The Jonestown That Won’t Fade Away Twenty-Five Years Later, a Filmmaker Examines the Lasting Consequences by Paul VanDeCarr n November 1978, I was a boy of 10, riding in the back seat of my father’s Icar on a bright fall day in Boston and looking at a Newsweek article about the deaths of more than 900 Americans in what was called a “mass suicide” by members of a “cult” commune called Jonestown, in Guyana. (The actual na- ture of these deaths is still in dispute, but they undoubtedly were a mix of suicide and murder.) These deaths at the com- mune had almost immediately followed the murders nearby of United States Congressman Leo Ryan and three other people who had been part of a delega- tion to visit on a fact-finding mission. This was the first major news story that impressed itself on my imagination. Now, I am revisiting the story of Jon- estown on its 25th anniversary, co-pro- ducing a documentary film about its life, death, and legacy, After Jonestown. Elie Wiesel has remarked that “we can never really tell the story of the Holocaust, but we must always try.” Trying to tell a story about Jonestown presents a similar challenge, and it calls on me to remain open to the story and its storytellers as they evolve. Doing so is in no small part an act of faith. The Rev. Jim Jones founded Peo- ples Temple in Indianapolis in 1955. By Karen Harms, right, Stanley Clayton, and other members of Peoples Temple preparing a community meal in 1977-78. 1961, it was known as Peoples Temple Full Gospel Church, and it became part of the Christian Church (Disciples of by Jones, were led to believe that their Part of the difficulty lies in the ab- issues of race and racism, and inasmuch Christ), which ordained Jones in 1964. families back home and the United jectly painful nature of the material. as I approach this story theologically, Soon after that, Jones moved his opera- States government and news media were One woman with whom I’m working my theology must take on these same is- tions to Ukiah, California, near San out to destroy the community. The mur- lost nine family members in Jonestown, sues. I am reminded of James Cone’s Francisco, and by 1971 was active in ders and suicides at Jonestown on No- including her mother and a daughter— message that any kind of theology that is both San Francisco and Los Angeles. vember 18, 1978—after the murders of she still suffers from debilitating depres- not principally concerned with libera- Throughout these years, the Temple several of the outsiders who had just vis- sion. Another man escaped Jonestown tion is no kind of theology at all. It was controversial for its support of racial ited Jonestown to investigate reports of a in the company of Congressman Ryan would be easy for me as a white man to integration, lauded for its social-service range of emotional and physical cruel- but left behind his young son, thinking ignore race, but in order to do justice to programs, and politically influential ty—were conceived as a last stand to die that he would be able to retrieve the boy the story, I must do justice to those who thanks to its savvy pastor and dedicated, for the cause rather than sacrifice it. later. That moment of decision remains populate that story. After Jonestown fo- integrated membership. A project of No one feels the difficult distance the single most painful one of his life. cuses primarily on African American Peoples Temple, Jonestown was intend- between experience and language in re- Sitting and talking with people about perspectives and on the race issues in- ed as a socialist communal settlement gard to Jonestown more acutely than such moments, and staying with them volved in the story. far from the racism and poverty of the survivors. Of the roughly 1,000 peo- through the most difficult parts, is a The public presentation of this American life; it was essentially a small ple who were in Jonestown, just more kind of ministry of listening. My doubts story raises another problem. The pain village built in the middle of the than 900 died, and just more than 80 are many. Who am I to minister to these of these losses was exacerbated by the Guyanese jungle in the early- to mid- survived (some ran into the jungle; oth- people, many of whom suffered more fact that they were part of one of the 1970s, and was populated primarily in ers had left with the investigating con- loss in one day than I will in a lifetime? most public and stigmatized tragedies of 1977-78. gressman earlier in the day and were not And who is to say that they will be our time. In the immediate aftermath, it The residents of Jonestown, who killed in the attack on him; others were helped by telling their stories? was hard for survivors and families to were isolated from outside media and away, visiting Georgetown, the capital grieve because their lost loved ones were subjected to nearly constant haranguing of Guyana). After the deaths, many sur- eoples Temple originated and being portrayed in newspapers and tele- vivors were overwhelmed by grief, guilt, grew as a religious community, vision broadcasts nationwide as de- Paul VanDeCarr, MTS ’99, is an inde- and what-if questions. The magnitude Pand its tragic end poses religious praved cultists. Many survivors were pendent producer and writer living in San of the tragedy was so great, and the questions of loss, meaning, and respon- hounded by the news media for the sen- Francisco. His work has appeared in The reach of their aspirations had been so sibility. But my task is also political. sational “inside” story of how virtually San Francisco Bay Guardian, The Advo- long, that many of them just could not About 70 percent of the people who an entire community died. In the last 25 cate, Storytelling, on KPFA Radio and the put their experience into words. In mak- lived and died in Jonestown were years, the news and documentary cover- Pacifica Radio Network, and elsewhere. ing the film, I am joining with a handful African American. The story, however, age of Jonestown hasn’t gotten much “After Jonestown” is in production, and is of survivors and relatives of those who has been told primarily by white sur- better in this regard. With few excep- scheduled to be completed in late 2004. For died to try to do just that: tell the stories vivors who were in leadership positions, tions, it still focuses on the most lurid information or to be put on the project update of their lives then and since 1978. This and the news media have treated these and sensational aspects of the tragedy; it list, write to [email protected] or task presents a number of challenges, perspectives as somehow representative. still focuses on Jim Jones rather than on visit www.geocities.com/AfterJonestown. not least of which are religious ones. The story of Jonestown is suffused with the people of Jonestown, and on the 24 Harvard Divinity Bulletin deaths at Jonestown rather than on the to wrap my mind around this subject, community’s life and purpose. One sur- and because otherwise it sometimes vivor put it bluntly, and he speaks for feels just too difficult to hold. many others: “I’m trusting you with my Still, every time I try to answer story; don’t do me wrong.” these questions once and for all, I feel As I have come to understand, then, my relationships and my approach calci- it is quite possible to do harm with a fy. If this is to be a film that honors both film such as this. The responsibilities the living and the dead of Jonestown, I are great—to investigate without being must keep these as live questions in my invasive, to take care with people’s sto- mind, and remain prayerful and fo- ries without avoiding the hard ques- cused. If I was not, prior to starting tions. Survivors are understandably work on this film, someone with suffi- skeptical when I approach them about cient faith to hold these questions in participating in this documentary. They suspense, then the actual process of ask me about my intent and approach, making the film is forging that faith in how the film will be used, who else I’m me. What Toni Morrison has said of Top left: Kimo Prokes, right, and two other children at Jonestown in 1978. talking with, my views on the life and language seems to me to apply equally Above: Barbara Hoyer teaching children at Jonestown in 1977-78. Below: In the death of Jonestown, how I plan to be of to telling a story such as this on film— documentary film “After Jonestown,” a woman named Nina, a former member service to the community of survivors. “its force, its felicity is in its reach to- of the Peoples Temple who, with her mother, lost nine family members at Their questions have become my ward the ineffable.” Perhaps the best Jonestown. The photographs above and on the preceding page are courtesy questions. Why am I making this film? respect I can pay to the film’s subjects is of the Jonestown Institute, http://jonestown.sdsu.edu. Some were taken by How do I as a white man deal with the to point to what cannot ultimately be Jonestown members and recovered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; race issues involved? How can I give expressed in any medium.