Los Angeles Sentinelhttps://lasentinel.net/we-will-never-forget-45th
We Will Never Forget – 45th Anniversary of the Tragedy …
 
Nov 17, 2023 · On November 18, 1978, an inexplicable act of evil occurred in the remote Jungles of Guyana, South America, resulting in the deaths of 913 people; including 276 …

Steven N. Larkin, Contributing Writer November 17, 2023
We Will Never Forget – 45th Anniversary of the Tragedy of Jonestown 
 Above are photos of the innocent children who perished in the Jonestown massacre. (Courtesy photo)
On November 18, 1978, an inexplicable act of evil occurred in the remote Jungles of Guyana, South America, resulting in the deaths of 913 people; including 276 children, 40 of them infants.

It is never too late in life or in the day to correct a right or a wrong for justice. The mass grave where many of the innocent victims are buried right now has a plaque with the name “Jim Jones.”
It is our understanding that this was done by members of the Jones family. We join Dr. Jynona Norwood and the staff of the Jonestown Memorial Wall project, in calling for the name of Jim Jones to immediately be removed from the gravesite! It is beyond sad, mean, and downright disrespectful for his name to be anywhere near those innocent victims of deceit.

On Saturday, November 18, 2023, the family of those survivors, led by Dr.  Norwood will hold an anniversary ceremony at Evergreen Cemetery, 6459 Camden St. Oakland, CA at 11:00 am.

We talked with several congressmen and public officials and a resounding statement was repeated over and over. Would a plaque of any kind be near or anywhere near the Holocaust victims’ gravesite?

We reached out to Congresswoman Barbara Lee and she said “The Jonestown Massacre was a senseless, horrible tragedy, born of the evil of one man, that took the lives of nearly 1,000 innocent people – many African American and many from the Bay area.

“As a member of Congressman Ron Dellums’ staff, I handled many cases of family members who were concerned about their loved ones in Jonestown. I was invited to go to Jonestown with the late Congressman Leo Ryan and a member of his staff, my good friend former Congresswoman Jackie Speier, but at the last minute had a family obligation that could not be missed.”

She continued, “As we know now, Congresswoman Speier and several others were injured or killed on that day. The lives of those lost should be honored in our community to promote collective healing. May we never forget their lives and continue to fight all injustices to ensure anything like this tragedy never happens again.”

I also had the opportunity to visit with Dr. Amos Brown, Pastor Third Street Baptist Church in San Francisco recently, to listen to his reflection of the time and the spirit of the Bay area community that Jim Jones was able to bamboozle.

“You have to remember during that time there was a void in the Black Church in the area. Jones had systematically targeted the largest Black Churches and would always show up with a smile.”

Rev. Brown’s first view of Jones was simple.

“The man never would take off his shades! Something didn’t quite smell right. He would always offer help to the masses with food banks, set up temporary tents to pay utility bills, and bring loads of money to pay rent for the needy.”

However, according to Rev. Brown, that was a planned strategy to build his own cult.

Dr. Brown continued, “There is good religion and bad religion. Jones was a man full of bad religion. One must always be mindful of bad and be able to recognize the trickery of bad religion.

When Jones reached out to become a member of the Bay Area Black Leaders Forum, he believed that would allow him to have a free ticket to expand his planned exploitation of people of color. During that time Rev. Brown, Rev. George Newkirt, Rev. Hannibal Williams and Deacon Anthony Wagner agreed to meet with Jones at Dr. Carlton Goodlett’s office. Dr. Goodlett was a well-known fierce warrior for social justice and former President of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA).

In walks Jones with his team of bodyguards brash, bold and full of determination to plead his offerings to become a member. After a fierce discussion and debate, Jones was not allowed to become a member of the Black Leadership Forum.  It was only after that historical meeting that Jones set his sights on moving out of America, to a place where he had no one of authority to see or control his methods of destroying so many innocent people.

We all know the painful results of what Jones did to so many innocent people! Trust and believe they were not a bunch of crazies drinking poison to be with some so-called Messiah! News accounts have verified that Jones surrounded the innocent souls with armed gunmen and systematically murdered everyone in sight.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. declared, “In the End, We will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

So we ask that you join Dr. Norwood and other relatives of the victims of Jonestown in their efforts to remove Jim Jones’ name from the gravesite and to build a fitting Memorial Wall to celebrate the innocence whose lives were senselessly lost.

You can reach out to the Jonestown Memorial Wall staff:  PO Box 3330 • Hollywood , CA. 90078 •  www.JonestownOfficialMemorial.org

 

 

 

 
 
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Guest Columnist
November 18 is the 45th anniversary of the tragedy of Jonestown
We will never forget
Steven N. Larkin | Special to the NNPA
  
Thirty-five years ago, more than 900 Americans died in a murder and suicide ritual at the Peoples Temple agricultural mission in the jungle of Jonestown, Guyana. Pictured, from left, Rev. Amos Brown, Jonestown survivor Stanley Clayton, Juana Norwood, and Dr. Jynona Norwood react after the unveiling of a memorial wall as they reach to touch victims names following the 30th Anniversary Jonestown memorial service at the Evergreen cemetery in Oakland, Calif.

