June 16, 2026

Rev. Jynona Norwood

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - For 32 years, the Base Headquarters of the Annual Jonestown Cherishing the Innocent Children and Hero Families Memorial and Wall has stood as a sanctuary of truth, prayer, and remembrance. Pastor Jynona Norwood designed the only memorial on earth dedicated solely to the 305 innocent children who entered Jonestown one way and had no way out.

The memorial — designed, built, and painstakingly assembled through decades of archived photographs, family stories, and community testimony — was born out of a vow to restore the children’s identities, faces, and humanity after Jim Jones’s deception, coercion, and violence stole their lives. This portable memorial is not simply a wall. It is a living archive, where the innocent children have been placed on their memorial and honored with dignity, without honoring their killer, standing in stark contrast to Evergreen Cemetery, which placed plaques honoring Jim Jones on the sacred final resting place of the 305 innocent children.

And now, the same spirit of threat that once destroyed their lives has resurfaced in a new form.

Today, in 2026, a new threat has emerged — not in the jungle, but in the courts. Attorney fees. Bookkeepers. Fabricated charges. Threats. Coercion. Bates‑stamped evidence documents the scheme in their own handwriting. Now they want the memorial headquarters — built with community, civil and religious leaders, Norwood’s tears, trauma, and vow. She calls it “an assault on the memory of the innocent children.”

As the legal battle intensified, memories of the original tragedy resurfaced with painful clarity. A few days after the massacre, the names began to scroll down NBC News. Norwood’s grandmother — once Jim Jones’s most dedicated supporter in San Francisco before she realized the truth — recognized the names of her daughter, grandchildren, cousins, and loved ones as they appeared on the screen. She screamed in pain as the reality became undeniable.

Norwood said they did not commit suicide. And her grandmother cried beside her, identifying each loved one through her tears and grief as Norwood wrote down every name in real time.

Long before the world understood Jonestown, Norwood was already fighting. Jones’s first Black member in San Francisco was her grandmother — a woman who believed deeply in God, attended COGIC, and embraced Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of equal pay, racial harmony, justice, and opportunity.

Jim Jones monopolized on that dream. And when everyone believed in Jones’s promises, Norwood saw danger. She was never a member of Peoples Temple. She was a daughter, granddaughter, niece, and mother trying to rescue her family from a man who promised equality but delivered terror.

One day, Peoples Temple members tried to block her exit when she came to take her young son. “My mother and grandmother were pulling my son’s body one way,” she recalls, “and I was pulling him the other way. I pulled him out of their grip.”

Jim Jones — in the dark glasses he never removed — ran toward her. They stood toe to toe. She did not back down. She took her son and left. Her son, Rev. Ed Norwood, remembers: “My mother fought for me with everything she had. She saved my life.”

Years later, federal forensic pathologist, Dr. Leslie Mootoo, confirmed what Norwood had said from the beginning: No one committed suicide — it was murder. Families were injected between their shoulder blades, others injected in the backs of their arms where they could not reach, many were shot, and survivors were told, “Drink — or be shot.”

Gunmen surrounded the pavilion.

The silent screams of the innocent children still echo through every detail of the forensic record. And in 2026, those echoes collide with a nation facing its own crisis of missing and exploited children.

Across the United States, headlines report unprecedented numbers of children disappearing from foster systems, youth shelters, group homes, and urban neighborhoods. National databases show tens of thousands of open missing‑child cases, while investigative reports reveal children vanishing from overwhelmed state agencies, unregulated residential programs, and understaffed protective‑custody systems.

Families plead for answers as social‑media rumors, conspiracy theories, and political agendas drown out verified information. Law‑enforcement officials warn that trafficking networks are exploiting gaps in state oversight, while advocacy groups argue that the nation is experiencing a child‑safety emergency hidden beneath bureaucratic language and political noise. The same forces that once allowed Jim Jones to manipulate truth — confusion, fear, and deliberate distortion — now shape the national conversation about whose children are protected, whose stories are believed, and whose suffering is ignored.

Decades after the massacre, the nation witnessed a moment of healing and remembrance when Yolanda Renée King — the granddaughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — stood with the families at the 40th Anniversary. Her father, Martin Luther King III, the keynote speaker, joined Norwood, Rev. Ed Norwood, and community leaders in unveiling the Portable Memorial displaying the children’s full‑color photographs, names, and ages.

The highest offices of our nation, together with America’s foremost civil rights and religious leaders, have spoken with one voice to affirm the sacred importance of this work and this dignified memorial.

