30 years after, the legacy of Jonestown

[DogPoundPup]

Dark clouds tumbled overhead on that afternoon 30 years ago, in the last hours of the congressman's mission deep in the jungle of Guyana.

With a small entourage, Rep. Leo Ryan had come to investigate the remote agricultural settlement built by a California-based church. But while he was there, more than a dozen people had stepped forward: We want to return to the United States, they said fearfully.

Suddenly a powerful wind tore through the central pavilion, riffling pages of my notebook, and the skies dumped torrents. People scrambled for cover as I interviewed the founder of Peoples Temple.

"I feel sorry that we are being destroyed from within," intoned the Rev. Jim Jones, stunned that members of his flock wanted to abandon the place he called the Promised Land.

That freakish storm and the mood seemed ominous - and not just to me. "I felt evil itself blow into Jonestown when that storm hit," recalls Tim Carter, one of the few settlers to survive that day.

Within hours, Carter would see his wife and son die of cyanide poisoning, two of the more than 900 people Jones led in a murder and suicide ritual of epic proportions.

And I would be wounded when a team of temple assassins killed Ryan - the first congressman slain in the line of duty - and four others, including three newsmen.

But by their wiles or happenstance, scores of temple members escaped the events of Nov. 18, 1978. Some would commit suicide, die at the hands of others or fall victim to drugs. But many more moved on to new careers, spouses and even churches. They are, as they were before joining the temple, mostly ordinary people who wanted to help their fellow man and be part of something larger than themselves.

Read more @ http://www.sacbee.com/114/story/1401041-p3.html

[babylonsister]

1. cnn special on this right now, the survivors. nt

[ben_meyers]

2. The dangers of blindly following a Messianic Cult figure.

It would appear that the "Reverend" Jim Jones bought into his own bullshit. He moved to San Francisco in 1971 and became active with the liberal Democratic politicians of the time. Mayor George Moscone even appointed him to the city's housing authority. Willie Brown called him a combination Martin Luther King, Angela Davis, Albert Einstein and Chairman Mao. He also received high praise from the likes of Rosalyn Carter and Walter Mondale.

Something must have snapped for the poor boy because he fled to Jonestown supposedly to escape the suffocating capitalism he repeatedly claimed to despised.

I remember those days, even the unfounded rumors that Moscone and Harvey Milk were killed in retaliation for the Jonestown Massacre.

I just read a book about this insane guy a few years ago, I forget the title, but he was a real piece of work.

900 followers drank the cyanide-laced grape punch, hence the expression "drinking the Koolaid".

[Catch22Dem]

3. Yes, and I believe it wasn't Koolaid at all, but flavor aid.

I could be wrong about that though.

[peace13]

4. That was very sad,

I should not have watched. Please erase Jim Jones and the sadness from my brain. Peace, Kim

[Skittles]

5. I remember it like it was yesterday

the sheer horror of the number of bodies, including so many children :cry:

[susanna]

6. I do too. I was still a kid, but old enough to know what had happened.

My parents were big on talking over the news with us and answering questions.

I remember the covers of Newsweek and Time with those awful images. There was great controversy at the time IIRC about how graphic those magazine covers were. Looking back, I think it was necessary. How else can one communicate the enormity of such a tragedy?

[mulsh]

7. guess in a week or so we'll be remembering Mosconi & Milk

As the time of both events I worked for the Alameda Co Coroner's lab. We did a lot of the drug screens for the Jonestown victims. I also know some people who were member of People's temple and lost family members. A few months after the mass suicide I was out in East Oakland with my brother at a hardware store. On the hill above this store is the Evergreen Cematerey. I saw a large back hoe like they use in major construction projects digging. We went up and found the grave diggers preparing the mass grave for Jonestown victims. My

the week after Jonestown George Mosconi and Harvey Milk were assassinated. It was a very depressing time to be in the bay area.


here's a little trivia about the People's Temple building, The Steve Miller Band and other local bands used it as a rehearsal space in the late 60's.

[susanna]

8. That must have been a difficult time.

I read about the Evergreen Cemetery getting a memorial this year? Is that still planned?