{"id":81939,"date":"2018-09-30T09:42:03","date_gmt":"2018-09-30T16:42:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=81939"},"modified":"2026-03-03T15:05:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T23:05:59","slug":"the-jonestown-journal","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=81939","title":{"rendered":"Jonestown Journal"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>In January 2018, Rebecca Moore, the co-manager of this site, started a year-long series of posts on her Further Moore<\/a><\/i> blog which focused on \u201cissues [surrounding Jonestown and Peoples Temple] that will be coming up and that have already emerged.\u201d By the end of the year \u2013 when the Jonestown Journal<\/em> completed its run \u2013 it had almost 40 entries. They are republished below.<\/p>\n

The Jonestown Journal<\/em> was briefly revived in 2021.Those entries also appear below.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Jonestown Journal<\/a>, 1\/19\/2018<\/li>\n
  2. Erasure, Part 1<\/a>, 1\/22\/2018<\/li>\n
  3. Erasure, Part 2<\/a>, 1\/23\/2018<\/li>\n
  4. Erasure, Conclusions<\/a>, 1\/26\/2018<\/li>\n
  5. Ugh!<\/a>, 2\/3\/2018<\/li>\n
  6. Was *I* That Bad?!??<\/a>, 2\/6\/2018<\/li>\n
  7. Some Final Words on Journalists (or for Journalists)<\/a>, 2\/10\/2018<\/li>\n
  8. The Black Hole of Guyana<\/a>, 2\/22\/2018<\/li>\n
  9. The Women Behind the Massacre<\/a>, 3\/4\/2018<\/li>\n
  10. Fact or Fiction<\/a>, 3\/7\/2018<\/li>\n
  11. Back to the Sources<\/a>, 3\/15\/2018<\/li>\n
  12. The \u201cNew Peoples Temple\u201d?<\/a>, 3\/20\/2018<\/li>\n
  13. Complicity<\/a>, 3\/31\/2018<\/li>\n
  14. Year of the Cult<\/a>, 4\/13\/2018<\/li>\n
  15. Blackjonestown.org<\/a>, 4\/23\/2018<\/li>\n
  16. Some Two-Dollar Words<\/a>, 4\/26\/2018<\/li>\n
  17. Searchable FBI Files<\/a>, 5\/1\/2018<\/li>\n
  18. Conversion or Coercion<\/a>, 5\/18\/2018<\/li>\n
  19. Coercion \u2013 Not Brainwashing<\/a>, 5\/19\/2018<\/li>\n
  20. Brainwashing is a Pseudoscience<\/a>, 6\/3\/2018<\/li>\n
  21. Conditioning \u2013 The Third \u201cC\u201d<\/a>, 6\/6\/2018<\/li>\n
  22. Concluding Postscript on Brainwashing<\/a>, 6\/6\/2018<\/li>\n
  23. Interview Fatigue<\/a>, 6\/20\/2018<\/li>\n
  24. Wait\u2026 What?<\/a>, 6\/24\/2018<\/li>\n
  25. Photos Online<\/a>, 7\/6\/2018<\/li>\n
  26. Shout Out to Don Beck!<\/a>, 7\/15\/2018<\/li>\n
  27. Deconstructing the Doctor<\/a>, 7\/27\/2018<\/li>\n
  28. Jones Family Collection Online<\/a>, 8\/15\/2018<\/li>\n
  29. Fences<\/a>, 8\/16\/2018<\/li>\n
  30. The Sunflower<\/a>, 8\/30\/2018<\/li>\n
  31. Is Insanity Contagious?, <\/a>, 9\/30\/2018<\/li>\n
  32. Hate Mail<\/a>, 10\/8\/2018<\/li>\n
  33. Interpreting Jonestown<\/a>, 10\/15\/2018<\/li>\n
  34. Apostolic Socialism<\/a>, 11\/9\/2018<\/li>\n
  35. Generosity<\/a>, 11\/13\/2018<\/li>\n
  36. It Was Beautiful!<\/a>, 11\/21\/2018<\/li>\n
  37. Teresa Buford O’Shea<\/a>, 11\/28\/2018<\/li>\n
  38. See You Next Time<\/a>, 12\/17\/2018<\/li>\n
  39. “Jonestown Journal” is Back!<\/a>, 11\/21\/2021<\/li>\n
  40. Remembering the Dead, Respecting the Living<\/a>, 11\/27\/2021<\/li>\n
  41. Who is L J Guillory?<\/a>, 12\/11\/2021<\/li>\n
  42. The Limits of Forgiveness?<\/a>, 12\/24\/2021<\/li>\n
  43. Temporary Pause<\/a>, 12\/28\/2021<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    <\/a>Jonestown Journal<\/strong>, 1\/19\/2018<\/p>\n

