{"id":118321,"date":"2022-10-27T14:32:19","date_gmt":"2022-10-27T21:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=118321"},"modified":"2023-06-18T11:22:25","modified_gmt":"2023-06-18T18:22:25","slug":"q938-transcript","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=118321","title":{"rendered":"Q938 Transcript"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Editor\u2019s note<\/strong>: This tape was transcribed by Adrian Whicker. The editors gratefully acknowledge his invaluable assistance.)<\/em><\/p>\n

To read the Tape Summary, click here<\/a>. Listen to MP3 (Pt. 1<\/a>, Pt. 2<\/a>).
\nTo return to the Tape Index, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Young boy 1<\/strong>: I\u2019d like to thank Dad, \u2018cause [unintelligible word] Dad that he is, and I like to thank Dad for\u2013 for saving me, even though my [unintelligible balance of sentence]<\/p>\n

Crowd<\/strong>: Applause<\/p>\n

[tape edit]<\/p>\n

Young boy 2:<\/strong> I thank Dad, and Dad\u2013 he\u2019s a dad to me, and I thank Dad that all my comrades down here, like to thank Dad for his love [unintelligible word]. Thank you, Dad.<\/p>\n

Crowd<\/strong>: Applause<\/p>\n

[tape edit]<\/p>\n

Young girl 1:<\/strong> Like to thank Dad for saving Ellihue [Dennis, I assume] from going to jail. Like to thank Dad for saving my mama of cancer. I like to thank Dad for saving me from falling off the trapeze and busting my head open.<\/p>\n

Crowd<\/strong>: Applause<\/p>\n

[tape edit]<\/p>\n

Young boy 3:<\/strong> I\u2019d like to thank Dad for saving my brother from being shot. I\u2019d like to thank Dad for, uh, saving me from getting hit by a truck. I\u2019d like to thank Dad, \u2018cause if it wasn\u2019t for Lynetta [Jones], we wouldn\u2019t be here. Thank you, Dad.<\/p>\n

Crowd<\/strong>: Applause, calls of \u201cThat\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n

[tape edit]<\/p>\n

Young boy 4:<\/strong> \u2013thank Dad, \u2018cause a long time ago the dump truck was coming from the boat and it had some food on it, and tipped over on the side of the road, and\u2013 and we only lost a couple of bags of flour and paint, and I thank Dad that nobody got hurt. Thank you, Dad.<\/p>\n

[tape edit]<\/p>\n

Woman singing [tape edit]<\/p>\n

Young child<\/strong>: [too soft] \u2013and I\u2019d like to thank Dad for being the Dad that he is.<\/p>\n

Voice in crowd<\/strong>: Thank you, Dad!<\/p>\n

Crowd<\/strong>: Applause<\/p>\n

[tape edit]<\/p>\n

Woman 1<\/strong>: \u2013the accident that I had a couple of days ago, I fell by the washateria which would have cracked my kneecap<\/em>, but it did not. When I fell down, it kinda stung and stiffened my legs for a little bit, and after that, I got up and I went on my way, so I want to thank Dad, he keeps doing great things for us. Thank you.<\/p>\n

Crowd<\/strong>: Applause<\/p>\n

[tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> [opening too soft] \u2013in that situation, and I think we leave it just that way. Children should not ask if anyone\u2019s\u2013 is dead, for there is indeed no death, and uh, someone, the daughter, seems to want to block that out, and that\u2019s what we will be privileged<\/em> to allow her to do, and if that\u2019s the case, then that\u2019s the way we will leave<\/em> it. So, uh, no<\/em> child is to ask if anybody is dead, no matter who. \u2018Cause none dead. None dead in the true sense of the word. So, I want that clearly understood. I would\u2013 Uh, Bessie [Lee] Dickson, you make some lovely suggestions about the name of the road. Uh, where is Bessie Dickson? I wanna get\u2013<\/p>\n

[tape edit]<\/p>\n

Man<\/strong>: \u2013messed her all up.<\/p>\n

[faint voices in the crowd]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> [talking to Thomas Partak who had attempted suicide and wanted to return to live with his mother in Joliet, IL]: You think you\u2019re more important than you are. Why don\u2019t you realize that you\u2019re not any more important? [Hushed] Why don\u2019t you look at these precious black people? Why don\u2019t you turn around and look at them?<\/p>\n

