Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple Page #3

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Jim Jones was hated

and despised by some people,

particularly

in the white community.

There had been pressures on him

to leave Indianapolis.

He thought that Indianapolis was

too racist of a place for him to be,

and he wanted to

take his people out.

California is perceived to be

a very progressive state.

This would be the place to

implement the dream of racial equality.

Not Indianapolis,

which seems hopeless,

but California, which

seems to be the Promised Land.

He chose Ukiah

in northern California,

about 90 miles north

of San Francisco,

because there was an article

inEsquire Magazinethat said that

Ukiah was one of the nine places

in the world that

in the event of

thermonuclear attack,

people would survive.

I told Edith, If you follow Jimmy

to California, youre crazy.

So what did Jimmy do,

but took her to a psychiatrist

and sent me a certified letter

that she is of sound mind,

and she is not crazy.

I was there the afternoon

that Edith drove away.

I didnt know

Id never see her again.

The move to California

was really fun.

There were about twelve to fifteen cars

driving across United States

and making that journey

to a place that none of us knew,

you know, none of us

could even imagine.

We were going to California,

our new world.

When I saw Redwood Valley,

I couldnt believe my eyes

because it was like a paradise.

It was rural. It was green.

There were grape vines everywhere,

and I fell in love.

I said "This is got to be

a perfect way to live."

We started with about

a hundred and forty-one people

and from that, weve grown

to a very thriving congregation.

We have about every level of society,

all socio-economic income strata,

professional down to the ordinary

field worker, field laborer.

Really, its beautiful to see that

all these divisions have been broken down...

not only race, but any differences

of economic position.

The focus of Jims message

was taken from the Bible,

where Jesus in his earliest days

told people to sell all things

and have all things in common.

Jesus Christ had the most revolutionary

teachings to be said, in the sense that

he said to feed the hungry,

clothe the naked,

take in the stranger,

administer to those who are

widows and afflicted in their suffering.

And we feel that no one really

tried Christianity too effectively

in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

The membership

increased substantially

as he procured

more and more Greyhound buses

and fixed them up,

and every summer

he began this cross-country tour.

The purpose of the bus trips

was to spread Jims beliefs

about socialism and the world,

and how we can live a better life

and about an integrated lifestyle.

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