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As we celebrate coming together for the holiday, it is important to remember that while there is good, there is also bad in the world, and I define good as that which makes me feel good and bad as that which demeans or deteriorates my life, my family, my country, my planet, as we all do, so take a moment in silence to remember all the suffering in the world, all the Indians that perished to make room for you on this land, white, black and all nationalities and races now. I see diversity as they euphemistically call it, everywhere in the bay area, CA.

Though there is joy in coming together and sharing a kind and loving embrace, there are also atrocities and horrible nightmarish thoughts and deeds. Our history is laden with them.

Consider this: Only 42 years ago, on November 18, 1978, Jim Jones ordered his followers to drink flavor-aid laced with cyanide, and those who didn’t comply were either shot by armed guards, or injected with the poison in a place they couldn’t possible reach themselves, between the shoulder blades in their backs, so that was obviously murder. Many of his followers were black people who believed Jim Jones was going to lead them to the promised land, believing fervently he was a man without a racist bone in his body, but the sad truth was, Jones was a Nazi at heart, and a devote follower of Hitler and he also worked for the KKK.

On NPR: ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, interviewer: Noah, asked Debrorah Layton, who wrote “Seductive Poison” published in November, 1999, about her experiences in Jonestown.

Noah says, “ 913 people drank cups of flavor-aid and cyanide. It was suicide, but it was also murder…”

Exact figures on how many were murdered and how many drank the cyanide will never be known, because Dr. Mootoo, the Guyanese pathologist, the only doctor who was allowed to examine the bodies, worked to exhaustion “for thirty-two hours non-stop” before running out of supplies. The bodies were bloated from lying out in the heat for days. Only about “eight autopsies were performed on site(sic)”, mostly “children” and no autopsy was conducted on Jim Jones.

Read more about the interview with Debra Layton and the real story behind JONESTOWN: https://mojomorning.blogspot.com/2017/11/jonestown.html

And enjoy your Thanksgiving meal and get together,

Will Powers