This year marks 31 years since this travesty on the governments part. The “Waco Massacre” as it has been named, began with a 51-day standoff startng on February 28 ending on April 19, 1993. 76 people were killed needlessly, many were children.
- Carl Hoove – The Waco Tribune
Branch Davidians who survived the fire that destroyed their Mount Carmel complex and killed 76 fellow Davidians and their children 30 years ago Wednesday shared memories of those they lost on that day, comforting each other and calling for love and forgiveness.
They spoke at a memorial Wednesday morning at the Taylor Museum of Waco History, on the anniversary of the fire that ended a 51-day siege by federal authorities of the Branch Davidian communal home outside Elk. That siege started Feb. 28 after a failed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms raid sparked a firefight that killed six Davidians and four agents.
Branch Davidian David Thibodeau, who survived the fire, joined Sheila Martin, Kathy Schroeder, Paul Fatta, Heather Jones and Dana Okimoto, Davidians who were released during the siege or who were away from Mount Carmel at the time, in keeping the memory alive of those they had lived with and loved during that time.
The memorial, attended by nearly 100 people, many of whom were broadcast reporters and camera operators, followed a press conference organized by the Houston-based Reunion Institute on the subject “The 1993 Branch Davidians and Federal Agents Conflict: What Have We Learned?”
While several of the conference panelists pointed the finger at ATF and FBI deception in planning, executing then covering up their actions, amplified by media coverage that leaned toward the sensational, many of the Davidians speaking chose to remember family and friends as loving and compassionate, calling for listeners to do the same.
Many spoke fondly of the Branch Davidian Clive Doyle, who died last year. Doyle survived the fire and kept in touch with many of his fellow Davidians over the last three decades, prompting several to recall his love for others and generosity, qualities they said were shared by his family as well. Okimoto, who identified herself as one of David Koresh’s wives, said the Doyles had cared for her children as their own.“They loved my children. Yeah, they were David’s children. I get that. But I will never forget that,” she said.
Martin, whose husband Wayne and four of her seven children died in the fire, called for understanding.
“I wanted to show we can have forgiveness in their hearts for all that’s happened,” Martin said. “We were taught that by Christ on the cross there would be a better life, a better world. I still hope our heavenly family will make things right.”
Jones, one of the 21 children released during the siege, wept for her 10 family members who died.
“I miss our family so much. It doesn’t get easier. I wish it did,” she said to a room of sympathetic listeners. “There are no words for what has happened. … My dad (David Jones) was the best dad ever. There’s just no getting over this.”
Friends and family members in the audience voiced support for those speaking, often calling out their first names or applauding when they were named. Others wore black T-shirts commemorating the 30th anniversary with a quote attributed to Doyle — “love each other with all your heart” — under a silhouette of a tree at the Mount Carmel site.
Thibodeau was the only Davidian or former Davidian on the panel assembled to speak about lessons learned, one comprised of Phillip Arnold, Houston historian and Reunion Institute director; Loyola University professor of the history of religions Catherine Wessinger; and Lamar University sociology professor Stuart Wright.
Arnold said the core of the tragedy at Mount Carmel was a refusal by ATF and FBI negotiators to speak to Davidian leader David Koresh in the religious language he understood, despite efforts by Arnold and colleague James Tabor to convince them otherwise.
Arnold, who had studied religious apocalyptic movements in depth, said as he heard the siege unfold, “characters of my dissertation had come to life in Waco” and he thought, “The cops are not going to understand what he is trying to say.”
In his remarks, Thibodeau detailed what he considered governmental lies and warned about “false propaganda” and those considering violent action in response to what happened to the Branch Davidians.
“We’re so close to a civil war. … Do no violence in the name of the group. Please don’t take justice in your hands and hurt innocent people,” he told his audience, including scores of listeners watching in a Zoom conference.
Thibodeau said the Branch Davidians who lived through the events of 1993 cannot escape those memories.
“Waco is with you every single day,” he said.
As part of Wednesday’s memorial, he narrated a slide show with images of those killed in the April 19 fire, with details from their life and others’ memories of them.
Kathy Schroeder remembered her husband Mike as “the most kind, generous person I’ve known in my life” and how their children, now adults, reminded her of him.
“I knew he’d beat me to heaven because he believed stronger than I did,” she said.
Schroeder also took the opportunity to address remarks she had made in the recent Netflix documentary “Waco: American Apocalypse” that she felt had been misinterpreted.
“I want to state for the record I would never condone or excuse the sexual exploitation of anyone or any kind regardless of age,” she said, adding that she also did not advocate violence. “I never fired a shot at any living being. … Because of recent events I will not be speaking publicly about the events in Waco in 1993.”