The Jonestown Massacre was considered the “largest number of American civilian casualties in a single non-natural event,” up until 9/11 occurred. The story begins with a minister named Jim Jones who gained popularity for preaching socialist ideas to a mostly African American community known as the People’s Temple. Once the congregation was accused of the mistreatment of its members in the 70s, Jones moved it from San Francisco to Guyana, inviting all his members to join him in what he believed would become a utopia for his followers. This is where Jonestown truly flourished. Once the members arrived, their passports and freedom were quickly taken from them. Members were encouraged to keep other members in line and perform “mock suicide drills” nightly. The members were forced to work over ten hours daily and were exposed to cruel punishment if they dared to disobey. Curiosity among the family members who remained in the US turned into worry and fear. At this point Jones was addicted to drugs. Finally, Leo Ryan, a congressmen, and a few members from his team were sent to see what was really going on in Jonestown. After initial contact went well, Ryan and his men tried to leave, but Jones, in a Macbeth-esque psychosis, ordered the ambush and killing of Ryan and then men who came with him. This set off the mass suicide of Jonestown. Parents and nurses were injecting children with syringes full of poison. Adults were lining up to drink this poison, either voluntarily or at gunpoint. This resulted in the killing of around 900 people, about 300 of these being children under the age of 18, and a handful of these people escaping.
Articles regarding Jonestown are full of facts, but what I am lacking is this devastating personal relation to the tragedy. These articles let the facts speak for itself, but what is not made clear is that some people lost their entire families in the mass suicide at Jonestown. The personal accounts I was able to find describe some survivors as having adopted certain mannerisms of Jones. One letter from a woman who almost married a Jonestown-survivor described her fiance’s domineering inclinations and verbal abuse. Another letter was from a child to two Jonestown members. He describes going to the memorial service as something completely different from any article I read about Jonestown. One quote which stuck out to me was how he described the people when he said, “...these people sacrificed a tremendous amount to pursue the reality of creating something better. That is more than I can say of myself.” These personal accounts encourage readers to see the victims in a different light. Rather than view them as a brainwashed group of people, as the news articles point to, the personal accounts allow not only a more intimate look into the events of Jonestown but also a more in-depth look into the people affected. The people of Jonestown truly had good intentions before everything went horribly wrong. Despite the tragic events, it was a working effort to “overcome social, economic, and racial boundaries.” As history (and junior year theology) has shown time and time again, a good intention does not always make for a morally correct object.