Philadelphia

Saturday, March 26, 2016 from 1:00pm to 4:00pm

Join the MOVE Organization for a very special tribute for The MOVE 9 Sisters. We prepare for their upcoming May 2016 parole hearings for Janet, Janine and Debbie Africa; we celebrate the work and sacrifices they have made during their 38 years of unjust imprisonment. Also, remembrance of our sister, the late Merle Africa, who died under mysterious circumstances in March 1998 at the State Correctional Institution in Cambridge Springs Pennsylvania after serving twenty years unjustly imprisoned.

Saturday, March 26, 2016 from 1:00pm to 4:00pm
Location: Kingsessing Recreational Center
4901 Kingsessing Avenue
Philadelphia, PA

Speakers: Ramona Africa, Pam Africa, The MOVE Family, Lynne Stewart, Amina Baraka, Phile Chinselou, Anthony Monterio, Leon Williams, Women who were incarcerated with The MOVE 9 Sisters.
Performers: MOVE Youth Rap Groups: Life and Raw
For more info email onamovellja@gmail.com and see The Move 9″ on Facebook and http://move9parole.blogspot.com
Get Flyer: 2016-03-26-MOVE-9-Sisters.jpg

Fri. May 13, 2016 from 6-9 pm

Stand with MOVE on May 13, 2016 — (click for larger 8.5″ x 11″ flyer)

Stand together with the MOVE family on the 31st anniversary of the Philadelphia government bombing of the MOVE home on May 13, 1985. Remember the 11 murdered MOVE members, including John Africa and five children. Remember the framed-up MOVE 9 and demand their immediate parole. Cultural performances.
Location:
Abiding Truth Ministries Church
57th and Washington Ave. (one block north of Baltimore Ave.) See map.
6-9 pm

Bombing Black People: The Philadelphia Police’s War on Move

Global Research News Hour Episode 129
By Michael Welch and Linn Washington
January 31, 2016

Click to hear audio: http://www.radio4all.net/files/scottprice666@hotmail.com/4319-1-GRNH_Jan_29_2016_episode_129_session_mixdown.mp3

“May 13, 1985 is a day that shall live in infamy, but for far more reasons than the obvious. It was the death knell of a system committing suicide. It proved that a man called John Africa spoke powerful truths when he spoke about the nature of the system as corrupt, as flawed, as poisoned. Every day past that date has only proved it even more. ” -Mumia Abu-Jamal, from a May 9 2010 radio essay

The only aerial bombing by police ever carried out on US soil was on May 13, 1985, when a Philadelphia police helicopter dropped military grade explosives on the house run by a group of self-styled revolutionaries known as Move. This group, which claims to adhere to principles of non-violence was founded by John Africa in 1972, and was composed mostly, but not exclusively, of African-Americans. They rejected the norms of 20th century American society in their dress, grooming, diet and lifestyles, and had come in conflict with authorities on several occasions.[1]

The 1985 bombing claimed the lives of five children and six adults including founder John Africa. Another adult named Ramona Africa, and a child named Birdie Africa were the only survivors of the assault. More than 250 people in the predominantly black middle class neighbourhood were left homeless after more than 60 other homes were destroyed as a result of the aerial bombing, and the fires that followed.[2]

This attack followed a previous assault on August 8, 1978. A police raid on the Move house, then located in the Philadelphia neighbourhood of Powelton village, resulted in the death of police officer James Ramp. The Courts held nine Move members responsible for the death and sentenced them to 30 to 100 years behind bars. [3]

Thirty-seven years later, two of the nine have died in prison under suspicious circumstances. Supporters of the Move 9, as they are called, are appealing to the Philadelphia Parole Board to set the remaining seven members free, now that they have all served their minimum sentences. [4][5]

In this installment of the Global Research News Hour we examine the attacks on Move in the context of a history of police and state repression of the black minority population of the US.

Ramona Africa is the spokesperson for Move. She served seven years in prison on riot charges following the bombing by Philadelphia police. She and other plaintiffs eventually received a $1.5 million settlement from the city in connection with the incident. In this interview Ramona provides some background on the group and the police stand-offs in 1978 and 1985, and speaks at length about the unjust incarceration of nine Move members who she explains could not possibly have been responsible for the murder of police officer Ramp.

Linn Washington is a journalist and currently serves as an Associate Professor of Journalism at Temple University. He has covered Move almost from the group’s beginnings and was present on the scene as a reporter during the 1985 police action against the group. He will put the 1985 Bombing and the events that led up to it in their proper context and establish the failures, as he sees it, of the media to hold those in authority to account.