    This coming November is the fortieth anniversary of the deaths in Jonestown. This means there is great media and public interest in the topics of crazy cultists, mass suicide, deranged cult leaders, and so on.<\/p>\n

    Because a lot of crap will be flying around\u2014in addition to extremely measured and thoughtful treatments of Peoples Temple\u2014I am starting this blog to address some of the issues that will be coming up and that have already emerged.<\/p>\n

    I would like to make it clear that these are the opinions of a single individual. I speak for no one but myself. Those who were members of Peoples Temple, who were survivors of Jonestown, or who had some stake in the organization in the past, will not necessarily agree with what I have to say. I encourage them to start their own blogs.<\/p>\n

    Did I say that I was speaking only for myself?!?<\/p>\n

    With that noted, I encourage readers to write, respond, challenge, question, or otherwise engage in the discussion of Peoples Temple and Jonestown during this very significant period. It will probably be the last time anyone inside or outside the network of Jonestown survivors will have the opportunity to reflect on these issues publicly.<\/p>\n

    <\/a>Erasure, Part 1<\/strong>, 1\/22\/2018<\/p>\n

    Recently Dr. James Lance Taylor discussed the \u201cerasure\u201d of African Americans from the story of Jonestown, along with their erasure from the Western Addition of San Francisco (see\u00a0article in SFGate<\/a><\/u>). Coincidentally, I will be giving a lecture at Bucknell University on 31 January titled \u201cThe Erasure (and Re-inscription) of African Americans from the Jonestown Narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Much has been happening recently to re-inscribe people of color into our understanding of Jonestown. This includes a significant panel discussion organized by Dr. Sikivu Hutchinson at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco last summer.<\/p>\n

    But I want to note that there were multiple examinations of the Temple from black perspectives right from the beginning. It is important to remember that Dr. Archie Smith Jr. and Muhammed Isaiah Kenyatta published articles in 1979, and C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence Mamiya published their important analysis \u201cDaddy Jones and Father Divine\u201d in 1980.<\/p>\n

    Some of the earliest memoirs presented the experiences of African American males in Jonestown. Ken Wooden\u2019s\u00a0The Children of Jonestown<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(1981) relied extensively on interviews with Stanly Clayton, while\u00a0Awake in a Nightmare<\/a><\/i>\u00a0(1981) essentially narrated the story of Odell Rhodes.<\/p>\n

    These early accounts were soon eclipsed by a dominant white narrative. The exception to this, however, came from Guyana, to be discussed in the next installment.<\/p>\n

    <\/a>Erasure, Part II<\/strong>, 1\/23\/2018<\/p>\n

    Within days of the Jonestown tragedy, Eusi Kwayana criticized the government of Guyana for complicity in the event.<\/p>\n

    In an article from 21 November 1978 titled \u201cA State Within a State,\u201d the long-time Guyana political activist charged that \u201cthe regime stands accused of criminal negligence,\u201d along with criminal greed, criminal conspiracy and criminal arrogance. Kwayana\u2019s voice was one of many from Guyana that have been neglected over the intervening decades.<\/p>\n

    Writers from Guyana interpreted Jonestown within the framework of historical colonial relationships between Europe and indigenous societies, including slave economies. Their outlook has never been part of the Jonestown story as told in the United States. As they tell it, the story is about Guyana rather than Jonestown.<\/p>\n

    There are many Caribbean intellectuals I could name who have contributed to the explication of events in Jonestown, Guyana. They include Dr. Walter Rodney (assassinated by Guyana government forces in 1980), Dr. Gordon Lewis, Jan Carew, Fred D\u2019Aguiar, Wilson Harris, Michael Gilkes, Shiva Naipaul, and of course Eusi Kwayana.<\/p>\n

    One example of many: In a lecture given at Stanford University in 1979, Dr. Rodney proposed the question \u201cWhy Guyana?\u201d rather than \u201cWhy Jonestown?\u201d He proceeded to examine the social and political factors that made an American expatriate commune so attractive to the developing nation. From the stance of the Guyanese people, Jonestown was a preventable disaster, though \u201cif it was to have been prevented, the principal agency in its prevention would have had to be the Guyanese government.\u201d (To read Rodney’s complete speech,\u00a0click here<\/a><\/u>.)<\/p>\n

