I wouldnt say that I dont have problems saying no, and I do quite a bit, so Im feeling it now because I traveled to New York and had a long interview yesterday [with CNN]. You'd have to deal with this elite that just revolved their lives around him' . I think there are different images being shown now, but its still too little, too late. I also didnt really know what Id be dealing with if I did, but sadly we were finally at a point where I felt I had enough support and we decided that we were going to take action. Quietly the men with the tractor motioned aside a group of curious Guyanese children and other bystanders. The only sounds they heard came from the jungle animals going about their business. Save this record and choose the information you want to add to your family tree. Publicity Listings 'What we were calling the cause really was Jim,' she said. 'The reality was we were folks who could be counted on to stand up,' he said. The tournament was in Georgetown, the Guyanese capital, 150 miles away. . The picture, he recalls, was about hit men. Eugene Smith recalls how his mother, a churchgoing African-American, bought into Jim Jones' dream after they attended a service in Fresno. I try not to speak in terms of what I couldve done because I see no value in that.. Stephan is the only living son of Jim Jones and his late wife Marceline Jones. Recent interviews with Stephan include: Son of Anarchist: My Father, Jim Jones, and What the World Can Still Learn From Him, by Moran Sharir, Haaretz, January 22, 2019. When John Cobb was born in 1960 in a black section of Indianapolis, his mother and older siblings already were temple members. ", Throughout the 40 years since the deaths at Jonestown, Stephan has been willing to give media interviews. And frankly, Im much more trusting of the reluctant leader, one who says Lets go and not Go.. There was a gaping wound in his shoulder and possibly his ribs. She gave her house to the Peoples Temple and they moved to San Francisco. I had been hammered for years with the message that there was an outside threat, and from an early age my father talked about people wanting to bomb us. Thats what triggered it.. After Ollie became pregnant, she was sent to Jonestown; Eugene remained behind. I would argue that the means justify the end, but not the other way around.. That he was just this crazy zealot this entire time. Jim Jones had years earlier conceived his South American settlement as a distant haven where Peoples Temple members could live in communal isolation, protected from unfriendly reporters and all the other enemies Jones denounced through his congregation. He was just 14, Stephan Jones and some other team members believe they might have changed history if they were there. 29. . The slaughter at Jonestown was the worst civilian tragedy in U.S. history before September 11, 2001. A number of Jonestown survivors have spoken out about the mass suicides and murders that killed the only life they ever knew and how they have managed to build new ones in the four decades since the tragedy. When that was pointed out to Ryan, Layton contended he already had been frisked. I could still hear the groaning and crying of the targets. "I don't know. Stephan Jones was born on June 1, 1959 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. We couldn't know then that the grim little world of this sick man would shatter within hours, taking hundreds of his followers to their deaths. Five others were wounded seriously. 'We think he's got a gun. 'When I left at 21, I left a part of myself there,' she said. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. To cope, he says he abused drugs and exercised obsessively. And I say, 'My name is Jones.' I believe that it was always a personal agenda for my father, and yes, there was a gradual shift in the balance. For years, Vilchez was ashamed of the part he played in an idealistic group that imploded so terribly. He has been married to Kristi Jones since 1991. I refused. ', 'I argued with my Dad,' he said. Stephan was around 17 years old when he moved to Jonestown in February 1977 to help build the compound. But he was also very loving, especially during the early period'. Where the machine shop once stood, there was only rusty equipment. "Because then it would have been like, 'I'm running out on these people. Photographer Greg Robinson (right)was one of the five people killed. He thinks now that it is probably stupid to believe that. Yesterday morning 100 Guyanee troops came by train from Matthews Ridge, walking the last several miles as a precaution against sabotage or attack. target_type: 'mix' And he faked getting shot in Redwood Valley [California] when I was still pretty young, and we felt like we were in danger much of the time. He was summoned to the temple radio room. He says his daughters have seen him gnash his teeth when he. John was attending a San Francisco high school when he was allowed to join his best friends in Jonestown. There, as part of Jones' personal security detail, Cobb saw the once captivating minister strung out on drugs. After more than 22 years at California's transportation department, Smith retired in 2015. We used curtains for bandages. Gandhi is an Indian word meaning Pharmacist. This is really crazy, he recalls thinking. He grew, and discovered basketball. . "I knew I didn't want to, but I didn't know quite how to confront him or present my case . 