Crowd<\/strong>: Voices and murmuring<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> What makes you think you have a right in life? [Pause] Maybe your mother will die<\/em> soon. You keep this up and she will<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> Well\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> You think you\u2013 you\u2019re better because you think you\u2019re more important<\/em> because you got a mother that\u2019ll take you in? These blacks have lost their mothers and their dads. And I <\/em>have lost mine<\/em> because of some of the likes of this<\/em> kind of carryings on.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right!<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> You think you got a place to go<\/em> to. You won\u2019t<\/em> have a place to go to. [Pause] So you have a thought you want to go back to the States? It makes you commit suicide? I have thoughts I want to die every second. That wouldn\u2019t make me commit suicide. I wouldn\u2019t hurt a soul<\/em>, I wouldn\u2019t do that to a soul, not a soul. You don\u2019t want to hurt people. What do you want to hurt people for?<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> [Heavy breathing into mic] I don\u2019t want to hurt `em, I just\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Well, you did<\/em>. You do as if you obviously knew it\u2019d hurt them. So you love your mother?<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> Yes.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Well, you didn\u2019t very much out there, if you tried to kill<\/em> yourself. What do you\u2013 How do you think she\u2019s gonna react to that? What did you think that<\/em> would do for her? [Pause] You are a very selfish person, do you know that?<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> Well, yes.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Hmmm?<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> Yes, I do.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Well, then, why don\u2019t you just recognize that you\u2019re selfish, and quit<\/em> it? Or if you can\u2019t quit it, just go on and work.<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> I just can\u2019t [Pause] seem to control my mind and\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> You can control your hands to work, can\u2019t you?<\/p>\n

Voice in crowd<\/strong>: [too soft]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> What is it?<\/p>\n

Voice in crowd<\/strong>: [too soft, something about Partak\u2019s work habits]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> That\u2019s true. You work fast, huh? What\u2019s the difference whether you forget or not? Why do you have a right to worry whether you do forget or you don\u2019t forget? [Indignant] What\u2019s the difference? You\u2019re nothing more important than any of the rest of us. We have to go on doing what we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

Voice in crowd:<\/strong> Right!<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Because it\u2019s in the\u2013 [stumbles over words] it hurts too many people. If we didn\u2019t have this place, every young man here will face what Chris [Lewis] did.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right, right!<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> They’re mostly black, and many of them that\u2019re white would face that. What a helluva life. To be preyed on. How many times Chris has been shot? How many times I\u2019ve drug him in that church and treated him in the middle of the night, and risked going to jail for him.<\/p>\n

Voice in crowd<\/strong>: [too soft]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Not over this<\/em> matter. And it wouldna happened over this<\/em> matter, wouldn\u2019t have been because of us<\/em>, if he\u2019da listened to me. But this is his own foolishness. How many times he was drug in that church\u2013 You, some of you were there, you\u2019d see the doors shut,and see us going from place to place treating his wounds, \u2018cause we didn\u2019t dare go\u2013 let him go to police, \u2018cause he was doing things that he shouldn\u2019t be doing. That\u2019s how much I love, how much I cared. [Pause] Always in difficulty, because he come on the wrong side of the track. Any black person, they get the shaft, they get in trouble by living.<\/p>\n

Crowd<\/strong>: Murmurs<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Try to get a job, he\u2019s ambitious and intelligent, he\u2019d get a job and uh, couldn\u2019t hold a job legally, couldn\u2019t hold one. Couldn\u2019t hold a job, always race prejudice. He was too intelligent<\/em> to take that. And too proud, and too rebellious. He couldn\u2019t stand that kind of p\u2013 that pressure. [Dick] Tropp wrote a very good poem that I\u2013 it touched me as I was reading the dozens and hundreds<\/em> of letters this day and all night about Chris. [To Partak] You\u2013 You shoulda been black. You\u2013 you wouldn\u2019t take the privilege of suicide. You shoulda been black. You wouldn\u2019t take so much time worrying<\/em> about yourself, if you were a nigger like us.<\/a><\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right!<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> You\u2019d know that\u2019s what you expect. It\u2019s better at least, to not have to worry who\u2019s gonna come on your back and stab you, who is gonna paralyze you.<\/p>\n

[Someone in crowd asks to speak]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Yes.\u00a0Yes, yes.<\/p>\n