    In Jan Carew\u2019s dream-like parable \u201cJonestown Revisited,\u201d the mystical shaman Kalinyas says, \u201cThey wrote so many words about Jonestown . . . but they wrote them about themselves. For them we were invisible.\u201d (To read Carew’s story,\u00a0click here<\/a><\/u>.) That pretty much sums up the nature of erasure. For most analysts Guyana doesn\u2019t exist except as the backdrop to the important actions of North Americans.<\/p>\n

    Back to the Top<\/a><\/p>\n

    <\/a>Erasure, Conclusions (for now)<\/strong>, 1\/26\/2018<\/p>\n

    African Americans have experienced the erasure or silencing of their voices from narratives about Jonestown. Nevertheless . . . there have been many voices. They just haven\u2019t been heard. I\u2019m going to note a few in these concluding remarks.<\/p>\n

    Pat Parker\u2019s long poem \u201cJonestown\u201d repeats the refrain \u201cBlack folks do not commit suicide \/ Black folks do not \/ Black folks do not \/ Black folks do not commit suicide.\u201d She then goes on to write that the people in Jonestown were murdered by teachers who didn\u2019t care, by politicians who didn\u2019t care, by welfare workers who didn\u2019t care. Thus, she sets the story of Jonestown squarely within the context of the black experience in America.<\/p>\n

    darlene anita scott has published poems about Jonestown in a number of literary journals, but they are collected on the\u00a0Alternative Considerations\u00a0<\/em>website here<\/a><\/u>. Scott really captures life in Jonestown, both the joy and the pathos. The poem \u201cHow Today Will Look When It\u2019s History (14 September 1977)\u201d grasps the essence of the complicated family structure that existed in Peoples Temple: \u201cI have two sisters, a brother, and \/ none of them look like me. \/ Sometimes I wish they did. \/ Or, I, like them.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Carmen Gillespie is another poet, whose book\u00a0Jonestown: A Vexation<\/em>, depicts the enigma and paradox of life and death in the community. The book comprises commentary, biography, and history as well as poetry, and, on occasion, incorporates words from Jim Jones\u2019 sermons and speeches.<\/p>\n

    Two memoirs by African American women enlarge our understanding of what life was like in the Temple and in Jonestown. Hyacinth Thrash\u2019s\u00a0The Onliest One Alive<\/em><\/a> tells her story of surviving Jonestown simply by sleeping through the events. But it is more than that: we see the appeal of Peoples Temple to elderly black women. Leslie Wagner-Wilson\u2019s\u00a0Slavery of Faith\u00a0<\/a><\/em>describes the experiences of a young woman in the Temple and her remarkable escape from Jonestown on the last day. If life was arduous in the jungle, Wagner-Wilson found it even more difficult in the United States afterwards. She recounts her time as a battered woman, her struggles as a single mother, and her fight to get free of drug addiction.<\/p>\n

    Finally,\u00a0Sikivu Hutchinson<\/a>\u2019s novel,\u00a0White Nights, Black Paradise<\/em>\u00a0creates four fictional African American women who represent a spectrum of attitudes toward the Temple and toward Jim Jones. Her characters are smart, skeptical, and sharp, and are drawn to the radical politics of the group. Dr. Hutchinson has developed the novel into a drama that has received staged readings in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

    I could go on, but you get the idea. Erasure is real. It happens and will continue to happen. This means we must be ever vigilant as to the ways in which erasure occurs. We must be pro-active in seeking out the untold stories, the forgotten histories, the neglected pathways. This is not just the task of the scholar. It falls to everyone.<\/p>\n

    <\/a>Ugh!<\/strong>, 2\/3\/2018<\/p>\n

    It took a lot of convincing, but Tim Moran of Every Hill Productions persuaded me to participate in a documentary about \u201cthe women of Jonestown.\u201d This was more than two years ago.<\/p>\n

    So it was with great distress to learn that the title of the film is \u201cJonestown: The Women Behind the Massacre.\u201d The executive producer, Nicole Rittenhouse, explained to me that the title selection came from A&E, the network airing the documentary in February. Hmmmm. . .<\/p>\n

    As the A&E website states: “The special will explore the influence that Jones\u2019 wife Marceline Jones and mistresses Carolyn Layton, Maria Katsaris and Annie Moore had on The People\u2019s Temple and its tragic end.” Not a good sign that they can’t even spell Peoples Temple correctly. Aside from the fact that Annie was Jones’ nurse rather than mistress.<\/p>\n

