Who does Kamala Harris and the infamous Jim Jones have in common. Why it’s Willie Brown, political machine boss extraordinaire of California.
It is well-known that Kamala “Aunt Kamy” Harris has very intimate ties to Willie Brown, former California Assemblyman, San Fran Mayor and head of arguably the most powerful political machine in the nation. In large measure, it was Brown’s machine that catapulted an unknown Harris into the limelight in the late 1990s. But Willie Brown’s influence on San Francisco and California politics, along with his push for leftist ideologies, goes far back, well into the 1960s. And with the dawn of the 1970s, he was more than willing to get the support of none other than Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple.
It was the mid-1970s, and Willie Brown was desperately trying to get State Senator George Moscone elected as mayor of San Francisco. The race was tight, and Brown was concerned that Moscone needed the black vote to win against a conservative realtor. Brown’s cohorts suggested getting Jones and the Peoples Temple involved, who then turned out over 200 volunteers to work black districts in the city.
Moscone won the election, and Jones and his people were credited by then-Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally as being the key element in Moscone’s victory.[1] After that triumph, Brown and other political leaders were extended invitations to visit the Peoples Temple and address the congregants. Ultimately, Moscone appointed Jim Jones to the city’s Housing Authority, even though it violated the city’s charter since Jones didn’t live in San Francisco.
Despite press coverage that accused Jones of being a charlatan, Brown continued to support him. After all, he needed what Jones could deliver, being black votes in elections often dominated by conservative whites. And Brown also needed the image of a white, socialist preacher in his corner. In defending Jones, he said that “when somebody like Jim Jones comes on the scene, that absolutely scares the hell out of most everybody occupying positions of power in the system.”[2]
But apparently Jones didn’t scare Brown, who held tremendous power in the system. At an event to pay tribute to Jones, held in September 1976, Willie Brown served as the Master of Ceremonies. To a screaming and adoring crowd, including numerous California politicians, Brown cried out that Jim Jones was a “combination of Martin King, Angela Davis, Albert Einstein… and Chairman Mao.”[3]
Just over two years later, Jones and many of his followers were dead.
The shock of almost a thousand dead in a South American jungle compound rattled many political supporters. But not Willie Brown… at least not at first. He continued to defend the Peoples Temple, but then quietly backed away. Indeed, many public figures who had supported Jones, ranging from Jane Fonda to Rosalynn Carter, learned to approach the subject from a “hush-hush” angle.[4]
Brown’s association with Jones and his cult didn’t hurt him politically, and a few years later Brown became Speaker of the California State Assembly, which is considered the second most powerful position in the state. In 1995, Brown was elected mayor of San Francisco… and even though married, started “dating” (and promoting) a certain Kamala Harris.
We can only hope that this saga will not take us to an obscure jungle compound to drink the Kool-Aid.
Russ Rodgers has several books published on Amazon.
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[1] Leigh Fondakowski. Stories from Jonestown. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2013, p. 68.
[2] Tim Reiterman. Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and his People. New York: E.P. Dutton, Inc, 1982, pp 327-28. Reiterman’s book is excellent with one curious exception. There are over 50 specific references to Jones being a socialist and Marxist, yet there is not index entry for these terms.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Stories from Jonestown, p. 309.