Jonestown memorial service, Oakland, Ca. (2011) -2

OAKLAND -- Survivors of a horrific, history-making tragedy came together Sunday in the company of their loved ones, both living and dead, to honor not just the hundreds of deaths that bound them together in sorrow, but also the principles of compassion and love that united their lives.

About half of the 918 people who died in the Jonestown, Guyana, tragedy on Nov. 18, 1978, are buried in Evergreen Cemetery, and scores of people attended the ceremony there Sunday to unveil a long-awaited memorial.

Forty or so survivors and mourners gathered in folding chairs at the peak of a grassy slope near the back of the cemetery, sitting in rows just a few feet from the four large marble slabs that lay flat in the ground, inscribed with the names of all the people known to have died that day.

Sprawling out behind the chairs were dozens more mourners standing close, and behind them a small field of gravestones was peppered with people who chose to observe the ceremony alone or in couples, sitting and laying on the grass.

Leslie Wagner-Wilson, who was in her early 20s when she arrived in the primitive Jonestown camp and was one of 33 people to escape on foot mere hours before the tragedy began, said the monument was "not just a memorial wall -- it's a healing wall."

Jonestown is the subject of controversy to this day, as questions of culpability and the ripple effects of violence stir passionate disagreement. But among the most heated debates

has been whether to include the name of Jim Jones on the memorial.

Jones is the reviled leader who culled much of the Jonestown population from religious and activist communities in the wake of the civil rights movement.

He is held responsible for brainwashing hundreds of people, many of whom wanted simply to keep building a better world, and forcing them to commit suicide on the day Rep. Leo Ryan, of San Mateo, arrived to investigate and was assassinated.

Nonetheless, Jones' name appears alongside all the others, in what Wagner-Wilson said is the spirit of forgiveness and inclusiveness she found absolutely necessary in her healing process.

The inclusion of Jones' name, however, infuriated many survivors, including Jynona Norwood, who has organized dozens of annual memorials at the same cemetery and worked for years to get a memorial built there.

Norwood's work to build a memorial wasn't successful -- the stones that were unveiled Sunday were the work of organizers including Jones' adopted son, Jim Jones Jr. -- and her efforts in court to stop the version with Jones' name from being made public were turned down by a judge last week.

She promised to protest the ceremony, calling Jones' inclusion a deep insult to his victims, but she was not present Sunday, and the ceremony concluded without any disruption. Despite her conflict with the organizers, though, Norwood's name was spoken with respect during the ceremony.

"I want to take a moment to appreciate the faithfulness of Jynona Norwood," said Rebecca Moore, a survivor whose husband was among the fundraising organizers for the memorial. Year in and year out, she said, Norwood has diligently worked for the well-being of her fellow survivors and organized numerous ceremonies to help them come together.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Jonestown
• memorial
• cults
• JimJones
• genocide
• conspiracy
• Guyana
• Oakland

[jfkcamelot]

Rebecca Moore, you spoke beautifully at this JT memorial service.