White Nights
In July 1977, Jim Jones and several hundred Temple members moved to Jonestown to escape building pressure from media investigations. Jones left the same night that an editor at New West magazine read Jones an article to be published by Marshall Kilduff detailing allegations by former Temple members. Most politicians broke ties with Jones, although a rally against Jones' enemies was held at the Temple attended by Willie Brown, Harvey Milk and Art Agnos, among others.
After this exodus, Tim and Grace Stoen began a custody battle for John. In September 1977, the Stoens' battle in a Georgetown court produced an order for the Temple to show cause why a final order should not be issued compelling the return of John to Grace Stoen. A few days later, that same court issued a second order for the arrest of John by authorities.
The fear of possibly being held in contempt of the orders caused Jones to set up a false sniper attack upon himself and begin a series of "White Night" rallies, called the "Six Day Siege", where Jones spoke to Temple members about attacks from outsiders and had members surround Jonestown with guns and machetes. Angela Davis and Huey Newton communicated via radio-telephone to the Jonestown crowd, urging them to hold strong against the "conspiracy." Jones made radio broadcasts stating "we will die unless we are granted freedom from harassment and asylum." Deputy Minister Ptolemy Reid finally assured Jones' wife Marceline that Guyanese Defense Forces would not invade Jonestown. The Stoens' attorney stated that, at that point, the clerk in Guyana refused to sign an arrest warrant for Jones, and there was talk of government interference in the legal process.
After this initial round of the Stoen custody dispute, Jones directed Temple members to write over a dozen foreign governments inquiring about immigration policies relevant to another exodus by the Temple. He also wrote the U.S. State department inquiring about North Korea and Stalinist Albania.
Read more about this topic: Timothy Stoen, Battling The Temple
Famous quotes containing the words white and/or nights:
“A tanned skin is something more than respectable, and perhaps olive is a fitter color than white for a man,—a denizen of the woods. “The pale white man!” I do not wonder that the African pitied him.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Researchers, with science as their authority, will be able to cut [animals] up, alive, into small pieces, drop them from a great height to see if they are shattered by the fall, or deprive them of sleep for sixteen days and nights continuously for the purposes of an iniquitous monograph.... “Animal trust, undeserved faith, when at last will you turn away from us? Shall we never tire of deceiving, betraying, tormenting animals before they cease to trust us?””
—Colette [Sidonie Gabrielle Colette] (1873–1954)