{"id":114535,"date":"2022-05-23T11:33:34","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T18:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=114535"},"modified":"2022-10-25T15:25:31","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T22:25:31","slug":"jonestown-and-other-madness","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=114535","title":{"rendered":"Jonestown and Other Madness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>[<strong>Editor\u2019s note<\/strong>: Pat Parker wrote the poem \u201cJonestown and Other Madness\u201d for her 1985 collection of the same name. Her reading of the poem is <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/mps.lib.harvard.edu\/sds\/audio\/443270457\"><em>here<\/em><\/a><em>.]<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Pat-Parker_NewBioImage2020.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-118270\" src=\"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Pat-Parker_NewBioImage2020-297x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"297\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Pat-Parker_NewBioImage2020-297x300.png 297w, https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Pat-Parker_NewBioImage2020.png 311w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 297px) 100vw, 297px\" \/><\/a>As a child in Texas<br \/>\nrace education<br \/>\nwas simple<br \/>\nwas subtle<br \/>\nwas sharp<\/p>\n<p>The great lone star<br \/>\nstate sharply<br \/>\nplaced me<br \/>\nin colored schools<br \/>\nwith colored teachers<br \/>\nand colored books<br \/>\nand colored knowledge<\/p>\n<p>I shopped in white stores<br \/>\nand bought colored clothes<br \/>\n\u2018Keep the colors loud and bright<br \/>\nso they dazzle in the night<br \/>\nNo matter where a nigger\u2019s bred<br \/>\nthey love yellow, orange and red\u2019<\/p>\n<p>I used colored toilets<br \/>\nand road colored buses home<br \/>\nI went to colored churches<br \/>\nwith colored preachers<br \/>\nand prayed to a white God<br \/>\nbegged forgiveness for Cain<br \/>\nand his sin<br \/>\nand his descendants<br \/>\nus lowly colored sinners<br \/>\nand the message<br \/>\nwas simple<br \/>\nand sharp<br \/>\nthere is a place for niggers<br \/>\nbut not among good white folk<\/p>\n<p>At home<br \/>\nrace education<br \/>\nwas simple<br \/>\nwas subtle<br \/>\nfacts gleaned<br \/>\nby differences<\/p>\n<p>The white man<br \/>\nwho jumped<br \/>\nfree-fell<br \/>\nin the sky<br \/>\nwas quietly dismissed<br \/>\n\u2018white folks are crazy\u2019<br \/>\nthe white man<br \/>\nwho turned<br \/>\nsomersaults<br \/>\non Sports Spectacular skis<br \/>\nwas quietly dismissed<br \/>\n\u2018white folks will do anything<br \/>\nfor money\u2019<\/p>\n<p>the white man who<br \/>\nshot and killed his wife<br \/>\nand children<br \/>\nand then himself<br \/>\nreceived a headshake<br \/>\nand a sigh<br \/>\nand the simple statement<br \/>\n\u2018white folks are crazy\u2019<br \/>\nAnd the messages<br \/>\nfell in place<br \/>\nwhite folks went crazy<br \/>\nand went to nut houses<br \/>\nBlack folks got mad<br \/>\nand went to jail<br \/>\nwhite folks started wars<br \/>\nBlack folks died in them<br \/>\nwhite folks owned America<br \/>\nBlack folks built it<\/p>\n<p>As I grew into adulthood<br \/>\nmany messages were discarded<br \/>\nmany were forgotten<br \/>\nbut one returns to haunt me<\/p>\n<p>Black folks do not commit suicide<br \/>\nBlack folks do not<br \/>\nBlack folks do not<br \/>\nBlack folks do not commit