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(AFTER I HEARD BURNHAM’S SPEECH ABOUT WASTE OF PAPER BY NOT USING BOTH SIDES, I STARTED USING BOTH SIDES ON LETTERS)
(included with this letter were Tim’s letter about Grace being unfit and the statement Grace made about Tim’s transvestitism in her own handwriting)
[Peoples Temple letterhead]
February 3, 1978
The Hon. Forbes Burnham
Prime Minister
Public Buildings, Birckdam [Brickdam]
Georgetown
Dear Prime Minister Burnham;
You are very familiar, I am sure, that we are engaged in a custody situation regarding the child of Jim Jones, John Victor. There are many indications in this case that Grace and Tim Stoen are being used by the conspiracy. Dennis Banks, American Indian leader, stated that Treasury Agents that tried to blackmail him to denounce Jim Jones, had already talked with Grace Stoen.
Before Grace and Tim Stoen were approached by the conspiracy, their feelings towards Jim Jones and toward each other were vastly different. We include a paper that Tim Stoen wrote that was lying on a desk. You can see by the unpolished form this is that Tim was spontaneously revealing his inner feelings; his indignation at Grace Stoen who is a reactionary and a racist lead [led] him to lay down his thoughts.
The most widely read columnist in the West, Herb Caen, recently quoted in his column an affidavit that Tim Stoen signed in which he admitted that Jim Jones is the natural father of John Victor. Also, he tells his feelings toward Jim Jones in this affidavit. “My reason for wanting James W. Jones” to father my child is that “I wanted my child to be fathered by the most compassionate, honest and courageous human being the world contains.”
Tim Stoen later stated to the press that Jim Jones was a great humanitarian and leader. He stated to Jim Jones many times when others were present that he would never let John be taken away from his natural father, Jim Jones. Only a month later after calling Jim Jones a great humanitarian and great leader, Tim Stoen sold out his principles or was pressured to do so by the conspiracy. His obsessive sexuality may have been held over him to embarrass him to do so (see enclosed paper that Grace Stoen wrote when she was asking for help in dealing with her husband), or he too has been handsomely paid. He did not like the socialist life style of Guyana, and found that he could not relate to the goals of Third World people, and then he was bribed or used to attempt to destroy our group.
If the conspiracy succeeds on this or any other case, they will be strengthened in their goal to destroy any progressive movement in the United States or abroad as they did with the Chilean Socialist Democracy. John Stoen is not an isolated case. It is no coincidence that people make demands
(over)
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for children that they were never interested in and not their demands all come at the same time.
The deviousness of the conspiracy and the obviousness of their strategy was revealed when the Olivers, a family with no source of income suddenly find the money to jet to Guyana and stay in the best hotel. They came to Guyana demanding the return of their two adult sons, both who are happily married, to the United States. Such actions on the part of a couple who admitted to us in the United States that their interest was to have their sons sign over an inheritance, proves that they have a preoccupation with money. This type of person could easily be encouraged to work for the conspiracy. The Oliver sons showed more maturity than their parents as they stated they were willing to sign over their own inheritances to these exploitive parents but did not wish to return to the United States. Then the Olivers find a source of income in the conspiracy who utilized them to harass both Guyana and Peoples Temple not to mention their sons.
It is the welfare of John and other individuals that is our only interest and that can be demonstrated by the fact that most of these individuals involved don’t even provide a source of income, and are too young to even work on the project. Dana Griffeth [Griffith] for instance has many problems because she was abandoned by her mother and she requires a great deal of care and attention. It would be easier to send a child like Dana back to the United States if you were the type of person only interested in economic gain which we are not. The Oliver young men were encouraged when they said they would sign over their inheritances to their parents, though it was their own decision, but it was not the concern of Peoples Temple and Jim Jones that the Oliver young men have money, but only that they be left alone to pursue their own lives.
Therefore, the case of John Victor is not important just because the child is Jim Jones’ child, because we would be and have been equally as concerned about the welfare of the other children and individuals on the project like the Olivers and Dana Griffeth who have been subjected to harassment and undue pressure by persons who have been obviously paid to attempt to disrupt Peoples Temple and more particularly to harass Jim Jones by using innocent children and individuals as pawns.
One point here that is important to us as people dedicated to lives of conscience and commitment and to all of us that live by our principles is that even though Grace Stoen is the natural mother and asserts her right to “her” child, and this is not even important because Jim Jones has certainly been proven to be the natural father, a blood relationship should no way triumph over the natural interest for the child. The history of socialist development and the growth of individuals all over the world have been because of the need to emancipate peoples from oppressive relationships just as Guyana had to emancipate herself from England, her so-called mother. England fought to keep her smothering hold on the basis of some claim to rights and this is true of all liberation struggles all over the world, the claims that one country or individual has the right to possess or enslave another is an ongoing struggle. We want you to consider the rights of John Stoen to live in
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a progressive environment with his father rather than to be forced to live with a racist reactionary mother
Peoples Temple is glad that we are a part of Guyana because we know that Guyana has suffered through a history of oppression and therefore her wise and committed leards [leaders] can see in such an orchestrated campaign to discourage socialism in our group, and in other groups, they are attempting to make inroads on other fronts into Guyana.
Thank you for your great leadership to this country.
Cooperatively yours,
Sharon Amos
Administrative Assistant to Bishop Jim Jones
CC: to all Ministers
[Editor’s note: The references documents were not attached to this letter.]