James Warren Jones Jr. also known as Jimmy is the adopted African-American son of Marceline Jones and the infamous Peoples Temple leader, Jim Jones (Reiterman, 64-65). Jimmy was born into the Peoples Temple and spent his early life with his many siblings within the church. Jim Jones referred to his diverse family as his “Rainbow” family (Valiente and DelaRosa). Despite the affectionate name, Jimmy and his brother Stephan, the only natural-born son of the Jones, experienced sibling rivalry that often turned racial whilst growing up (Reiterman, 104-105). Jimmy was often one of the few non-white kids in school growing up and was bullied often. Although Jimmy and Stephan butted heads, Stephan always stuck up for him (Reiterman, 181).
In Jonestown, he was a part of the basketball team that had special privileges to leave camp to play the game (Reiterman, 448) To this day he claims that basketball literally saved his life (Valiente and DelaRosa). November 18, 1978, Jimmy was able to survive the Jonestown massacre because the basketball team was sent to Georgetown to play basketball. Whilst in Georgetown, they received a message about the White Night where they were expected to assassinate the enemies of Jonestown and later kill themselves (Reiterman, 522). They did not listen to the orders of Jim Jones and instead went to the Pegasus Hotel to gather more information about the situation (Reiterman, 523). Due to the defection of the basketball team, they were able to survive the White Night.
After the Jonestown massacre, Jimmy began going by James Jones to dissociate from Jim Jones (“Mass Murderer Jim Jones’ Son Speaks Out”). He believed that basketball saved his life, but after that experience, he could no longer look at the game the same way (Valiente and DelaRosa). Time after processing the situation Jimmy was able to find forgiveness for his father and is now proud to be known as Jim Jones Jr. (Valiente and DelaRosa). He is still alive today and is living a happy life with his family.
“Mass Murderer Jim Jones’ Son Speaks Out.” Oprah, 17 February 2010, https://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/mass-murderer-jim-jones-son-speaks-out/all. Accessed 13 December 2022.
Reiterman, Tim. Raven. Penguin Publishing Group, 2008.
Valiente, Alexa, and Monica DelaRosa. “40 years after the Jonestown massacre: Jim Jones’ surviving sons on what they think of their father, the Peoples Temple today.” ABC News, 28 September 2018, https://abcnews.go.com/US/40-years-jonestown-massacre-jim-jones-surviving-sons/story?id=57997006. Accessed 13 December 2022.