    I think anyone who has ever talked to the news media knows what it\u2019s like to feel burned. But this sense of feeling burned by journalists is especially true of people connected to Jonestown, whether former members, defectors, relatives, or anyone else for that matter.<\/p>\n

    Even the good reporters\u2014the ones who \u201cget\u201d Peoples Temple, listen to you, and really understand\u2014never tell the story quite the way you think they will, or you think they should. And then there are the exploiters, who just want to focus on blood and guts. I don\u2019t talk to them. And yet, here I am on \u201cWomen Behind the Massacre.\u201d<\/p>\n

    <\/a>Was *I* that bad?!??<\/strong>, 2\/6\/2018<\/p>\n

    Before I had a career in academia, I worked as a producer in public television in all the large markets\u2014South Dakota, Montana, Northern Nevada! I did lots of short video packages (mini-documentaries) of five and ten minutes. I also worked in print journalism and remember how I would fashion a news or feature story. Now, after being on the receiving end of journalists\u2019 attention, I wonder if I, too, never got it right.<\/p>\n

    As I write books, articles, and papers today I think about the fact that I am retelling the story in my own words and in my own way. I am acutely aware of what I am leaving out, how I\u2019m missing the inflections, the qualifications, the elements that complicate the narrative. It\u2019s mainly accurate, and yet. . . space limitations or stylistic choices color the pieces in ways that the subjects might not appreciate.<\/p>\n

    There is no malice in this process. It\u2019s the disconnect between subject and object. As subjects, we see the world from our unique perspectives; as objects, however, someone else is seeing us, and reporting on what they think we\u2019re seeing. Put another way: we hear what we want to hear. This means that unless we are telling our own story, we are relying on someone else to hear us correctly, and then to write about us correctly. That\u2019s a lot of faith.<\/p>\n

    Back to the Top<\/a><\/p>\n

    <\/a>Some Final Words on Journalists (or for Journalists)<\/strong>, 2\/10\/2018<\/p>\n

    In the last few posts I have been criticizing reporters, and perhaps a bit unfairly. Most act with integrity and are sincerely trying to get it right under lots of pressure from management and within severe time constraints. Nevertheless, there are the exceptions. A few final observations.<\/p>\n

    Item One. Quite a few years ago a cable news company was seeking some information about Peoples Temple and Jonestown for their documentary. (As a side note, Fielding and I respond to all requests\u2014no matter how ridiculous\u2014with courtesy and dignity. We have never taken any money for this, although we have been offered $$$ to be \u201ctechnical consultants.\u201d) I was not in the documentary, but was nevertheless allowed to look at the script for accuracy. When I told the production assistant that it seemed a little exaggerated and that there were some inaccuracies, she replied: \u201cIt\u2019s a news story: there have to be good guys and bad guys.\u201d She was obviously repeating something she had learned in News Writing 101, but that dictum explains a lot about many news stories.<\/p>\n

    Item Two: More recently, I concluded a conversation with a reporter by saying \u201cWell I hope you can use this background information as you work on your story.\u201d She replied that the entire conversation had been \u201con the record.\u201d She had not stated that to me explicitly at the outset but, in her defense, she had been speaking with Fielding before he handed the phone to me. I told her directly, \u201cI feel burned.\u201d There was a little tension in the remainder of the conversation, but we have since worked it out.<\/p>\n

    Item Three: I discussed in a previous blog the disconnect between what I was told about the documentary on \u201cwomen in Jonestown\u201d and what will actually be airing on A&E. The angle the producers were taking was misrepresented to me.<\/p>\n

    Moral of the Story: If you don\u2019t want to feel burned, don\u2019t talk to the media.<\/p>\n

    <\/a>The Black Hole of Guyana<\/strong>, 2\/22\/2018<\/p>\n

    One of the most influential documents to emerge from the Jonestown tragedy is John Judge\u2019s article \u201cThe Black Hole of Guyana<\/a><\/u>,\u201d recently added to the Jonestown website. Why? Because it is the Urtext for all subsequent conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n

    A complete analysis \u2014or rather, deconstruction\u2014of Judge\u2019s article will appear in the 2018\u00a0jonestown report<\/em>, as will a detailed examination of the conflicting testimonies given by Dr. Leslie Mooto, an inadvertent contributor to the conspiracy literature.<\/p>\n