Voice in crowd<\/strong>: [too soft]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> [high pitched] Where you come off this\u2013 all this whiteness? [Long pause] Do you like pain?<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> Uh, no. No, Dad\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Well, don\u2019t you think a cutlass was gonna cause you some pain? [long pause]<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> Well, I thought I\u2019d just\u2013 Well, that the\u2013 shorter than the pain I\u2019m going through every day, I\u2019d just\u2013 The mental pain.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> You don\u2019t\u2013 you don\u2019t believe your mind\u2019s gonna exist on beyond here? [Long pause] Communists or atheists believe you now, they don\u2019t believe in occultism and metaphysics and astrology or any other of these kinds of uh, uh, religious sciences, they don\u2019t believe in that. But they are very<\/em> much, very<\/em> much concerned about the fact that mind does not have an existence confined to this body. And they want to get advanced study in that field, and the only<\/em> time they ever<\/em>, ever<\/em> deported and arrested first, a newsman<\/em> [Robert C. Toth], a Los Angeles Times<\/em> uh, news representative, in Moscow, they were getting\u2013 he was getting into their parapsychological studies, into the dimension of what was happening with mind<\/em>, that the Soviets were doing with mind. And they arrested his ass, and those communist atheists throwed him in jail in nothing<\/em> flat, and had his ass, they deprogrammed him, and had him till he didn\u2019t know his uh, first or last name, and be\u2013 be sure that his brain was cleared<\/em> of any information he had, and back he went. Now there\u2019ve been people that got close to their nu\u2013 mis\u2013 missiles, there\u2019ve been people that\u2019ve gotten close to their scientific discoveries that are far advanced than the United States, but\u2013 Thank you, you may restroom, restroom, restroom. But this<\/em> was just a man who got close to some studies in their mind<\/em> discoveries. [Pause] Very, very, very, very convincing to me, that if you didn\u2019t see all the things that I\u2019ve<\/em> seen, which make me believe, make me believe. I don\u2019t believe in any or\u2013 loving order, but I believe that there\u2019s a curse of immortality. [Pause] I saw it with the [Rose] Pearson woman. Give birth to a child of a woman who committed suicide, and I said she\u2019d come back as a man, and she\u2019d be deserted by her parent, and that\u2013 her own mother, and that\u2019s what exactly happened. And you were there. You were probably there.<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> Yes, I was, Dad.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> So, you think you\u2019re gonna stop pain by one act of sui\u2013\u00a0 uh, of killing yourself, huh?<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> Well, I [Pause] just wanted to get out of the particular situation, and\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> You think this situation\u2019s all that bad, eh? [long pause] How many situations in the world do you think are worse<\/em> than this? I can take you to\u2013 in places in Chicago that wouldn\u2019t be far from you, that are much worse than this. After the needle man, that they got you down and jabbed you full of\u2013 every time you took a walk home from your job, and hooked<\/em> you on heroin, and then finally you\u2019d have to buy it, and go through the horror of withdrawal. Never know whether you\u2019re gonna get down the street without being castrated, as I told you, eight, was it, in Portland, Oregon school, a white school, eight boys castrated one day. Nobody\u2013 nobody bothering you, molesting you, or hurting you. You\u2019re getting to eat. You have shelter. You\u2019re not cold. Chicago gets ablizzardly cold. You people are amazing<\/em> to me. Your inability to think. Your inability to\u2013 You\u2019re able to be quite selfish, quite selfish, but your total inability to think how it could be so much worse. [Long pause] You\u2019re conditioned to go back, because that\u2019s your brain, you been brainw\u2013 programmed like a bro\u2013 robot, you\u2019re gonna have the thoughts to go back, that\u2019s all you knew. [pause] Have you ever considered the blessings of this place? Did you hear what I read uh, from Carol Dennis today? Did any of you? You idiots that were always causing this trouble? [long pause]\u00a0Did you hear what Carol Dennis wrote?<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> Yes, I did, Dad.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Well, how\u2019d that take\u2013 She\u2019s<\/em> white. How\u2019d that\u2013 how\u2019d that\u2013 uh, how did you reflect on what she said?<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> Well, I\u2019m grateful for, you know, I mean, that people who find happiness and contentment here, I\u2019m\u2013 I\u2019m glad\u2013 happy that that\u2019s the case. [Heavy breathing] Sorry, but it just hasn\u2019t been able to work for me.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Hmm? [raises voice, suddenly becomes angry] Do you know why<\/em>, sir, it doesn\u2019t work for you?! I am tired<\/em>, tired of 25 years of selfish sons of bitches like you.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Stirs<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Listening to the likes of you make me sick, and yet I\u2019d love you enough to die for you. Tonight, you had a medical emergency, I\u2019d break my body to carry you through the jungle to get you treatment, but God damn you. I\u2019m sorry, you say. This poor white man says he\u2019s sorry that he uh, has so inconvenienced by this place. You\u2019re glad for that poor white bitch [Carol Dennis], whose contentment evidently she<\/em> found, but you\u2019re superior<\/em> to her, you\u2019re a little higher than her, you\u2019re not a communist, you\u2019re an elitist, you\u2019re a fuckin\u2019 miserable capitalist, you\u2019re a stench in the nostrils, you should be shot! I suggest that.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Scattered cheers<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> How do you react to that? Not\u2013 not shot like you want, shot through the hip. Shot through the hip, so you can lay, [Cries with anger] lay and suffer and feel because you know no pain, you\u2019re a protected bigot, a spoiled child of middle class petit bourgeoisie, you\u2019re an elitist, you\u2019re a goddamnable stench, [moderates voice] and yet I love you enough to live for you. You\u2019re miserable.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right! [Applause]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Hmm?<\/p>\n

