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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 1978)
Page 8 Portland Observer Thursday. November 30, 1978 Wiison joins KGW-TV staff Ì _ _s*-. < We Ain't W hat We Was Retired A ir Force radar technician Jim Wilson has been hired by the KGW -TV News Department for the s ta tio n ’ s s till-e v o lv in g m ini-cam operation. Wilson comes to Channel 8 from K T P S -T V , a U H F public broad casting television station in Tacoma. After a twenty-year tour o f duty w ith the U.S. A ir Force, W ilson studied at the L.H . Bates Vocational School in Tacoma, where he acquired his FCC First Class O p e ra to r’ s License and in itia l television engineering experience. W ilson’ s present responsibilities with KG W s “ Newsccnter Eight” in clude operating the complex equip ment associated with electronic news cameras, s till somewhat new throughout the television industry. “ I ’m still learning, and I ’ m en jo y in g i t , ” says W ilson. “ I t ’ s great!” W'ilson is m arried, has fo u r children. A O N E -W O M A N DRAMATIC PIECE STAGED BEFORE A LIVE AUDIENCE Isy Monk portrays a very old Black woman who recalls what it has been like being Black in America during the past 300 years. 10:30 P.M . THURSDAY Oregon Educational and Public Broadcasting Service Jim Wilson joined the staff of K G W -T V , as a member of "Newscenter Eight.’’ * KOAP-TV 10ffi8 This ad made pow lbla by tb l. .« .lio n b The Corporation for Public Broadcasting People’s Temple typical mix of idealism and apocalypse by Rasa Gustaitis (PNS) — A deep longing and an ancient, recurrent vision o f death lie behind the story o f the People’s Temple Church. To some who joined it in earlier days, it was the community that the 1960’s had promised and then failed to deliver: a close big fam ily that transcended both race and class barriers and lived in celebration o f God while working to transform society. This idealistic aspect o f the church drew not only people who were lost and confused but also others who found it spoke to a need that our society largely ignores. It offered a chance fo r a coherent life b u ilt around spiritual practice. But to understand what happened later, when degradation and destruc tion took over, we must look to the past. The People’s Temple Church story is part o f a dark and violent stream that has coursed through the West, sweeping out from dim recesses o f the m ind and across history in times that shared many qualities with the present. Since the Middle Ages, religious leaders have repeatedly risen from the people to preach the coming o f the end. They gathered around them a following that was willing to obey implicity, die i f asked, and await the ultimate confrontation between good and evil that w ould herald a m illenium during which all would live peacefully as children o f God. in Europe between the 11th and 16th century, the Salvationist messiahs foresaw an imminent final struggle between C hrist and A n tichrist. Almost always they arose during times o f rapid social change when many people were uprooted, family bonds were weakening and breaking, and “ the gap between rich and poor was becoming a chasm,” according to historican Norman Cohn. Their follow ers usually came from u r banized areas. “ Then in each o f these areas in turn a collective sense o f impotence and anxiety and envy suddenly discharged itself in a frantic urge to smite the ungodly,” Cohn wrote in his book, “ In P ursuit o f the Millenium .” By so doing, believers hoped to bring into being, “ out o f suffering in flic te d and suffering endured,” the final Kingdom. In the M iddle Ages, these movements included the Crusades and the Flagellants who beat them selves bloody in religious fervor. All o f them had leaders who called for a renunciation o f the world, often for self-denial and self-torture. Usually these leaders also perform ed healings, as did Jim Jones. These movements led to the first pogroms against Jews and the slaughter o f clergy, Moslems and others believed corrupt. They also led to the tw entieth century totalitarianisms, including Nazism in Germany. Jim Jones is linked to this dark current, though no precedent exists for his people’ s mass suicide. But it was the coupling o f the longing for brotherhood and the sense o f imminent doom that helps ex plain why his congregation grew so powerfully before its preoccupation with death turned upon itself. In March, 1976 many San Fran ciscans learned o f the temple for the first time when it came to the aid of Kamook Banks, the young wife of American Indian Movement leader Dennis Banks, who has been forced to have a baby in prison because her friends could not raise the $20,000 bail. She was