    What I\u2019d like to say here is that I have been giving conspiracy theories, and theorists, a bit of a pass because they expressed umbrage at my placing their work in the conspiracy genre. A bit gun-shy after the criticism, I have been calling their work \u201calternative theories\u201d or even \u201calternative history.\u201d<\/p>\n

    In the current era of alternative facts, however, eschewing the conspiracy label suggests that these theories or histories have a credible foundation. That is simply not the case. Not only are sources misused and misquoted, but broad conclusions are deduced from smallest statements. Some things are misrepresented, and then there are outright lies.<\/p>\n

    Here is just one example. Contrary to the assertion of Judge in \u201cThe Black Hole of Guyana\u201d\u2014that Dr. Mootoo \u201cwas at Jonestown within hours after the massacre\u201d\u2014the Guyana pathologist actually arrived on the site two days later, in the afternoon of 20 November (FBI Section 28, Serial 1840). Does the expression \u201cwithin hours\u201d honestly mean 48 hours, two whole days?<\/p>\n

    That\u2019s the kind of thing that gives alternative historians a bad name. Deservedly so.<\/p>\n

    <\/a>The Women Behind the Massacre<\/strong>, 3\/4\/2018<\/p>\n

    I am experiencing extreme grief over the pain and suffering caused by my sisters, which I learned more about in the A&E documentary \u201cJonestown: The Women Behind the Massacre.\u201d It is somewhat ironic that the many documents we have made available through the \u201cAlternative Considerations\u201d website were used to such devastating effect in the program.<\/p>\n

    I am not saying this to gain sympathy\u2014please don\u2019t feel sorry for me! I\u2019m writing this by way of apologia, of recognition, deep recognition, of an agonizing truth.<\/p>\n

    I have said for decades that Jim Jones could not be held completely responsible for the deaths in Jonestown. Those words came back to sting me again and again, when people in the documentary said Carolyn and Annie were the \u201cmasterminds\u201d and the ones \u201cresponsible\u201d for what happened in Jonestown.<\/p>\n

    I could point out that, like Jim Jones, they too cannot be held completely responsible for the tragedy. Many people were complicit along the way and on the day itself.<\/p>\n

    But the point is this: By designing a plan\u2014which Jim Jones clearly could not do\u2014they *are* culpable. By directing others to implement the plan, on \u201corders from Jim,\u201d they *are* guilty. And thus the terrible pain for thousands of people\u2014not just on November 18, but the suffering that has reverberated through the years in so many dreadful and difficult ways.<\/p>\n

    They could have abandoned the plan any number of times. There were so many opportunities for them to ignore Jim, to redirect him, and even to kill him, if they believed it was necessary. But they did none of these things, instead enabling him in his mad scheme. In that respect, therefore, the documentary was quite accurate. But it did not tell the whole story.<\/p>\n

    [To be continued . . .]<\/p>\n

    Back to the Top<\/a><\/p>\n

    <\/a>Fact or Fiction?<\/strong>, 3\/7\/2018<\/p>\n

    So just how did they get all that actuality footage of Peoples Temple and Jonestown for the A&E documentary on Jonestown? It\u2019s easy, when you have actors re-enact scenes that were not filmed at the time.<\/p>\n

    \u201cWomen Behind the Massacre\u201d liberally mixed documentary footage with fictional re-creations, blending the two so effectively that it was almost impossible to differentiate between what was real and what was fake. (For a truly masterful mix\u2014where the musicians insert themselves into actuality footage\u2014see the Cults\u2019 music video \u201cGo Outside,\u201d\u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=eAM9diyVRiM<\/a><\/u>.) The A&E producers also used actors to read letters and other documents: the texts were real, but the voices reading them were not.<\/p>\n

    I hold Errol Morris responsible for the trend of using actors to re-create historical scenes in contemporary documentary filmmaking. His movie, \u201cThe Thin Blue Line\u201d (1988), successfully freed a man wrongfully imprisoned by using actors to show how the account of events given by the police was impossible. It was clear in that movie, however, that the re-creation was exactly that: it never purported or attempted to replace or supplement actuality footage.<\/p>\n

    But in today\u2019s documentaries, re-enactments are routinely used to fill in the blanks: lack of footage, lack of subjects, lack of imagination. Indeed, it might be hard to sell a documentary to a network without such dramatizations.<\/p>\n