[Someone speaking off mic]<\/p>\n

Voice in crowd directed to<\/strong> Partak:<\/strong> Respond to what Dad said, Tom.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> With all the other fuckers. [Yells] Wake up, bitch!<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> I think what he says is true, uh.<\/p>\n

Voice off mic<\/strong>: [unintelligible request to \u201cmotherfuckin\u2019 shoot him\u201d]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Through the hips.<\/p>\n

Voice off mic<\/strong>: \u2013through the hips\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: [barely controlled anger]\u00a0So you can lay<\/em>! So you can feel pain<\/em>! You who feel you have so much pain! You, who never suffered for nobody or give a goddamn about anybody, or wouldn\u2019t lift a finger to save one of us. You should know pain, and I know a million<\/em> ways to give it to you. [moderates] It\u2019s a good thing I\u2019m a loving savior\u2013<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> No! [Applause]<\/p>\n

Voice in crowd<\/strong>: Speaks to Partak asking for a response<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> He better respond, [Enraged fervor] because you will. We\u2019ll get you out of your goddamned petit bourgeois silence, we\u2019ll bring you out of your fuckin\u2019 protective shell and your goddamned capitalist game, your mental, emotional insanity, we don\u2019t believe<\/em> in insanity!<\/p>\n

Crowd<\/strong>: No! [Applause]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> We\u2019re not privileged, we\u2019re niggers. We don\u2019t have the privilege<\/em> to go insane. Be on expensive tranquilizers and have some stupid shrink stand over us, and tell us why we wanted to fuck our mother.<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> [Mumbles] I don\u2019t think I want to be shot through the hips like that, Jim.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> You don\u2019t?<\/p>\n

Voice in crowd<\/strong>: Mocks Partak about being shot in the hips<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> I said I don\u2019t think I would like that.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> [Chuckles] Of course you wouldn\u2019t like that.<\/p>\n

Voice in crowd<\/strong>: [unintelligible]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Thank you, sister! You hear them\u2013 the black comrade say? That sister say? What\u2019d she say?<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> [mumbles] She doesn\u2019t like me taking up [unintelligible word] your time.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Uh-uh [No], we don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Jeers at Partak<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> [Long pause] We could get some rest. No, we have to deal with this shit<\/em> every night. Boy, you\u2019re gonna\u2013 gonna\u2013 we\u2013 we can\u2019t<\/em> let this get by, you\u2019re just gonna go and do an act like this and take up our time, shit, we just patch over it like some little sick person. We don\u2019t believe in sickness. China\u2019s proved that mental illness doesn\u2019t exist. All the mental cases were sh\u2013 let out, as I told you, the captain says, well, they wouldn\u2019t work and they were all shittin\u2019 on themselves and rubbin\u2019 shit on each\u2013 themselves and each other, and they said well, now, if that\u2019s the case, you\u2019re not gonna be of any benefit to the revolution, we\u2019re gonna shoot<\/em> you. And all of them went to work that day. You too<\/em>! If you thought you didn\u2019t have an easy way out. If you thought you were gonna have to suffer. You\u2019ve been playing with our mercy.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right. [Long pause]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Talk<\/em>!<\/p>\n

Partak<\/strong>: [mumbles] Well\u2013 [heavy breathing]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> For the sake of this collective, I\u2019ll crush<\/em> your ego, unless you come out of this goddamned game. I\u2019ll crumble you in the ground and make<\/em> you a nigger. Just like us, only you will be a little bit worse shape, because we\u2019re<\/em> strong\u2013<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right! [Applause]<\/p>\n

