The Tragedy of Jonestown

It is with great sadness for the 918 souls lost at The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, better known by its informal name "Jonestown," that I always think back on this date. It's been 45 years, but most of those who died by forced suicide that day were originally from the San Francisco area, where I lived. The news was hard to take wherever you lived, but particularly difficult in the Bay Area.

Nearly half of Jonestown residents were black women and 304 residents were minors.  What kind of lives might they have lived?  What kinds of things would they be doing now in 2023?

I always think of former Representative Jackie Speier at this time of year too.  She spent a lifetime of public service and was with Representative Leo Ryan when they went to investigate Jonestown.  Speir survived five gunshot wounds while Ryan was assassinated.  He had been shot more than twenty times.  I think also of NBC News correspondent Don Harris and NBC News cameraman Bob Brown who were shot at the same time as Ryan.

How many of you remember that day?  How many of you were born since then?  How might those 900+ people have interacted with you over these past years.  How much, if anything, have we learned since then about cults and about blind faith in those who might do us harm.  Could another tragedy like this happen again?  What do YOU think?