43rd ANNUAL INNOCENT CHILDREN OF JONESTOWN MEMORIAL

OCTOBER 2021

 

TO:                  THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ ABOUT THESE INNOCENT CHILDREN

 Jonestown Official Memorial Services/Cherishing the Children

RE:                  Cherishing the Children & Jonestown Victims Prayer Vigil

The 43rd Annual Jonestown Memorial Honoring 305 Innocent children, over 600 loved ones, Congressman Leo Ryan, and his film crew.

JOIN US AT THE 43rd Annual Jonestown Prayer Vigil, honoring the 305 innocent children who perished in this horrific tragedy, on November 18, 1978.  The Cherishing the Children Prayer Vigil will take place on November 18, 2021, 11:00 AM, at Evergreen Cemetery located at: 6450 Camden Ave., in Oakland, California. This year we will focus on our imminent responsibility to protect our children when dangerous or life-threatening situations occur, like the Jonestown massacre or the current world-wide pandemic we are experiencing.  Our main purpose should always be to make sure our children are kept safe in life, and their memories protected in death. 

We have received tremendous support, over the years, for the 305 innocent children, Congressman Ryan and families with seniors, in their golden years, who were all victims of the Jonestown Guyana Tragedy, from numerous political leaders and dignitaries including Vice-President Kamala Harris, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Congresswoman Barbara Lee. Will you help us raise public awareness for this horrendous event. 

We will never forget Jonestown because this tragedy continues to be a stain on the American dream. We have made it our mission to seek support from leaders, such as yourself, to protect the children of Jonestown.  Therefore, we hope you will also join us in sending a message to our children that they are protected, even in death, by signing a petition to have Jones’ name removed from a plaque that covers the sacred, final resting place, of the mass grave where 40 infants and most of the children are buried, in Oakland, CA, alongside the adult victims, including Congressman Leo Ryan and his news team, that Jones ordered to be killed, and assassinated.

We know that Hitler’s name would never be allowed on the burial places of Holocaust survivors, nor would Derek Chauvin’s name ever be inscribed on the memorial of Mr. George Floyd, just as a mass murder, like Jones, should not be honored on the children’s hallowed grave.

Statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee removed from Richmond, Virginia

A statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee was removed from its pedestal in Virginia's capital city Wednesday morning. The 21-foot-tall statue on Monument Avenue in Richmond was one of the largest remaining Confederate monuments in the U.S. and has long drawn protests as a symbol of racial injustice. Large crowds cheered as they watched the statue come down from its prominent spot in the city that served as the capital of the Confederacy during the Civil War. In a statement, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam noted that "The public monuments reflect the story we choose to tell about who we are as a people," Northam said. "It is time to display history as history and use the public memorials to honor the full and inclusive truth of who we are today and in the future." The governor had announced plans to remove the statue in 2020, shortly after nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice broke out following the murder of George Floyd. Many, including Northam, have described the statue as one that symbolizes the hate that millions were protesting against. The statue was erected in 1890, "during a time in which southern states were working to reinforce white supremacist systems and structures," Northam's statement says.  Zyahna Bryant, who had started a petition for the Charlottesville statue to be removed in 2016, while she was still in high school, and told CBSN following its removal that taking down Confederate statues does not erase history, as opponents have argued. Rather, she said, "erecting these monuments is whitewashing our history.”  “It’s a monumental first step, but it’s only a first step,” she told CBSN, “…We’re no longer offering a platform for white supremacy.”                                                                                                                             It is because of White Supremacy that Jones’ hierarchy, and family, was able to place this ego maniacal mass murderers name in honor.  Jim Jones is a symbol of hate, crime, racism, and inequality, and he must be erased from the site of the 305 innocent children, 40 infants, their families, Congressman Leo Ryan, and the victims shot to death at the Port Kaituma Airstrip.

Raising public awareness on the human rights violations against these innocent children means that we want all the children to be well.

Unfortunately, the children are not well. It is an outrage and insult to humanity to allow him to be remembered as a victim. It is no different from:

Putting Hitler‘s name on the Holocaust Victims Memorial.
Putting the perpetrators and killers of the Twin Towers on the 9/11 Memorial. 
Putting Derek Chauvin’s name on Mr. George Floyd’s headstone.
Keeping a platform for white supremacy
 

Although I was never a member of People’s Temple, our grandmother became Jim Jones’ first black member when he opened his San Francisco church in 1970. We lost the youngest child in Jonestown, Charles Garry Henderson, 2 months old and the 2nd oldest senior citizen, Alluvine McGowan, 90 years of age. We were the first family to sue Jim Jones’ estate in San Francisco.

Enclosed is a petition to remove Jim Jones from the memorial at the Evergreen Cemetery—the grounds of their sacred final resting place—because there has still been “No Justice and No Peace.” 

Our request: 

We would appreciate your show of support, by signing our petition, to further our goal of removing Jones’ name from the children’s burial site.  This will reassure our future generations that crimes against them will “not” be rewarded by desecrating their graves, in order to honor their murderers.

It has been because of nationwide support that we have been able to honor the innocent children and victims over the last four decades from distinguished leaders such as:

Vice-President Kamala Harris sent a CERTIFICATE OF RECOGNITION.
President Bill Clinton sent CONDOLENCES on the senseless killings at Jonestown.
Speaker of the House Honorable Nancy Pelosi sent a LETTER OF CONDOLENCES AND DEEPEST GRATITUDE FOR OUR SERVICES.
Honorable Barbara Lee sent a CERTIFICATE OF SPECIAL CONGRESSIONAL RECOGNITION
Honorable James T. Butts Jr. and the Councilmembers from Inglewood, CA honored our event with a SPECIAL COMMENDATION. 
Honorable Libby Schaff sent a PROCLAMATION
The late Dr. Maya Angelou sent a LETTER OF SUPPORT — “I heartily support the idea of a tributary wall dedicated to the spirits of those who were lost. I will be pleased to write a dedication to be inscribed on an architecture built for those purposes.”

We appreciate your kind consideration as we all continue to shower the victim’s families with continuous love, prayers, and support.

Stay safe and blessed,