{"id":71685,"date":"2017-11-08T05:36:13","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T13:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=71685"},"modified":"2017-11-08T05:53:07","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T13:53:07","slug":"letter-from-yulanda-williams","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=71685","title":{"rendered":"Letter from Yulanda D.A. Williams"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>(This letter is in response to <\/em><em><a href=\"http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=70364\">What Does It Mean to be a \u201cSurvivor\u201d?<\/a>,\u00a0 <\/em><em>an article by Laura Johnston Kohl. <a href=\"http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=71683\">Leslie Wagner-Wilson<\/a> also wrote a letter, and <a href=\"http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=71687\">Laura Johnston Kohl<\/a> wrote a reply to both.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>To the Editor,<\/p>\n<p>I continue to experience difficulties with individuals who presume that the word \u201cwe\u201d applies to more than their own individual opinions or thoughts. I do not need anyone to speak about me or for me. I maintain my own voice, and I\u2019m able to vocalize as well as command the English language.<\/p>\n<p>One definition of a \u201cvictim\u201d is as someone\u2019s prey which requires the pity of others, or as someone who has low self-esteem. Neither of these describes me. I desire no one\u2019s pity, and my self-esteem is phenomenal. I seek dignity and respect, and I give it to those I encounter who are deserving of the same. Therefore, with all due respect, I would appreciate no one ever referring to me \u2013 a survivor of Peoples Temple and Jonestown \u2013 as a \u201cvictim.\u201d I will never be anyone\u2019s \u201cvictim.\u201d I have been a Victorious Lioness, which I know comes from my strong conviction and faith in God and family.<\/p>\n<p>I am soaring with my wings expanded, for I believe I can fly like an Eagle and roar like a Lioness, praising God, glory, honor, virtue, divinity, prudence and fortitude.<\/p>\n<p>Laura Johnston Kohl does not speak for me.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><em>\u2013\u2013 Yulanda D.A. Williams<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(This letter is in response to What Does It Mean to be a \u201cSurvivor\u201d?,\u00a0 an article by Laura Johnston Kohl. Leslie Wagner-Wilson also wrote a letter, and Laura Johnston Kohl wrote a reply to both.) To the Editor, I continue to experience difficulties with individuals who presume that the word \u201cwe\u201d applies to more than [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":70528,"menu_order":14,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-71685","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/71685","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=71685"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/71685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71695,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/71685\/revisions\/71695"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/70528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}