Dear Ron Haulman,
I’m writing in support of the Jonestown Memorial to be held on the all too appropriate Memorial Day weekend. For many years, as a playwright and novelist, I have engaged with the tragic history of the Jonestown community and sought to give voice to those who traveled there with idealism, hoping to find a better life. It is to honor them, their lives and deaths, that this Memorial has been lovingly conceived. It would be terribly sad — and would serve no useful purpose — for the event to be undermined in any way or canceled. So many people have planned to come together and pay tribute to the family and friends they have lost; this moment has been delayed long enough. I truly hope you will allow the service to go on so that everyone who has been touched by the tragedy at Jonestown can rest, if not in peace, then in love.
Sincerely,
Susan Yankowitz