bit
About how you found us oh thank you so I look forward to us being a part of and supporting mental health awareness and just your initiatives and and so let me go back to the beginning from a fraternal standpoint and then I’ll tie it all together to answer your question
Uh so um all Prince Hall Shriners are also Prince Hall Masons uh so in order to be a Shriner you had to first become a Mason um and so the significance of Prince Hall is we we have a saying within the fraternity that the history of the black man in America is the
History of the Prince Hall Mason so if we go back to the colonial times in America where there were Caucasian lodges and we had um of course within our our people we were enslaved and then we we had those that were free and so Prince Hall there is some discussion on whether
He was born a slave or Born Free but regardless there was a time where he was free and so he sought IM initiation and admission into the free Masonic fraternity and he was denied because of his skin color and there was a military Lodge uh that was from from um an Irish
Military Lodge that allowed Prince Hall and 14 other men of color which we within our fraternity are the 15 Immortal Immortals or the immortal 15 that become became members of the Prince Hall or the Masonic fraternity and he was able to get a charter from the Grand Lodge of England which allowed
For him to make other Masons basically if you think of it in terms of fraternity fraternities and so forth so um it grew from there um it started in Boston and the Prince Hall lodges were very much um involved in the Civil Rights Movement from the colonial time
You a lot of times we may hear we just hear about slavery but just because that was going on during that time doesn’t mean that everyone was was just resigned to that like we have been fighting that since we got here and so Prince Hall as a
Man he had started a black school in Boston he was a a minister and of course his involvement in in in masonry so he s he thought masonry would be uh something that would be helpful for our community and helpful for for men within our community in in a fraternal sense and so
It’s just been around since they were made in 1775 we received the charter which in in Boston the most worshipful Grand Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts still has it’s an original charter um actually is burned because there was there was a fire at one of The Lodges and
A pmas had gone in and saved the the document from being charred and so that was important because the legitimacy of Prince Hall Masonry was was was challenged um and so and I’m going tie this all from a historical sense all together um but it just expanded throughout the country and it’s the
Forerunner of all fraternal organizations incl including the the vine nine fraternities as well many of their Founders at least one founder was a Prince Hall Mason and so there’s a lineage there and there was really the concept of once a person became if they were a Greek uh member of a fraternity a
Greek fraternity they would eventually you know go into becoming a member of a lodge as well and that that still occurs to this day um not saying it all do but there there is a a history of it when it does occur and so fast forwarding to the
Shrine uh the Prince Hall Shriners began it’s an extension of Prince Hall Masonry um so really if you’re a Mason and a Shriner you have a double tie fraternally um because all the for instance all of my classmates that went through the shrine with me we were
Already Brothers as Masons and now we have a double tie because we went through the process of becoming Shriners or Nobles um as well so in June June 10th of 1893 uh the Prince Hall Shrine uh started in Chico Cho and the founder is a noble J Jones um and he just worked
Harly to expand the organization throughout the the country or the domain as we we call it within the fraternity and so it’s um sometimes there’s misnomers out there about masonry and the shrine and things of that nature um there’s not a a religious organization it’s not a church
It’s the discussion of religion and politics we don’t even talk about those things um your faith is is up to you just like in any other Walk of Life and so you may hear some some Rumblings of that and and negative talk about what what Masons and Shriners are but at the
Heart of the matter those things aren’t true they really aren’t I wouldn’t be a part of any organization that would cause me um not to be able to grow spiritually or to practice my faith um so it’s it’s for Eternal you I think people get confused
Because do you have to believe in God yes um what your religion is that’s not asked the reason why the question of being is posed do you believe in God or higher power the god of creation is because the principles of the organization wouldn’t mean anything to
Someone who didn’t and so that’s really the the Crux of the matter so to speak um as far as this initiative so um I became a mason in November November 20th 1999 back home still member of Southern Cross Lodge of the most worful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Indiana in
Indianapolis specifically um and so the opportunity or I wanted to become a Shriner my great-grandfather was a Mason and a Shriner and that’s the only two things that I really wanted to do fraternally and so um August 26 20 23 myself and 12 other novices to Nobles
Became Nobles or Prince Hall Shriners of that day and so uh we have a national Community Health Initiative um and so the Imperial Council or the formal name of the organization is the ancient Egyptian Arabic orders Nobles of the Mystic Shrine and so we just abbreviated