• Vice President Kamala Harris stated: “As we honor the legacy of those who lost their lives, we must continue to fight for a future free from violence, hate, and fear.”
• Congresswoman Barbara Lee wrote: “I support your efforts. Thank you for all of the work you are doing to create this Memorial.”
• Rev. Dr. Amos C. Brown declared: “Norwood’s memorial ensures the innocent children will never be forgotten.”
• Dr. Barbara A. Reynolds warns that dismantling the Base Headquarters would be “an act of historical desecration.”
• Ambassador Rev. Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq. calls the attempt to seize the headquarters “a moral crisis for the nation.”

“Jonestown didn’t end in the jungle,” Norwood says. “It reverberates in 2026 — in courtrooms, in public records battles, in the fight against disinformation, and in the families who still live with the silence of never receiving a phone call before watching their loved ones’ names scroll across a TV screen.” She adds, “I will not allow the innocent children’s memory — nor my family, friends, and heroes who were massacred — to be pushed aside, rewritten, or forgotten.”

The case will be heard on June 18, 2026 at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse - Third Floor - Los Angeles, Dept. 20 - 8:30 am. Contact: Pastor Jynona Norwood — 650‑888‑0377 - Website

May 11, 2026

Virginia Congressman Bobby speaks to Hampton University graduation class of 2026. PHOTO: Hampton University Official Facebook

Hampton University graduation, 2026. PHOTO: Hampton University Official Facebook

HAMPTON, Virginia — U. S. Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, D-Virginia, has implored Hampton University graduates to immediately engage in politics because of recent erosions of voting rights and educational opportunity.

"No one is going to give us the ballot; we have to fight for it," said Scott, who represents the Third Congressional District that includes Hampton and Norfolk State universities, both HBCUs in Virginia. "Now we have to make voting rights an election issue.

Scott, ranking [aka minority] member of the House Education and Workforce committee, referenced the Trump Administration push to abolish the U.S. Department of Education, and last week's U.S. Supreme Court decision that congressional redistricting cannot account for racial representation, however, districts can be gerrymandered for political advantage.

"Six Supreme Court justices [out of nine] outdid themselves," said Scott to the 890 graduates plus a near-capacity Hampton Coliseum crowd of families and friends. "This ranks among the three worst court decisions in history. This, Dred Scott, and Plessy vs. Fergusion."

As the Congressman spoke at the May 8 graduation, Tennessee's GOP-majority state legislature raced days after the high court ruling to redraw congressional boundaries and break up a Black-majority congressional district that included the city of Memphis into parts of three Republican-majority districts. Meanwhile, also on May 8, the Virginia Supreme Court struck down a Democratic congressional redistricting plan that had been voter approved.

The Virginia Supreme Court did not say the vote itself was wrong. It ruled that Virginia's Democratic-led legislature violated state constitutional and state law requirements mainly in its timing of placing the constitutional amendment on the ballot. The court rulings comes amidst a nationwide struggle between Republicans and Democrats to win control of the House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm elections.  

Scott also encouraged the students to get involved in politics for the sake of HBCU educational funding. He said when he was chairman of the Education committee he fought for investment in "underfunded" HBCUs, but under current GOP control, support has been cut.

Now, said Scott, it was urgent that the newly minted graduates join the fight for voting power and educational opportunity:

"Use your votes. Support candidates who believe in voting rights. Vote out politicians who supported the 'Big Ugly Law.'," said Scott. "Hampton graduates like Mary Jackson and Christine Darden were Hidden Figures' who became barrier breakers.

"Stay strong, stay involved. Follow the news, attend city council meetings, and even run for office. Stay informed. Stay engaged. We can't fix everything, but if we do nothing, we won't fix anything."

May 6, 2026

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - There was a time when  only the loonies  were talking about walking on the moon, or tooling around in flying taxis, or robots, not only playing soccer but changing  the rules for their own pleasure.

All that was pure nonsense until it happened. And now something else once  thought impossible is on the verge of being taken seriously. The Washington Post recently featured an article where  Anthropic, a multi-billion tech company,  gathered Christian leaders together for help in considering whether their newly created morally sensitive chatbot could  be considered a “child of God.”

Their corporate intentions might have been good but once again is  this really happening that a once  seemingly impossible question is becoming normalized?

To hear a soulless machine tool treated as a junior Jesus stripped of divinity and to see technology become so overreaching that it tempts redefining humanity is alarming.

Raising the question also requires us to consider what comes next. Has technology drained the sacred from religion to the point that God can be treated like ordinary merchandise—an unsettling prospect?