being held for trial on a charge o f possessing firearm s, o f which she was later found innocent. Jim Jones announced that his people had voted to put up the church educational fund, which was spon soring 100 members through various schools, as bail. Late one evening the congregation gathered to welcome the young mother, her husband who was him self a fu g itiv e fro m a warrant in South Dakota, and their ten-day old daughter. The threesome stood in the pulpit and thanked the church. The congregation responded with a ren dering o f “ We shall overcome” as powerful as any since the day Martin Luther King gave his “ I have a dream” speech on the steps o f the Lincoln Memorial. Indeed, this congregation seemed to embody the civil rights movement o f the 196O’s. It was a mix o f Blacks and whites and included people who spoke street jargon and others who were college graduates, attorneys, nurses and teachers. Some o f the women wore veils and bright-colored cotton dresses that identified them as members o f the agricultural mission in Guyana. One young white woman said she was a jo u rn a lis m student at the University o f California and one o f the 100 studying thanks to the Church. She had gotten involved w ith People’ s Temple after some mem bers picked her up hitchhiking on the road between Ukiah and San Fran cisco, and her life had assumed a new meaning. She had dedicated herself totally to the community. T his student was one o f the thousands o f young people who had opted for a spiritual life, becoming part o f the broad and diverse movement that continues to grow across the country. It has brought about the form ation o f numerous communities. Most o f these are quiet and devoted to the nurturing o f life. They plant gardens, raise animals and children. But the movement also has its dark wing. It includes groups that are preparing fo r armed confrontation and c o n tro l th e ir members by methods that seem to obliterate in dividual choice. S h o rtly a fte r the Banks cele b ra tio n , the dedication o f some o f the temple members began to seem excessive. During subsequent visits, a reporter and photographer observed that temple guards were acutely watchful o f their every move and kept them from unguided con versations or explorations. It began to be evident that the congregation existed within a sealed reality system and had broken its allegiances to conventions o f thought and values that those outside its walls share. For centuries, such groups have seen society as corrupt and headed for disintegration or holocaust. They saw themselves as righteous rem nants and revolutionary builders o f a Millenium. In the People’ s Temple pavilion in Guyana, Jim Jones erected a sign above the p la tfo rm where he preached as “ prophet o f G o d .” Ironically it warned: “ Those who do not remember the past are condem ned to repeat it.” He’s grabbed your tax dollars for hydro dams. Then denied you cheaper electricity It began 35 years ago with the genesis of the most awesome hydropower network in the world. By Congressional law, the idea was simple: electricity from the Northwest s taxpayer-built dams would go first to rural and domestic users... people like you in your homes. But times changed, and so did the interpretation of the Federal law. Today, it doesn’t matter that your taxpayer dollars built these dams. If you're a residential customer of Pacific Power or any other investor- owned utility (as about two-thirds of the homes in the Northwest are), you're denied access to this less expensive electricity. What you get instead are higher home electric bills. To cut your home electric costs, Pacific Power s been fighting for access to federal hydropower... all the way to the courts. Now, leading members of Congress have recognized that legislative action can and should bring you your share. If you're a customer of an investor-owned utility like Pacific Power, proposed legislation can mean a 20% cut In home electric bills. Immediately. And more cost cuts will come. Finally, customers of all utility companies, investor-owned and public alike, will equally share the hydropower tax dollars generate. Don Frisbee, Pacific Power's Board Chairman, testified before Congress in response to proposed legislation. If you'd like to read what he had to say, just ask one of the people in your Pacific Power office for a copy of his statement And make sure your Congressman knows where you stand: Taxpayer dollars built the dams. Taxpayer homes should share the benefits. Reallocation of federal hydropower, through Congressional action, is the way to clip his wings. T h e P eople a t Pacific Power. Working to cut your energy costs down to size. Demand that your Congressman clip his wings.