Photo courtesy of The Atlanta Journal - Constitution
On November 18, 1978, an inexplicable act of evil occurred in the remote Jungles of Guyana, South America, resulting in the deaths of 913 people including over 300 children, 40 of them infants.

It is never too late in life or in the day to correct a wrong for a right, in the spirit of justice. The mass grave where many of the innocent victims are buried right now, has a plaque with the name James Warren Jones aka Jim Jones on it.  It is our understanding that this was done by members of People’s Temple and the Jones family. 

When Jones reached out to become a member of the Bay Area Black Leaders Forum, he believed that would allow him to have a free ticket to expand his planned exploitation of people of color.
We join Dr. Norwood and the staff of the Jonestown Memorial Wall project to call for the name of the killer Jim Jones to immediately be removed from the gravesite! It is beyond sad, mean, and outright disrespectful for his name to be anywhere near these innocent victims of deceit.

We talked with several congressmen and public officials and a resounding statement was repeated over and over. Would a plaque with Hitler’s name on it be anywhere near the Holocaust victim’s gravesite?

On November 18, 2023, the family of those survivors, led by Dr. Jynona Norwood will commemorate the lives of the victims during the annual anniversary ceremony at Evergreen Cemetery, 6459 Camden St. Oakland, CA at 11:00 am.  Although Dr. Norwood never joined People’s Temple, her grandmother was his first Black member in San Francisco and she raised her son with her daughter, because Norwood was a traveling evangelist. She abducted her son in a desperate effort to liberate him from Jim Jones and went into hiding. On that fatal day that the news media scrolled the names of the dead she sat with her grandmother, Julia Gales, and wrote down the names as she called out relatives amidst her tears, counting up to 27 deceased family members. The family who were very close and estranged members of People’s Temple verified that 27 loved ones perished there including the youngest infant, 2-months old Charles Garry Henderson.

We reached out to Congresswoman Barbera Lee and she offered the following statement, “The Jonestown Massacre was a senseless, horrible tragedy, born of the evil of one man, that took the lives of nearly 1,000 innocent people – many African American and many from the Bay area. As a member of Congressman Ron Dellums staff, I handled many cases of family members who were concerned about their loved ones in Jonestown. I was invited to go to Jonestown with the late Congressman Leo Ryan and a member of his staff, my good friend former Congresswoman Jackie Speier, but at the last minute had a family obligation that could not be missed. As we know now, Congresswoman Speier and several others were injured or killed on that day. The lives of those lost should be honored in our community to promote collective healing. May we never forget their lives and continue to fight all injustice to ensure anything like this tragedy never happens again.”

I recently had the opportunity to visit with Dr. Amos Brown, Pastor Third Street Baptist Church in San Francisco, to listen to his reflection of the time and the spirit of the Bay area community that Jim Jones was able to bamboozle. “You have to remember during that time there was a void in the Black Church in the area. Jones had systematically targeted the largest Black Churches and would always show up with a smile. Rev. Brown's first view of Jones was simple.  The man never would take off his shades!  Something didn’t quite smell right. He would always offer help to the masses with food banks, temporary tents to pay utility bills, and loads of money to pay rent for the needy.  However, according to Rev. Brown that was a planned strategy to build his own cult. Dr. Brown continued, “There is good religion and bad religion.  Jones was a man full of bad religion.”  He went on to expound that religion comes from the Latin word religo-ligaments or to tie fast, bond together, etc. One must always be mindful of bad religion and being able to recognize the trickery of bad religion. 

When Jones reached out to become a member of the Bay Area Black Leaders Forum, he believed that would allow him to have a free ticket to expand his planned exploitation of people of color. During that time Rev. Amos Brown, Rev. George Newkirt, Rev. Hannibal Willimas and Deacon Anthony Wagner met at Dr. Carlton Goodlett’s office. Dr. Goodlett was a prominent physician, Black Newspaper publisher and former President of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA). In walks, Jones with his team of bodyguards talked brash and bold thinking he was running a snow job on God fearing people!  As Rev. Brown pointed out earlier in our talks, Jones was in Indianapolis, Indiana, before he was in the Bay area and was a card-carrying member of the Human Affairs Commission. After a fierce discussion and debate, Jim Jones was not allowed to become a member of the Black Leadership Forum.

It was only after that historical meeting that Jones realized his evil plan would not work in America. He then set his sights on moving to a place where no one of authority could see or control his methods to destroy so many innocent people. He ended up in Guyana, South America, free from any control.

We all know the painful results of what Jim Jones did to so many innocent people! We ask that you join Dr. Norwood and other relatives of the victims of Jonestown in their efforts to remove Jim Jones’ name from the gravesite and to build a fitting Memorial Wall to celebrate the innocents whose lives were senselessly lost.  

You can reach out to the Jonestown Memorial Wall staff:  PO Box 3330 • Hollywood , CA. 90078 •  www.JonestownOfficialMemorial.org