    The problem with this is that viewers are misled into thinking they are seeing, and hearing, real people. That is what is so pernicious: giving people the impression that what they are viewing is true. Would it be that difficult to superimpose the words \u201cRe-enactment\u201d in the lower left corner of the screen whenever such footage or audio material was inserted? Without that disclaimer, it truly is fake news.<\/p>\n

    <\/a>Back to the Sources!<\/strong>, 3\/15\/2018<\/p>\n

    I have become a bit skeptical of \u201cfacts\u201d disclosed for the first time some decades after 1978. I have begun to trust only, or primarily, the earliest accounts regarding Jonestown that were committed to paper\u2014newspaper accounts, journals, interviews, and so on.<\/p>\n

    My skepticism is based on the realization that memory is fallible and faulty. Scientific studies of memory indicate that what we \u201cremember\u201d is actually a review of the neural pathway created by the memory, not the event itself. A new pathway is created each time we view the memory, sort of like a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy.<\/p>\n

    Case in point: the newspaper interviews conducted with Odell Rhodes and Stanley Clayton\u2014arguably eyewitnesses to events in Jonestown\u2014in the weeks immediately following would seem to be the most reliable accounts of what happened on 18 November 1978. We have recently posted FBI interviews conducted with Rhodes and Clayton in December 1978 and January 1979 that also seem consistent (https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=78593<\/a><\/u>).<\/p>\n

    We also tend to put more trust in the two books published in 1981 that depend upon their reflections\u2014Awake in a Nightmare<\/em>\u00a0for Rhodes and\u00a0Children of Jonestown<\/em>\u00a0for Clayton\u2014more than later speculations. This particularly applies to contrarian narratives, the new term for conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n

    This distrust of new revelations also applies to the memories of these primary sources, especially those of Stanley Clayton, whose addiction to drugs is tragic and well known. So when Clayton asserted in 2011 that Marceline dragged people to the vat of poison\u2014the first time ever mentioned\u2014we were dubious. When he told Fielding McGehee, also in 2011, that he saw a sharpshooter kill my sister Annie, we were suspicious.<\/p>\n

    Clayton had testified under oath at the inquest in Guyana in December 1978 that he heard a total of six gunshots on 18 November 1978. At that time he never mentioned automatic weapon fire, sharpshooters, or anything else.<\/p>\n

    We do not think Stanley Clayton was lying when he changed his story or added more details to the existing account. As with other reports we hear, we believe that the narrator is sincere and honest in relating the new-and-improved account. We just trust the earlier version to be closer to the reality of what happened.<\/p>\n

    In the Renaissance the motto was \u201cAd Fontes!\u201d\u2014back to the sources. Rather than rely on second- and third-hand translations, the Renaissance humanists wanted to go back to the earliest texts in the original languages. We think that\u2019s still a good habit, and encourage anyone interested in Jonestown and Peoples Temple to cultivate it.<\/p>\n

    <\/a>The “New Peoples Temple”?<\/strong>, 3\/20\/2018<\/p>\n

    Recently someone asked if there were a \u201cNew Peoples Temple.\u201d The short answer is no. This is simply a catch-phrase used to discredit and defame survivors\u2014by which I mean former Peoples Temple members\u2014who have held informal reunions and memorial services for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

    Dr. Jynona Norwood appears to be the first person to have used this expression. It can be found in the lawsuits she filed in 2011 attempting to halt the placement of four memorial plaques. In those filings she refers several times to \u201cthe surviving People\u2019s Church,\u201d led by Fielding McGehee and Jim Jones Jr. Dr. Norwood also mentions \u201cJim Jones\u2019 gang of leaders Fielding McGehee, Rebecca Moore and Jimmy Jones Jr.\u201d (See the Amended Complaint dated 7 November 2011 at\u00a0https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Norwood8.pdf<\/a><\/u>.)<\/p>\n

    Dr. Norwood has faithfully organized memorial services at Evergreen Cemetery year after year. For that we are grateful. But when her fundraising efforts after thirty years resulted in two monuments that were too large to set on the fragile hillside, the Jonestown Memorial Committee raised enough money in three months for memorial plaques to be set directly on the ground. (For the complete story see\u00a0https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=29331<\/a><\/u>.) The fact that the names of all those who died on 18 November 1978\u2014including that of Jim Jones\u2014appeared on the plaques angered her and others.<\/p>\n