'Hit the deck!' stephan gandhi jones Tatko na pesmaricu. The dreams have never left him. Vilchez was dispatched to the Guyanese capital of Georgetown to raise money. He asked me to make one last mission with him to Jonestown. In a 2007 interview with Religion News Service published by Dallas News, Stephan said that he struggled with drug addiction after Jonestown, but that he's sober now. "I say, 'Mom,' " Stephan Jones says, recalling a desperate mother-son huddle toward the end, " 'We're talking about a man who think's he's God. Suddenly there was no money to buy lumber or supplies--"he was such a tightwad," Stephan Jones says--and the homesteading fervor gave way to the minister's incessant meetings and group lectures and warnings about "enemies.". Then-San Francisco Examiner reporter Tim Reiterman was wounded in the airstrip shooting and flown to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, where he wrote the following eyewitness account. As the visitors prepared to return to the U.S., Peoples Temple gunmen ambushed them on a remote jungle airstrip killing the congressman, Leo Ryan; three newsmen; and a church defector. Jim Jones (1931-1978) and Marceline Jones (1927-1978). ), 'It was necessary in my own healing for me to find acceptance for him, understanding of him. This November 1978 file photo shows the Peoples Temple compound, led by Jim Jones, after bodies were removed, in Jonestown, Guyana. It was he who dreamed up Jonestown, he who willed it into being, and he who brought it down: First, with the assassination of U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan and four others by temple members on a nearby airstrip on November 18, 1978, then with the mass murders and suicides of hundreds, a horror that remains nearly unimaginable 40 years later. 'Little Jimmy' became part of their 'Rainbow Family' of white, black, Korean-American and Native American children. He's never remarried, and Martin Luther Smith was his only child. Some had the distinct impression that the two were close to opening fire on the truck. I know Ive reached a better place and I dont fear lapsing back into the darkest times, but its a daily process and one that Im grateful to have.. We were turned back by Johnny Jones, Jim Jones' stern-faced adopted black son. "I wasn't there," he says. When more than 900 people were killed at Jonestown by consuming punch laced with cyanide on Nov. 18, 1978, Stephan was not at the settlement founded by his father. 'There is no way we would be shooting at the airstrip. The minister was famous for his faith healings, which expelled bloody growths from the bodies of the ailing; it was not for many years that Stephan Jones learned about the sleight of hand with raw chicken giblets. Toward Nov. 18 they crowd up faster and closer, but even in the spring and summer, when the anniversary is tucked safely off on the other side of the year, even then he cannot keep the dreams away. He was in Georgetown, Guyana on November 18, 1978 with the Jonestown Basketball Team. In this Nov. 13, 2008 file photo, Stephan Jones, son of Rev. Listen, not long before, we went to play basketball. He was the son of Jim Jones, who established Jonestown. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Stephan Gandhi Jonesis the son of the notorious religious cult leaderJim Jones. Is Kristie Mewis Dating the Aussie Star Sam Kerr? Despite his unconventional upbringing and the horrific tragedy brought about by his father's religious group, the Peoples Temple, Stephan speaks candidly about his experience in the documentary. Hes 61 now. "He used to say that I would acquire his gift in my late years. . During the bouncy ride out, former temple members said that one of the supposed defectors, Larry Layton, was a Jones loyalist and had been depressed. _taboola.push({ Jones berated three other new arrivals for misbehavior on the trip; they were beaten and forced to work 24 hours straight. An In-Depth Look at Naomi Girmas Salary in Professional Soccer. _taboola.push({ It was Harris who had been contacted by the first two groups of temple members expressing a desire to leave. He made a promise once we get to Jonestown there is no corporal punishment, Smith said. "I'm blessed to have hit enough of a bottom and to have been surrounded by amazing, wonderful, honest, compassionate and challenging people to see me through that," Stephan said. Gruelling field work was not to her liking. placement: 'Below Article Thumbnails 2nd', 2010-10-03 19:23:36. And as the years go on, Stephan is still willing to talk about his connection to one of the biggest tragedies in American history even as he tries to live a peaceful life far removed from Jonestown. But she wasn't in the truck and the men left. But a lot of the rage that I kept for years was keeping me from looking at my part and seeing what I hope I would do differently if in similar circumstances. There is little his father said or taught him then that stays with him now; his memory is of a man wandering around the house in his underwear or his pajamas, sleeping by day, watching the news or "Hogan's Heroes" on television and announcing that he could tell whether his son was lying simply by staring into his eyes. "I was still naive enough--well, not necessarily naive enough; I still believe the CIA is capable of all kinds of things--but I felt that we could geniunely be a threat to the image of the United States and that people might be trying to do things to undermine or eliminate what was happening down there," he says. But after temple gunmen killed the congressman, three newsmen and a church defector on the Port Kaituma airstrip, Jones ordered a poisoned grape-flavored drink administered to children first. 'I'm not saying he didn't cause it, create it. 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