Do you remember this tragedy that happened 29 years ago in Guana?

Question

I just had ESPN on and they were talking about the Jones Town Massacre, it was 29 years ago in Nov. I remember it as I was in another state helping my sis in law with her new baby. I remember the news coverage said around 400 died today they said almost a thousand died and I never in all these years knew that Jim Jones was black. Did you know these facts as I saw them today?

Please excuse my spelling, I knew it was wrong did it anyway. I was really shocked, I had not heard a word about this for years. His son was on the show and he and several other kids were gone to a basketball game and that is how they survived.

Answer 1

It was November 18, 1978. My wedding day! I recently saw a documentary on TV. There have been several books published as well. I never remember Jones as a black man. I think we all know the media manipulates the data they disseminate to us so unless you were there, you don't know the real deal. Cults are crazy business.

Answer 2

Jim Jones was white. Most of the members of the Peoples' Temple were black. Over 400 committed suicide or were shot dead by armed men acting under orders of Jim Jones. A Member of Congress was killed and one of his female aides was wounded. She was our patient at the Naval Medical Center in Oakland, California for some therapy. She is now a member of the California State Senate. I visited the mass grave of the dead at the cemetery in Oakland. The firm which owned that cemetery was the contract mortuary for the Navy in the East Bay area at the time.
The Jonestown massacre should serve as an important lesson to people. Never join any church whose pastor's eyes don't blink and never join one which has an official known as Director of Security.

Answer 3

Jim Jones was not black.
I knew some church people who were in his congregation
when he was in the S.F.area.
They said he was a very
charismatic man. A Pastor I
talked to about him said Jim
had just gone off the deep end.
Here in Humboldt County
we had a Deputy D.A. whose
wife was one of the suicides.
I think one of his kids also.
There have been some very
crazy things done in the name
of religion. If it doesn't sound
right, it usually isn't. It was
a horrible tragedy.

Answer 4

I was young at the time of the Aberfan disaster, and lived about 15 miles away. In South Wales it is remembered the same way as the assassination of JFK- an absolute tragedy. It was very weird going to school the next few weeks, and even though we were nowhere near a Coal Tip there were a lot of very scared Children around. The poor lambs that were so awfully killed were the same age as us you see. I read the answer from the Gentleman from Durham, and may I thank him and all his colleagues for their assistance in our time of need. Likewise, to those from Nottingham: my Brother-in-Law was working at Gedling, and more than 20 of his friends that I knew of accompanied him to his Homeland, and I am sure there were many more Heroes than that. I have not looked at the link- there is no need, as it will always be there with me in my deepest thoughts. Sorry if I have gone on, but man....... edit: sorry, I meant the Daughter of a Miner from Durham!

Answer 5

I didn't know he was black. He looked white, but whatever race he was i don't understand how he let all those children die. There has never been born a child who deserved to die at that young age. They had no say or any way out of that. It's sad that people could be fooled into following Jim Jones.

Answer 6

Jim Jones and his wife were white. They were the first white couple in Indiana to adopt an African American child, Jim Jones Jr., according to Wikipedia.

Another source (see below) states, "He offered a place of refuge in his church for those suffering from social torment, including the lower class African Americans who at that time were in the midst of racial segregation. Jones claimed that he was a highly evoked black soul incarnated in a white body, and felt that only he could identify with the problems of the African Americans. He believed in a utopian society consisting of racial integration and social equality. But, he believed that a cataclysmic period of race war, genocide, and nuclear war was nearing."

Answer 7

As far as I know Jim Jones was not black. His church just had more blacks. Yes I remember this horror. The man was totally insane by the time he did this. I had nightmares when this was on the news.

Answer 8

I remember it, I was in college at the time.
Jim Jones was white. And the people didn't do it of their own accord, they did it under threat of machine guns. It was a sad, sad thing and they knew there was nothing else to do but lie down and die. But they were also brainwashed which is probably why they complied rather than try to fight back.

Answer 9

Yes, I remember it very well. I was living in San Francisco at the time, and Jim Jones' church was in the S.F. Bay area. In fact, from time to time I used to find flyers from his church in my mail box. Creepy. It was a very difficult time for the people of San Francisco, because a couple of months later our mayor George Moscone, and city supervisor Harvey Milk were killed by a disgruntled Dan White who was passed over for a job. Remember the "twinkie defense"?

Answer 10

Thats because he wasn't black. They must have changed the facts. What else is new. It gets to the point you don't know who to believe.

Those poor people were under his control for their money and welfare checks. They had a choice to drink poison or be shot with machine guns. He was a drug addicted a-- h---.
Crazy as a loon.

I do not believe the story about his son.