To many the theological issues immediately reveal the incongruities.  Several versions of the Bible show Jesus equated His own incarnation as flesh and blood. God breathed life into humans, and  no technologist could ever do that no matter how ingenuous. No algorithm can substitute for God, and humans are governed by souls, not data nor code.

 Adding to the controversy was the timing. It came at a time when the President was photographed posing as Jesus and criticizing Pope Leo  for stating that he had “blood on his hands ” for the bombing in Iran. Some in the White House, including Paula White, who is a senior adviser on religious affairs, compared her  boss with Jesus.

The times were beginning to feel like a dagger was being thrust in the heart of   Christendom.

 Several spiritual leaders—unlikely to be invited to a comfortable meeting at Anthropic—pushed back against the chatbot controversy. As a minister who authored an AI-focused book, The Rise of the Techno-Messiah, the author sees this debate as another step toward an era in which technology could eventually write its own Bible, create its own religion, and attempt to take God’s sacred place.

 In an interview Dr. Felix Njeh, an engineer, researcher and  author of the AI Reckoning, described the  Chatbot issue as “Pure nonsense. “We are dealing with the complex issue of soul versus systems. Man was formed by God's hands, filled with God's breath, and functioning as a living soul. AI is coded by human minds , AI has processing power, but no breath of life. AI has input output, but no impartation from God.’’

Dr. Ralph Martino, pastor of a multi-cultural church in Washington DC and co-host of Gospel Access a YouTube spiritual news hour asked  “ Can  a chatbot receive salvation? Never. Salvation is not a software upgrade, regeneration is not a system update, and being born again is not downloading new data. It is receiving divine life.”

He added that we ‘re living  in a time where intelligence is increasing, intimacy with God is  decreasing, information is multiplying. That is what AI does. But transformation is missing. Instead of listening and relying on God too many are depending upon technology. And here is the deception.”

The deeper issue is also not whether AI can rise to our level, but whether we are letting ourselves fall into theirs. Harvard Researchers report that one in eight adolescents and young adults use AI chatbots for mental health advice at unexpectedly high rates, often using the tools for guidance, comfort, guidance rather  than turning to their religious leaders.

Nevertheless, religious leaders like Najeh and Martino are cautioning against religious leaders strictly regarding AI and other technologies as  evil. Martino added: “ We must understand that AI is not the enemy . It is not a god nor  a devil. If there is  evil involved, it is not technology, but the people and corporations behind it.

Now that the chatbot role is bubbling to the surface technology deserves much more scrutiny from religious soul-tenders. They should carry the message that tools are  meant to serve us, not replace the relationships and spiritual grounding that sustain us.

As AI advances we must resist the insidious temptation to assign divinity to machines.

The Word itself offers a helpful guide for caution and clarity: “Test everything; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

Dr. Barbara A. Reynolds is the author of eight books, including The Rise and Fall of the Techno-Messiah, Artificial Intelligence and the End Times and  chairs the AI Committee for Everyday People for Black Women for Positive Change, where she is chaplain.

May 5, 2026

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Civil Rights leaders across the US have reacted with alarm to the US Supreme Court ruling on April 28 that struck down Louisiana’s second majority Black congressional district, saying that the district relied too heavily on race; thereby gutting the Voting Rights Act.

A mélange of outraged critics and political observers assert that this ruling not only renders the landmark Voting Rights Act useless, but also gives Republicans, in the states they control, the judicial cover to significantly expand extreme partisan gerrymandering. They fear that this decision will invite Republican-led states to jettison Black and Latino electoral districts that usually lean Democratic, creating one-party states and tilting the balance of power in Congress for years to come.

“Today’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais is a profound setback for American democracy and a direct blow to the voting power of Black communities in Louisiana and across the nation. At its core, this case was never about fairness or constitutional principle—it was about whether a multiracial democracy will be permitted to function as intended, or whether the voices of Black voters can once again be weakened, diluted, and silenced,” Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League said in a statement. “By undermining lawful efforts to ensure fair representation, the court has placed long‑standing protections of the Voting Rights Act in grave jeopardy.”

NAACP General Counsel Kristen Clarke and Patrice Willoughby, Chief of Policy and Legislative Affairs, authored a joint response to what they characterized as the Supreme Court’s destruction of the Voting Rights Act.

“The Supreme Court has eviscerated the Voting Rights Act, handing a license to hostile politicians who want to rig the system by silencing our voices,” Willoughby and Clarke said. “By opening the door and allowing officials to dismantle districts that provide Black voters a fair chance to elect candidates of choice, the Court has betrayed Black voters, betrayed America, and betrayed the promise of democracy.

