This week we've heard a lot about Jonestown and Jim Jones and the People's Temple. I believe I have suffered somewhat of a "suppressed memory" about the events which occurred thirty years ago.
The date of the mass murder/suicide was November 18, 1978.
There were 918 people who died. Rep. Leo Ryan, NBC correspondent Don Harris, NBC soundman Bob Brown, newspaper photographer Greg Robinson, and Temple defector Patty Parks – were shot to death at the Port Kaituma airstrip.
Sharon Amos and her children Liane Harris, Christa Amos and Martin Amos – died at the People's Temple house in Lamaha Gardens in Georgetown. The remaining 909 died in Jonestown.
My daughter, a high school junior, came home last night after watching the "Jonestown" documentary at school yesterday. She could not believe what happened on that day. She was even more surprised to find out that one my high school classmates, Dorothy Rollins, was among the dead. She said, "Mom, I can't believe you never mentioned it."
I felt so ashamed that I had put the events out of my mind. Someone once said, "Those who forget the past, are condemned to repeat it."
May we never forgot those who lost their lives in Guyana. Lest it happen again.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Yes, how very sad. Even 30 years later, there are horrid stories about how many African American senior homeowners and pensioners(mostly widowed women) have been and continue to be, swindled out of their homes or life savings by their "religious leader" or "pastor". If a person calls himself or herself a spiritual or religious leader and commence to fleece the sheep rather than feed the sheep, it is time for the sheep to become goats, open their eyes and realize that he or she is not being led to greener pasture, but rather to the slaughterhouse!
Post a Comment