    And so, Dr. Norwood\u2019s effort to discredit anyone who does not support her, her lawsuits, or her annual memorial service. To claim there is a new People\u2019s Temple, or a new People\u2019s Church, is simply a way to create guilt by association. There is no such organization. But there are people who sincerely disagree with Dr. Norwood’s approach to memorialization. I call your attention to reflections written by Dr. Archie Smith Jr. after he attended her services in 2011 (https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=34214<\/a><\/u>) and 2015 (https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=67412<\/a><\/u>).<\/p>\n

    My sincere gratitude to the individual who posted this question on The Jonestown Forum<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    Back to the Top<\/a><\/p>\n

    <\/a>Complicity<\/strong>, 3\/31\/2018<\/p>\n

    Just as Jim Jones did not plan or direct the deaths in Jonestown all by himself, I think the same is true of my sisters, of Maria Katsaris, and of Marceline Jones\u2014all vilified in the A&E documentary. I hope that enough time has elapsed that I do not sound defensive when I say this.<\/p>\n

    There is enough culpability to go around\u2014from those who assassinated Congressman Ryan and murdered the journalists; to those who tested the poison, prepared the poison, and distributed the poison; to those who shouted down Christine Miller when she protested; to the parents who stood by while their children were poisoned, let alone those who administered it themselves. All of the adults in Jonestown share some of the burden.<\/p>\n

    Clearly, people were not brainwashed, since a number attempted to leave and a few did escape. This would suggest that residents were still rational and able to make decisions. We have been told that they were exhausted, ready to give up, and thus susceptible to the temptation of ending it all\u2014perhaps in a blaze of glory called \u201crevolutionary suicide.\u201d Or that they were coerced, although no arrow or bullet wounds were ever detected, and the security forces also perished.<\/p>\n

    In situations of duress, however, which seemed to characterize conditions in Jonestown, to what extent can we blame individuals? Is everyone a victim in some respect? Were the perpetrators also in some way victims? I am not happy with any of these questions and have no answers.<\/p>\n

    <\/a>Year of the Cult<\/strong>, 4\/13\/2018<\/p>\n

    With the 25th anniversary of the Branch Davidian tragedy right around the corner on April 19; the 40th anniversary of the Jonestown deaths coming up in November; and the release of the documentary series about Rajneeshpuram in Oregon\u2014Wild Wild Country<\/em>\u2014cults seem to be in the news.<\/p>\n

    But shouldn\u2019t that be \u201cnew religious movements\u201d? Is cult an impartial term? We usually don\u2019t refer to Baptist cultists or Lutheran cultists. It\u2019s only religions that we don\u2019t like, or fear, that we call cults. Yet, after a decade or so of using the less pejorative expression new religion, or new religious movement, reporters are returning to the cult language. Just google \u201ccults in the news\u201d and compare with \u201cNRMs in the news\u201d to see what I mean. (I\u2019m really glad to learn that the New Richmond Middle Schoolers\u2014NRMS\u2014are doing so well in the Olympiad!)<\/p>\n

    Even the International Cultic Studies Society\u2014a cult awareness group\u2014differentiates between new religious movements (which may be neutral, if not benign) and cults (which are, by definition, bad). Michael Langone, Director of ICSA, suggests using the term \u201cpsychologically abusive groups\u201d (https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20201019101014\/https:\/\/www.icsahome.com\/articles\/cults-psy-abuse-and-thought-reform-langone<\/a><\/u>). This broadens the scope to include political, social, recreational, and other groups that may engage in cruel or sadistic behavior. Fraternity hazing comes to mind.<\/p>\n

    Catherine Wessinger addresses the problem of media bias and the cult stereotype in her thoughtful article about the Branch Davidians in the latest issue of \u201cThe Conversation\u201d (https:\/\/theconversation.com\/the-deaths-of-76-branch-davidians-in-april-1993-could-have-been-avoided-so-why-didnt-anyone-care-90816<\/a><\/u>). I highly recommend reading this to see why calling religious groups cults is misleading and downright dangerous.<\/p>\n

    In the blogs to come I will continue to address some of the issues relating to definitions and terminology that we are seeing in this Year of the Cult\u2014a much more dramatic title than \u201cYear of the New Religious Movement,\u201d I must admit.<\/p>\n