As AE aea o n Ms Incorporated um it’s a tongue twister but um so just one point just using this plat platform to educate a little bit so within Prince Hall lodges every jurisdiction is ran state to state and you may hear a term Grandmaster and it’s
Not a worshiping this person it’s a it’s a term that means respect it um that’s all it is it’s an Old English term and and even someone who runs a lodge is called a worshipful master which means greatly respected it’s not like someone being worshiped I’m not at all um and
So but with the shrine the shrine is National so if you the shrine being beginning in 1893 and if there’s a lot of parallels to the shrine and and Greek organizations the national headquarters being ran nationally with instead of chapters um for us it’s temples and the state jurisdiction is
Called a desert the local would be an oasis so I’m a member of dor Temple number 76 OA Oasis of Houston desert of Texas Prince Hall affiliation because you have to be Affiliated had to have been a member of the Prince Hall Masons to become eligible as a cand just one of
The qualifications to become a Shriner and so we do have some initiatives a HBCU initiative we work with St Jude you may see Shriner’s hospitals and that’s our counterparts um that work with Shriners International for uh the Shriners hospitals and then so we work with St Jude which is out of Memphis and
So we work with that that research hospital and we also have an initiative that is known as is a national community health initiative and that’s what caused me to reach out to you right um our Focus over the last 15 years has been over the dis um proportionate amount of Health
Care and the in terms of chronic diseases that have affected people of color and so over 15 years we’ve donated over $1 million towards research education and support of diabetes within our community because it’s it’s we get I guess identified or diagnosed earlier and then we’re dying of course
Earlier due to that as well so we’re trying to to get that where we’re more health conscious more aware and being more proactive so that we can change that narrative and so we also have a mental health component and so being new in the organization that’s something that I wanted to really
Add on to our focus on the on diabetes is also focusing in on on mental health and so Dr Ogle tree my clinical supervision supervisor had mentioned you know look at at Nami and so I reach yeah I reached out to you and then that’s that that’s what led to this you know
And here we are yeah here we are here we are so I’m looking forward to more conversations of course off camera and after the show on how we build on that relationship and how we support the initiatives that you all have existing um how to continue to educate you on
Where Nami is I heard you say you’re a school counselor as well we are in the schools we’ve got campus organizations called um W Nami prep is through high school and college or jco up would be Nami on campus so I think there’s a lot there around education which is one of
The tenants that we do as well and develop Advocates um based on the stats we know one in five persons right now diagnosed but but beyond the diagnosis there are more that are not um that are functioning inside of whatever their challenge may be we’ve got to bring
Awareness is such a word that we’ve used so much sometimes now it’s kind of diluted um but I would say understanding and and empathy if you will yeah I like that yeah and and we we do have a diabetes walk which will occur either the first or second weekend in June uh
We’re working on the details of that but if you don’t mind we’ll once that’s solidified out to you and and so and we will support the walk on on the 18th of May that’s right um but one final thing I want to mention too uh about the history
Of of dor Temple right here in Houston we’re known as historic dor for a reason um so in in 1914 the um Caucasian Shriners sued began lawsuits throughout the country including here in Houston that they didn’t want um African-Americans or Prince Hall Shriners to to exist and so we lost here locally
But we took the case to the Su Supreme Court and won that decision unanimously um and the the implications of that is not only did it protect the existence of the Prince Hall Shrine and the existence of Prince Hall Masonry but had we lost that case um all African-American organizations incl
Including fraternities sororities and Civic organizations they would have set a precedent for them to be able to do the same to Sue and and their existence was tied to us winning that that lawsuit so that’s that’s why it’s known as historic dork and and we celebrate that on
Jubilee Day on June 3 the closest Sunday to June 3 every year wow um and so I just wanted you for that that’s critically important look I thank you for your time today Anthony thank you as a member of the D9 as well for being big
Brother and holding it I I’m happy to be a member of alap alpha Sor Incorporated my grandmother was in AKA she was a golden sore roar oh wow golden sore respect okay so we will have you back um very soon to talk more about what those initiatives are and talk more about what
We’re going to do with you on May May 18th so thank you for your time I love to come back thank you you will thank you to the amazing 102.5 for Nami now you know see you all next week thank you
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