“This is NOT by accident. Let’s call this what it is: a shameful ruling designed to erode Black electoral power. This ruling shouldn’t be viewed in isolation. It is part of a broader, coordinated pattern of voter suppression spreading across the country. Opponents of equality are working overtime to roll back decades of progress and strip away our representation.”

The Nation’s Justice Correspondent Elie Mystal predicted during a 2025 interview with MSNBC’s Ali Velshi, the outcome of the Louisiana v Callais case saying Roberts would oversee the dismantling of the Voting Rights Act. “John Roberts has been an enemy of the Voting Rights Act his entire career … (he is the) the biggest enemy towards black people SCOTUS has seen since Justice Taney, who authored the pro-slavery 1857 Dred Scott decision,” which maintained the enslavement of Black people, Mystal said.

Now, southern states, including Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina are rushing to seed the ground for the eventual redrawing of lines that will eliminate Black Congressional seats. The full impact of the court’s ruling will be seen in the next few years, voting rights experts predict.

Damon T. Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee said in a statement, “Black Americans have never been fully represented in the electoral process. This ruling makes it less likely that we ever will. The impact of this ruling cannot be understated. The consequences will be seen both immediately and far into the future.”

He said the Supreme Court has displayed mounting hostility toward voting rights and Constitutional rights, particularly for Black voters.

“Today’s ruling continues that pattern. In essence, the Supreme Court has usurped Congress' authority by rewriting Section 2 of the VRA. Now, to block a remedy, states will try to hide behind a false mask of partisanship,” Hewitt said. 

Members of the country’s most prominent civil rights organizations, state and federal legislators, and other advocates and officials have been scrambling to figure out coherent, robust responses to a situation which Hewitt said, “threatens to invite a new wave of discriminatory redistricting across the country and to roll back decades of hard‑fought progress that brought the nation closer to a democracy where every voice matters equally.”

Calling it an emergency, they had the first of what is expected to be any number of press conferences, meetings, forums and strategy sessions to frame effective responses.

“Today’s unjust decision in Louisiana v. Callais, ensures that the U. S. Supreme Court justices who voted 6-3, will be remembered in history as one of the most shameful majority decisions against a multi-racial democracy and also opens the door for states to eliminate majority-Black districts," said Melanie Campbell, president/CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation in a statement. "Further, on the eve of our nation’s 250th birthday, the Roberts Court will also be remembered for upholding racial discrimination designed to eliminate the ability for Black and other minority communities to elect candidates of choice."

Campbell continued, predicting a historic fight for justice at the ballot box: “While the Court has narrowed our ability to elect Black elected officials, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and all those who believe in an inclusive democracy, were built for this moment. The 2026 Mid-Term Election provides an opportunity for ‘we the people’ to elect candidates who will support expanding voting rights and fair representation for All Americans to be represented in our nation and history has taught us that when we unite, we win!”

This ruling has once again thrown into disarray the notion of settled law. This development has infuriated and exasperated Black folks and their allies of all races across the country. A deep reservoir of anger and rage has poured out on social media and other forums as those most affected by this outrage try to grasp what happened, calculate its magnitude, and more importantly, fathom the implications and fallout.

Headlines across the country declared what happened as a “death blow,” a “gutting,” “destruction,” and a right unceremoniously “stripped away,” “eroded,” “dismantled,” and “weakened.”     

Rights leaders are dismayed that 60 years of voting rights protections appear to sit in shambles, arbitrarily pulled apart by six justices in Black robes; slick politicians in handsome suits; and countless others who joined the crusade to relentlessly pursue and weaponize the complete disassembling of a generation of blood-soaked Civil Rights gains and protections.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network, called the decision a “bullet in the heart of the voting rights movement.”

“Today’s ruling does not eliminate Section 2 entirely,” but as Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissent, it renders the provision ‘“all but a dead letter,”’ he said.

President Barack Obama joined the chorus of voices expressing disappointment and optimism.

“… It serves as just one more example of how a majority of the current court seems intent on abandoning its vital role in ensuring equal participation in our democracy and protecting the rights of minority groups against majority overreach,” he said in a statement. “The good news is that such setbacks can be overcome.”

That will happen if citizens nationwide who cherish democratic ideals step up mobilization and vote in record numbers, Obama said. “… Not just in the upcoming midterms or in high profile races, but in every election and every level.”