    <\/a>Blackjonestown.org<\/strong>, 4\/23\/2018<\/p>\n

    A welcome addition to online considerations of Peoples Temple and Jonestown is the website\u00a0Blackjonestown.org<\/a><\/u>. As its homepage states, the website is \u201cdevoted to lifting up the voices, experiences and social history of African American Peoples Temple and Jonestown members, victims and survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Clearly, serious consciousness-raising about African American involvement in Peoples Temple is needed, and\u00a0Blackjonestown.org<\/a><\/u>\u00a0is a good place to start. The brainchild of three women\u2014Leslie Wagner-Wilson, Sikivu Hutchinson, and Yulanda Williams\u2014the website carries articles they authored, news clips, announcements featuring their work, and more (See \u201cWho We Are<\/a><\/u>\u201d for biographical snapshots.)<\/p>\n

    We are gratified that a number of articles appearing on\u00a0Blackjonestown.org<\/a><\/u>\u00a0were first published on the\u00a0Alternative Considerations<\/em>\u00a0website. To enhance the linkages we have added the URL of Blackjonestown.org to the profiles of\u00a0Dr. Sikivu Hutchinson<\/a>\u00a0<\/u>and\u00a0Leslie Wagner-Wilson<\/a><\/u>\u00a0on\u00a0Alternative Considerations<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    I continue to be amazed at how little the public knows about Peoples Temple and Jonestown in general, and about black involvement in particular. At two university presentations this year, I displayed\u00a0charts and graphs<\/a><\/u>\u00a0that vividly depict the racial profile of Jonestown. After both presentations, people came up afterwards and said, \u201cI never knew so many African Americans died in Jonestown.\u201d<\/p>\n

    The creators of\u00a0Blackjonestown.org<\/a><\/u>\u00a0explicitly focus on the experiences of African American women in Peoples Temple. But, as their website states, \u201cWe actively encourage contributions from the African American survivor community and beyond.\u201d We wish them well in the months ahead during this significant fortieth anniversary year.<\/p>\n

    Back to the Top<\/a><\/p>\n

    <\/a>Some Two-Dollar Words<\/strong>, 4\/26\/2018<\/p>\n

    Recently a Jonestown survivor wrote to us that, \u201cI find I still have a bias against the many folks who read a bunch and study a bunch and come up with some new outlook on what was going on in PT.\u201d I\u2019d like to introduce two academic terms\u2014emic and etic\u2014to respond to his complaint.<\/p>\n

    This vocabulary comes from the discipline of anthropology, the branch that does fieldwork. Observers go out and study the customs of unusual or foreign tribes, such as the Trobriand Islanders, or American high school students. They understand that there are different forms of knowledge. \u201cEmic\u201d refers to the experience and insight held by insiders, while \u201cetic\u201d describes the knowledge and perception of outsiders.<\/p>\n

    In the case of Peoples Temple, then, former members have an \u201cemic\u201d or insider perspective and journalists, scholars, and others have an \u201cetic\u201d or outsider view. The knowledge of survivors is vital to our understanding of what happened. Those who experienced life in the Temple have much to tell outsiders. They also have a certain moral authority, given what they endured.<\/p>\n

    The emic outlook is an important part of the story, but it is not the whole story. This is apparent in survivor reports that they did not know everything that went on in the Temple. Information was dispensed on a \u201cneed-to-know\u201d basis, so many truly did not know about fake healings, financial irregularities, or harassment of critics. Life for the rank-and-file was different than life for the inner circle. It is also clear that survivors do not agree among themselves, nor do they relate a single, uniform account.<\/p>\n

    Outsiders have located a great deal of information, thanks to Freedom of Information Act requests, finding documents, tapes, photos, and other items that shed light upon the internal workings of the movement. Etic analyses have studied everything from what people ate in Jonestown to internal crop production reports.<\/p>\n

    Thus, both perspectives broaden the angle of understanding Peoples Temple and Jonestown. Neither is complete apart from the other. That’s why it’s important to listen to as many different voices as possible\u2014insider\u00a0and<\/u>\u00a0outsider.<\/p>\n

    Back to the Top<\/a><\/p>\n

    <\/a>Searchable FBI Files<\/strong>, 5\/1\/2018<\/p>\n

    The FBI\u2019s investigation into the assassination of Congressman Leo Ryan\u2014code-named RYMUR\u2014generated thousands of pages of internal government documents. Most of those have been released under the Freedom of Information Act, and are available at\u00a0Alternative Considerations<\/a><\/em>\u00a0 and at the\u00a0FBI Vault<\/a><\/u>\u00a0on Jonestown.<\/p>\n

    What is new, however, is that most of these PDFs have been transcribed by Fielding McGehee into searchable html files. Fielding is in the process of uploading all transcribed RYMUR files, with three sets of serials already online:<\/p>\n