Voices in crowd<\/strong>: Asks Partak questions, unintelligible<\/p>\n

Voice in crowd<\/strong>: Speak up!<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Answer some of these questions, sir.<\/p>\n

Partak<\/strong>: [mumbles] I guess I just, uh\u2013 I don\u2019t like the structure, and uh\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: [through clenched teeth] I don\u2019t give a fuck<\/em> what you don\u2019t like. I\u2019m tired of hearing what you don\u2019t like. I want to hear what you\u2019re gonna do about changing your miserable, goddamned self. [Pause] I don\u2019t give a fuck<\/em>. You want to leave tonight? Would you like to go tonight? How would you like to leave tonight? Just say you would like to. We got a path we\u2019ll send you through. Any path you wanna take. Do you want to leave tonight<\/em>!<\/p>\n

Partak<\/strong>: [meekly] No\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> [enraged] Miserable goddamned person, look<\/em> at these people that you\u2019re draining dry, if you don\u2019t have any compassion on me, I\u2019ve lost my mother, God damn you! [Physically attacks Partak]<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Calls<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> You miserable, self-centered son of a bitch [Jones seething, speaking though his teeth]. Enough, Chris.<\/p>\n

[Partak groans]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Yes, and I\u2019ll give you more, and more, you\u2019re gonna walk, you\u2019re gonna stay awake for 24 hours [Jones continues to rough up Partak] [off mic] You\u2019re gonna be crazy!<\/p>\n

Voice in crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right!<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> God damn you!<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Cheers<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> That\u2019s what I think of his insanity, don\u2019t believe in this shit.<\/p>\n

[Partak breathing heavily into mic, crowd jeering and yelling]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> My son just died. One of my black sons was shot<\/em> for the likes of you.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> [violently hostile, jeering, \u201cwhat do you got to say?!\u201d]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> [seething] What did I just say to you, prick? You better talk carefully tonight, because I\u2019ve dealt<\/em> with your insanity for the last fuckin\u2019 time! I don\u2019t give a shit what you do! How you can commit suicide and come back like a goddamned fish worm, and let fish<\/em> eat you\u2013<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right!<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> See if I give a goddamn. You better get your ass together, tonight<\/em>! [Pause] This miserable prick.<\/p>\n

Multiple people in crowd yelling at<\/strong> Partak:<\/strong> Say something!<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> I\u2019ll change and [unintelligible] I have a socialist consciousness.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Why you gonna have a socialist consciousness?<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> So I can help, uh\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Because you\u2019re scared to death.<\/p>\n

Voice in crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right!<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> That\u2019s all right.<\/p>\n

Same voice in crowd<\/strong>: That\u2019s exactly right.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> I don\u2019t give a shit. I want you on\u2013 not on the floor. You hear me? Twice<\/em> you\u2019ve tried this shit.<\/p>\n

Man<\/strong>: \u2013He\u2019ll try it again too, because they brought him up there, he was actin\u2019 all goofy and shit, and brought him up there\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> He acts goofy\u2013 How would he like to stand in the sun<\/em> all day? You people think\u2013 You want us to make you goofy tonight?<\/p>\n

Partak<\/strong>\u00a0: [mumbles]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Miserable prick. All these black people have no right<\/em> to be goofy. They can\u2019t go goofy. They\u2019re not permitted, from the time they\u2019re born to think enough of themselves to go goofy.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right!<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Wouldn\u2019t dream of thinking of suicide because they got a child or somebody that they care about. (Pause) You test me. You fuckers are making a revolutionary out of me every day.<\/p>\n

Black male:<\/strong> We got the most brilliant mind in the world and we have to spend alla time on pricks like you. We can\u2019t even learn the teachings that we need. You ass\u2013 asshole\u2013<\/p>\n

White male:<\/strong> And it\u2019s bad enough we have to be white, and bear the brunt of having white skin, knowing that all of the suffering in the world\u2019s going on because of white<\/em> mother fuckers like you, who bleed black, brown, yellow, and red people all over the world. White people! White<\/em> people, mother fucker! And you were in Vietnam, mother fucker, you saw what the white man does, you saw what the white man does [attacks Partak]. You piss me off, fucker\u2013<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> [Sounds of shock]<\/p>\n

White male:<\/strong> Now look at them and apologize [unintelligible]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> You\u2019ll be guarded night and death [day], and I dare you to try suicide, [seething] God damn you! Take up my time [Strikes Partak]<\/p>\n

