4 Ism's From Freedom
by Will Savive

After studying Peoples Temple for close to four years now, I believe I have grasped its main ideological standpoints: to end racism, sexism, classism, and elitism. Its failure to do so – much because of its leader and, in my opinion, other covert, sinister reasons – has left a big hole in the way of race relations. Many believed that the election of President Barack Obama would usher in a post-racial renaissance. However, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, hate crimes have risen ten percent since 2006. Some of us have the scars that prove this statistic.

On July 18, 2010, I went to the Rebar in Lodi, New Jersey, with two of my friends named Jason and Doug, both white males. It was 2:40 a.m. – last call – so we each grabbed a drink. As we conversed, the owner of the bar, Gerard, walked over and said, “What do we have, more libs [liberals] here?” I had been in the bar a few times prior and Gerard had tried to push his extreme right-wing political views on me with no success. Gerard and my friend Jason began discussing politics, a subject which in my opinion is a social taboo, so I stayed back and talked with Doug. Twice Gerard left the conversation to announce to others that the bar would be closing in 10 minutes, but each time he returned to Jason to make his political stand.

The last time he returned he appeared to snap. Without warning, Gerard stepped toward Jason aggressively and said, “What about your nigger president? What has he done?” We all stood stunned. He repeated this, and then grabbed Jason and said, “You fucking nigger lover, get the fuck out of my bar,” and pushed him. I then stepped in between them and said to Gerard, “What the fuck is your problem?” He then said to me, “What are you going to do, you fucking nigger?” As I turned slightly to walk away, Gerard kicked me in the chest. I stumbled backwards a few steps until I regained my balance. Just as I regaining my footing, I was tackled from behind by two men. The three of them proceeded to kick and punch me as I tried desperately and unsuccessfully to cover up and push them off of me. I heard someone scream, “Kill that nigger!” As the two men held me down and continued their assault, Gerard again said to me, “You fucking nigger,” then he bit me on the cheek.

Before I knew what had happened, I was on my feet and the perpetrators were being held back by the female bartender. On my way out the door, I looked at Gerard and said, “I’m calling the police,” to which he replied sarcastically, “Go ahead.”

We stood out in front of the bar waiting for the Lodi police. By the time they arrived, Gerard and his cohorts had all fled the scene. Immediately I received little cooperation from police, as they said that I was too drunk to file a report that night, although I had only had two drinks and no sobriety test was done.

The next morning I gathered Jason and my mother and we headed to the Lodi police station to file a report. Not surprisingly, the captain who took the report refused to file it as a hate crime, although we asked him several times to do so. Instead, he filed it as simple assault, with no warrant being issued for Gerard’s arrest. Battered and bruised, I returned to the hospital and received a ct-scan. Under the advice of two other friends – an FBI Agent and an officer in the Bergen County Sheriff’s office – I returned to the Lodi police station with my witnesses, Jason and Doug. Again, the officer tried to push back the complaint, saying that the report had already been filed. After questioning him for several minutes, he finally pulled the report and saw that no hate crime was filed and no warrant was issued. After reviewing a book of statutes, he informed us that it should have been filed as a “bias intimidation” charge. We sat for about an hour as he wrote up the charges and called the judge, who issued the warrant. The case has since been transferred to Bergen County Superior Court, where it is currently being investigated by the prosecutor’s office.

As I sit traumatized by these events, I cannot help but think of Peoples Temple and the struggles that they faced before I was even born, a struggle that obviously continues with great ferocity in our time. The sewn threads of yesterday are still the loose ends of today. Why have we still not yet found a way to live together harmoniously? We are all tied together and intertwined on the same thread. As Dr. Cornel West stated in his book Race Matters, we all face the ever-present threat of nihilism – the collapse of meaning in life, the eclipse of true hope and the absence of love of self and others, the breakdown of family and neighborhood bonds – which all leads to the social deracination and cultural denudement of urban dwellers, especially children.

The four isms that Peoples Temple fought against – racism, ageism, classism, and elitism – cut away at the fabric that binds us and must be eradicated for us to collectively reach true actualization.

I thank author and CNN contributor, Timothy Wise, and all of my good friends who have shown their support.

(Will Savive is a regular contributor to the jonestown report. His previous articles may be found here. He can be reached at willsavive@live.com)