suicide<\/p>\n<p>November 18, 1978<br \/>\nmore than 900 people<br \/>\nmost of them Black<br \/>\ndied in a man-made town<br \/>\ncalled Jonestown<\/p>\n<p>Newscasters\u2019 words<br \/>\nslap me in my face<br \/>\npeople&#8217;s tears and grief<br \/>\nemanating from my set<br \/>\nand I remember the lessons<br \/>\nreheard a childhood message<\/p>\n<p>Black folks do not commit suicide<\/p>\n<p>I thought of my uncle Dave<br \/>\nhe died in prison<br \/>\nsuicide<br \/>\nthe authorities said<br \/>\n&#8220;Boy just up and hung himself&#8221;<br \/>\nand I remembered my mother<br \/>\nher disbelief, her grief<br \/>\n\u2018Them white folks killed my brother<br \/>\nDave didn&#8217;t commit no suicide\u2019<br \/>\nand the funeral<br \/>\na bitter quiet funeral<br \/>\nhis coffin sealed from sighters<br \/>\nand we knew<br \/>\nDave died not by his hands<br \/>\nsome guard decided<br \/>\nthat nigger should die<\/p>\n<p>And I stare at the newscaster<br \/>\nhe struggles to contain himself<br \/>\nit&#8217;s a BIG BIG story<br \/>\nand he must not<br \/>\nseem too excited<\/p>\n<p>\u2018American troops made a<br \/>\ngrizzly discovery today<br \/>\nin Jonestown, Guyana\u2019<br \/>\nmy innards scream as<br \/>\nthe facts unfold<br \/>\n\u2018a communist preacher\u2019<br \/>\nand I see old Black women<br \/>\nmy grandmothers<br \/>\ncommunist NO<br \/>\nlittle old Black ladies<br \/>\ndo not believe in communists<\/p>\n<p>they believe in God<br \/>\nand Jesus yet,<br \/>\nthe newscasters\u2019 words<br \/>\na commune<br \/>\na media storm of<br \/>\nwords and pictures<br \/>\ninterviews with ex-members<br \/>\nsurvivors, city officials<\/p>\n<p>the San Francisco Chronicle<br \/>\nhad a problem with its presses<br \/>\nerratic delivery<br \/>\nof the morning paper<br \/>\nand in two days the Chronicle<br \/>\npublishes a book<br \/>\nEyewitness Account<br \/>\nof a staff reporter<br \/>\nwho survived<br \/>\nthe airport attack<br \/>\nand the story grows bigger<br \/>\nSTEP RIGHT UP<br \/>\nSTEP RIGHT UP<br \/>\nLadies and Gentlemen<br \/>\nhave I got a tale<br \/>\nfor you<br \/>\nwe got these men<br \/>\ntwo men<br \/>\na congressman &amp; a preacher<br \/>\n&amp; a supporting cast of hundreds<br \/>\nthe congressman went<br \/>\nto investigate the preacher<br \/>\nand wound up dead<br \/>\nthe preacher wound up dead<br \/>\nthe supporting cast<br \/>\nwound up dead<br \/>\nand all the dead<br \/>\nare singing to me<\/p>\n<p>Black folks do not<br \/>\nBlack folks do not<br \/>\nBlack folks do not commit suicide<br \/>\nMy phone rings<\/p>\n<p>the newscaster mistakenly says<br \/>\nPatricia Parker<br \/>\nnot Parks<br \/>\ndied on the airstrip<br \/>\na friend<br \/>\nwants to know<br \/>\nare you alive?<\/p>\n<p>Yes<br \/>\nI am here<br \/>\nnot there<br \/>\nfestering<br \/>\nin a jungle<br \/>\nwith bloated belly<br \/>\nnot a victim<br \/>\nin a dream deferred<br \/>\nnot a piece<br \/>\nin a media puzzle<br \/>\nnot a member<br \/>\nin the supporting cast.<\/p>\n<p>Yet<br \/>\nI am there<br \/>\nwalking with the souls<br \/>\nof Black folks<br \/>\ncrying<br \/>\nand screaming<br \/>\nWHY<\/p>\n<p>WHY<\/p>\n<p>Black folks<br \/>\nwhy are you here<br \/>\nand dead?<br \/>\ntell me how you<br \/>\nwillingly died<br \/>\ndid the minister<br \/>\nsing to you<br \/>\n\u2018Kool-aid Kool-aid<br \/>\ntastes great<br \/>\nI like Kool-aid<br \/>\ncan&#8217;t wait\u2019<\/p>\n<p>I see Black people<br \/>\nbeautiful Black people<br \/>\nin lines in front of a tub<br \/>\nof twentieth-century hemlock<br \/>\nThe guards with guns<br \/>\nguns<br \/>\nwhy guns?