Male<\/strong>: Look at him! Look at him! Right in the eye!<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> [enraged as he thrashes Partak] I have\u2013 You\u2019ve made me a violent revolutionary. I despise<\/em> the look of your weakness, in your miserable weakness. Look<\/em> at these black people. Look at them<\/em>! You goddamned cursing scourge! [Pause] You ought to have to live under fascism. I wish to fuck<\/em> you could live under fascism. Pricks like you oughta have to live under it. [Pause] Look at her and her babies that she dropped in the cotton fields.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

Voice in crowd<\/strong>: [unintelligible] Look at her.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Look at her, fucker<\/em>! Go look at her. Look at her. [Pause] And see if you got a right to go to Chicago. See you right\u2013 if you got a go\u2013 right to go nurse your mama. Look at her<\/em>! When they didn\u2019t give her a right to drop her baby, and the baby had to die. Look at her<\/em>! And you keep looking at her, and for 10 fuckin\u2019 minutes you look at her. You sit down and rest your s\u2013 body and you look at her and don\u2019t you take your fuckin\u2019 white eyes off of her.<\/p>\n

Voices in crowd<\/strong>: [too soft]<\/p>\n

Woman<\/strong>: He told Pe\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> You keep looking at her, you watch her.<\/p>\n

Woman<\/strong>: He told Penny [Kerns] and I that he\u2019d like to go back to the States and get his job back. And the job he had was working for a multi-million dollar corporation as a security guard, so that he could protect them from any poor person that would try to break in there.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> [Jeers and yells]<\/p>\n

Patty [Cartmell]<\/strong>: And today I said, Don\u2019t you care about the people, can\u2019t you care about someone else? If you attempt suicide, you\u2019re gonna hurt this cause and you\u2019re gonna hurt Jim. I said, Don\u2019t you care? He said, Evidently not.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> [Jeers]<\/p>\n

Black woman<\/strong>: You are scum!<\/p>\n

Voice in crowd<\/strong>: White trash\u2013 [Pause] That\u2019s an example of white trash.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Speak, sir, give us a spee\u2013\u00a0 give us a lecture.<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> [slurred] Uh, what Patty said was\u2013 It\u2019s\u2013 it\u2019s true, uh, I\u2013<\/p>\n

Voices in crowd<\/strong>: [too soft]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> [away from mic] You tell us about yourself, let\u2019s tell\u2013 you tell us how you feel now.<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> [heavy breathing]All right. Uh, I mean I\u2019ve come to realize since I was over here, when I was in the States, uh, [heavy breathing] you know, as long as I was able to like, uh, uh, devote part time to the church, and go out and do\u2013 do my thing.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> But the rest of the time, I was\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> So all you people and your liberal psychiatric shit, and your bullshit intellectualism, all you intellectuals listen. He\u2019s talking rational. Every way opposite of what modern psychiatry would say to do. Say lay on the couch and we\u2019ll get some truth. Uh-uh. He didn\u2019t get no truth on the couch. [Pause] Go ahead. Go ahead.<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> I was never sure, just where I was at, I mean, it all look\u2013 you know, I was caught up in\u2013 in what I\u2019d been born in, all capitalist desires and stuff around me, you know, I was\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Yep.<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> Good food and\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Do you realize how many people are paying for so-called good food. You think about the Steve Biko\u2019s that were naked and brutalized every day, and now eight of his family? You think about the millions that were killed over in Vietnam? What about all those millions?<\/p>\n

Partak<\/strong>: [Attempts to speak, but Jones speaks over him]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> What\u2013 what did you do in Vietnam? Play checkers? What\u2019d you do over in Vietnam?<\/p>\n

Partak<\/strong>: [stumbles]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> You didn\u2019t get to see<\/em> all the mess then. The orders\u2013 Did you know something about the orders, throw a hand grenade in every house, \u2018cause they were colored. Level every city to save them from communism. Kill the people, in order so they wouldn\u2019t go\u2013 be\u2013 be allowed to be free and be communist. You saw all the television pictures, didn\u2019t you? The poor Vietnamese coming out, burned half alive, and they\u2019d still throw more, or shoot in uh, more, a flamethrower, or whatever their goddamned weapons, their personnel\u2013 anti-personnel weapons were. You surely knew the stories. Bombing whole cities to killing every last person.<\/p>\n

Partak<\/strong>: [slurred] That was the original reasoning I\u2013 I was attracted to the Temple when I\u2013 I\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Well, why don\u2019t you keep in mind<\/em> that? Do you really want to eat the blood of your human brothers and sisters? There\u2019s whites<\/em> that have suffered under this terrible, terrible oppression too. White Virginia miners that look a lot like you. You look like a Virginian. They die at an average age of 45, silicosis of the blood\u2013 of their lungs. Spitting out their lungs because of some white, fuckin\u2019 capitalist that you\u2019re gonna be a security guard to, to protect. Would you have shot<\/em> one of those white Virginia miners coming in to get some money for bread for his family? Would you have shot<\/em> the black man that woulda come through that rich capitalist you were gonna protect?<\/p>\n

Crowd<\/strong>: Stirs<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> No. One night when I was on my job there, the three men were broke into a truck and I could see\u2013 I mean we weren\u2019t to the place looking too far from Hunter\u2019s Point, so I\u2013 I beeped my horn and everything, you know\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> To get them to go?<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> \u2013they made a lot of noise, so that they\u2019d, you know\u2013 that they\u2019d know I had seen `em, before I called\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Well, why don\u2019t you \u2013 you got a lot of goodness in you \u2013 why don\u2019t you encourage that goodness, son?<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> [exhales heavily]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> The fuck do you want from that system? That you feel\u2013 fuck, much more guilty than you do, up\u2013 upset because you don\u2019t have it, walking around in that goddamned society that kills people like Chris, just because they\u2019re trying to help other black people. He was killed, he was assassinated this time, because he was trying to do what was right. [Pause] That bother you?<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> Uh, I\u2013 I knew, I mean, because I had all these [pause] capitalistic urges within me\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> [raises voice] So you have these urges, \u2018cept you said you were conditioned.\u00a0Think<\/em> about them, why don\u2019t you follow them through?<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> I just knew the first few months that I\u2019d done, I\u2019d been over here, I\u2019d go through this real conflict within myself\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Well, how many more<\/em> have?<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> When this\u2013 I mean, I made the choice to come over here and\u2013 and\u2013<\/p>\n

Voice in crowd<\/strong>: [Unintelligible statement about arrogance]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> After\u2013 well, you finish some of that McDonald\u2019s hamburger, what the hell different do you feel, living\u2013 eating a cutlass bean?<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> [Lightly stirs]<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> Uh-huh [yes], it\u2019s true\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> And you don\u2019t get as cold here.<\/p>\n

Voice in crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> You don\u2019t have to worry about somebody stabbing you. You\u2019da never<\/em> come under this wrath, but you\u2019ve come in a time of [emphatic] desperation. You heap more pain on us. Is it not enough that we lost a heroine of the faith, and my mom, and then I lose a son? I fought him through co\u2013 court battles, if I\u2019da been there, all the guilt, conflict in my mind, I could\u2019ve saved him again, no doubt. But he wouldn\u2019t stay here, where I coulda saved him. All that pain, and then you put more pain on me? How would you think I\u2019da felt going up there, because you\u2019re another one of my family, if I had found you wounded or dead?\u00a0[Pause]<\/p>\n

Partak<\/strong>: [Breathes heavily into the mic] Sorry, Jim, I was just\u2013 it was completely selfish of me.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> It\u2019s true.<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> I\u2019ll make it up to you and work as hard as I can.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> If you did that, you\u2019d get in the line of work that you could do and like. So you don\u2019t have to be in a structure tighter than a\u2013 a cage. It\u2019s this kind of shit that keeps you there. You\u2019re almost ready to get out, and then you do this kinda shit. Keep your word and see. Keep your word. Because we\u2013 we are loving. It\u2019s a\u2013 it\u2019s a love, it\u2019s a rage of love that ca\u2013 a fury, it\u2019s hurt, it\u2019s pain that causes all this. And then it\u2019s a second thing, more important, you couldn\u2019t dare let this kinda thing get by. If we did, all society would break down. Every indulgent act would be endorsed. You understand that?<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> Yes, I\u2019m gonna\u2013 I\u2019m\u2013 I\u2019m glad, when, uh, karate group first started, and I got beat up by Don and Sebastian [McMurry], I had the feeling, you know, that people\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> [interrupts,\u00a0 unintelligible under Partak]<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> \u2013black people had gone\u2013 gone through at the hands of the police\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Yeah, it\u2019s, it\u2019s\u2013 [mumbles]<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> It\u2019s like you said one time, that we look like the chain gang, that\u2019s\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Yeah.<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> \u2013what, I tried\u2013 I tried [Unintelligible], you know? [Unintelligible] experience\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> But son, you\u2019re not\u2013 Son, you\u2019re not ever gonna get over feeling that you don\u2019t like pain and work, and there not every kind of work\u2019s gonna appeal to you. Life\u2019s<\/em> not gonna appeal to you. Let\u2019s just think that we have a blessing that [Unintelligible], there\u2019s uh, several hundred of us, and we can make a helluva noise for socialism.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Stirs<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> We can make a helluva noise.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> [becomes raucous]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Peace. If they come, we can do a fuckin\u2019 good, a lot of good. And if they wanna keep pushing us, we can do it here, we can do it over in the United States. That\u2019s\u2013 Nobody says you\u2019re gonna hafta like everything you do, but look at the benefits of it. Look at the faces of black mothers who won\u2019t have to have any more children dropped in the fields. Think of children that won\u2019t get the police beat on them like this, every day worse, not with hands, miserable clubs, butts of guns, and then other embarrassing and horrible things, stick things up their anus. Police do it, in every city in America.<\/p>\n