<\/p>\n<p>and the pictures<br \/>\ncontinue to flow<br \/>\nimages of a man<br \/>\na church man<br \/>\nhe cures disease<br \/>\nNO<br \/>\nhe&#8217;s a fake<br \/>\nhired people<br \/>\nin treated liver<br \/>\nhe loves God<br \/>\nNO<br \/>\nhe&#8217;s a communist<br \/>\nhe talks many messages<br \/>\nrevolution to the young<br \/>\nGod to the old<br \/>\nhe believes in the family<br \/>\nNO<br \/>\nhe destroys the family<br \/>\nfucks the women<br \/>\nfucks the men<br \/>\nand the media continues<br \/>\nto tell the tale<\/p>\n<p>An interview with a live one.<br \/>\nNewscaster. \u2018You were a member of People&#8217;s Temple?\u2019<br \/>\nMan, \u2018Yes, I was.\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018Why did you join?\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018Well, I went there a few times<br \/>\nand then I stopped going, but<br \/>\nReverend Jones came by my house<br \/>\nand asked me why I quit coming.<br \/>\nI was really surprised.<br \/>\nNo one had ever cared<br \/>\nthat much about me before.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>No one had ever cared<br \/>\nthat much about me before<br \/>\nand it came home<br \/>\nthe messages of my youth<br \/>\ncame clear<br \/>\nthe Black people<br \/>\nin Jonestown<br \/>\ndid not commit suicide<br \/>\nthey were murdered<br \/>\nthey were murdered in<br \/>\nsmall southern towns<br \/>\nthey were murdered in<br \/>\nlarge northern cities<\/p>\n<p>they were murdered<br \/>\nas school children<br \/>\nby teachers<br \/>\nwho didn&#8217;t care<br \/>\nthey were murdered<br \/>\nby policemen<br \/>\nwho didn&#8217;t care<br \/>\nthey were murdered<br \/>\nby welfare workers<br \/>\nwho didn&#8217;t care<br \/>\nthey were murdered<br \/>\nby shopkeepers<br \/>\nwho didn&#8217;t care<br \/>\nthey were murdered<br \/>\nby politicians<br \/>\nwho didn&#8217;t care<br \/>\nthey didn&#8217;t die at Jonestown<br \/>\nthey went to Jonestown dead<br \/>\nconvinced that America<br \/>\nand Americans<br \/>\ndidn&#8217;t care<\/p>\n<p>they died<br \/>\nin the schoolrooms<br \/>\nthey died<br \/>\nin the streets<br \/>\nthey died<br \/>\nin the bars<br \/>\nthey died<br \/>\nin the jails<br \/>\nthey died<br \/>\nin the churches<br \/>\nthey died<br \/>\nin the welfare lines<\/p>\n<p>Jim Jones was not the cause<br \/>\nhe was the result<br \/>\nof 400 years<br \/>\nof not caring<br \/>\nBlack folks do not<br \/>\nBlack folks do not<br \/>\nBlack folks do not commit suicide<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[Editor\u2019s note: Pat Parker wrote the poem \u201cJonestown and Other Madness\u201d for her 1985 collection of the same name. Her reading of the poem is here.] As a child in Texas race education was simple was subtle was sharp The great lone star state sharply placed me in colored schools with colored teachers and colored [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"parent":83654,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-114535","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/114535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114535"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/114535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118271,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/114535\/revisions\/118271"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/83654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}