Voice in crowd<\/strong>: [Unintelligible]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Yes, it\u2019s in the [San Francisco] Chronicle<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Same voice in crowd<\/strong>: [Unintelligible]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> It won\u2019t last. That\u2019s the important thing to realize, too, I rea\u2013 Did you heard the news tonight, that the Near East is near a war, and that the Soviets is lining up on one side, and then America on the other, and the nuclear missiles will come into play, and it\u2019s either that one night, it\u2019s that, it\u2019s other night, that it\u2019s in Turkey, someplace else, all the goddamned time. Your future is on a fingertip, on a hair. You\u2019re thinkin\u2019 like that\u2019s gonna last forever. It can\u2019t. The fuckin\u2019 country\u2019s gone crazy. Racist dogs runnin\u2019 loose in the streets. All kinds of confusion, joblessness, economic problems, [President Jimmy] Carter doesn\u2019t have control of things, he\u2019s in a\u2013 in a whirlwind. You\u2019re acting like it\u2019s gonna go on forever. It\u2019s not gonna go on forever. Even people in your<\/em> category or background are gonna feel the pain<\/em> of what it is, of hunger. There ain\u2019t no pain like that. We<\/em> don\u2019t have to go hungry if these dear black la\u2013 ladies. Look at the pride in them, planting bananas, we can plant enough bananas\u2013 Ever eat a banana like these bananas? Best goddamned bananas you ever eat\u2013<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> No, they\u2019re very good\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> We could live on bananas if we had to.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right!<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> And that\u2019s why every fucker oughta be planting a banana.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right!<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Everywhere. Knowing what they\u2019re doing and I hope that agro\u2013 agronomists are telling\u2013 the agricultural people are telling them what to do. What is it you plant of the banana so they\u2019ll know? [To Partak] Stand up, you\u2013 you go back to your routine, it\u2019s no more, we just wanted you to know that we can\u2019t tolerate<\/em> this behavior. It\u2019s not that we hate you. We love you. I love you. I\u2019d die for you. This very second, I\u2019d die for you. What uh\u2013 what is, uh\u2013 we\u2013 we got to teach that this kind of behavior can\u2019t be, because this would be a tragedy<\/em> to our movement.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right!<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> Oh, thank you.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Not only a tragedy to you, you need to have an impression\u2013 impression on your mind, that mind is not to be messed with. You can be a lot hellish, worse condition than you are in right now. [To crowd] What is the uh, thing that you plant the bananas? [To Partak] Dismissed.<\/p>\n

Partak:<\/strong> Thank you, Jim.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Thank you. What is\u2013 what is the, uh, that you plant, so you can tell these people, some people still planting the whole\u2013 the whole thing.<\/p>\n

Voice in crowd<\/strong>: [Unintelligible]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> The sucker.<\/p>\n

End of tape.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Editor\u2019s note: This tape was transcribed by Adrian Whicker. The editors gratefully acknowledge his invaluable assistance.) To read the Tape Summary, click here. Listen to MP3 (Pt. 1, Pt. 2). To return to the Tape Index, click here. Young boy 1: I\u2019d like to thank Dad, \u2018cause [unintelligible word] Dad that he is, and I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"parent":27291,"menu_order":618,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-118321","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/118321","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=118321"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/118321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123212,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/118321\/revisions\/123212"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=118321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}