Mumia Abu-Jamal is a renowned journalist from Philadelphia who has been in prison since 1981 and is known as the “Voice of the Voiceless” for his award- winning reporting on police brutality and other social and racial epidemics that plague communities of color in Philadelphia and throughout the world. Much of his journalism called attention to the blatant injustice and brutality he watched happen on a daily basis to MOVE, a revolutionary organization that works to protect all forms of life–human, animal, plant–and the Earth as a whole.

Incredibly, it’s been almost 30 years – 30 years! – since 9 MOVE men and women were unjustly consigned to prisons across Pennsylvania. Although known as the MOVE 9, there really are seven survivors of the August 8th, 1978 police assault on MOVE’s West Philadelphia home and headquarters. They are: Janine Africa, Mike Africa, Debbie Africa, Janet Africa, Eddie Africa, Chuck Africa and Delbert Africa. The late Merle Africa died at the women’s prison in Muncy, PA (near Williamsport, PA) under quite mysterious circumstances. Phil Africa passed away under suspicious circumstances at the State Correctional Institution at Dallas, PA.

All 9 MOVE men and women were convicted in one of the longest (and most contentious) trials in city history, on dubious charges of 3rd degree murder of a city cop engaged in the raid on their home, and related charges. Even if all the charges were true (and they most certainly are not), the sentence 30 to 100 years can only be termed grossly excessive. At the time of trial, 3rd degree carried a sentence of 71/2 to 15 years –so essentially the MOVE people got more than double, and indeed, quadruple the maximum of what the statute provided. Indeed, the woman got the same sentences as the men, even though none of them faced weapons charges! There’s little real doubt that they’re in prison today because they’re MOVE members. Today, 30 years later, they should be entitled to their freedom–and they would be, but for the concerted campaign of cops and local media to keep them imprisoned for a century.

MOVE members continue to fight for their imprisoned brothers and sisters, and they ask that you join that struggle by supporting their parole demands. On the web, contact: onamovellja@aol.com for more information or see http://onamove.com. Or write the MOVE Organization, P.O. Box 19709, Philadelphia, PA, 19143. As many of you know, I covered the press conference of August 8th, 1978.

Every reporter present knows that within hours of that press conference, the police department issued a written press release giving a completely revised statement of how the cop met his death. That makes sense when you consider that the cop was most likely the victim of friendly fire, for the MOVE house had become a shooting gallery, with police expending literally hundreds of rounds during the raid. Moreover, when’s the last time you’ve seen a crime scene destroyed before nightfall, within hours of the shooting? It happened here. I also covered the trial, a parade of legalized injustice if ever there was one. Indeed, days after the trial, Judge Edwin S. Malmed took to the airwaves to defend his unjust rulings. On a radio talk show on WWDB-FM, I phoned him and asked him if he knew who killed the cop. He replied, live on air, “I haven’t the faintest idea.” Yet, this guy sent 9 people to prison for 30-to-100 years!
– by Mumia Abu-Jamal from a May 9 2010 radio essay

For more resources on Move, and how to help the Move 9, please visit the following sites:

http://onamove.com

http://move9parole.blogspot.ca

The Pennsylvania Parole Board and Its Conflict of Interest Against Eddie Africa

The Pennsylvania Parole Board is unfairly denying parole to Eddie Africa. What we are asking people to do is:
1. Call the Pennsylvania (PA) Parole Board at (717) 772-4343, and

2. Email The PA Parole Board at: ra-pbppopc@pa.gov and demand immediate parole for Eddie Africa at his upcoming parole hearing.

These are key points that people can make when calling and writing via email

(1) You are concerned over the clear conflict of interest over the fact that Parole Board Chairman Michael L. Green was appointed to the Parole Board ten years ago by then PA Governor Ed Rendell whose office prosecuted Edward and his co defendants in the late 1970’s and early 80’s. Mr Green has final judgement over this decision over parole in which he has shown clear bias for parole for the MOVE 9 in the past as a regular hearing examiner.

(2) Pamela Gray another member of the PA Parole Board has extreme ties to law enforcement in Pennsylvania which serves as a conflict of interest to have her sit over this hearing due to the fact that Edward and the rest of the MOVE 9 case revolves around the murder of a cop.

(3) Edward Africa has a home and employment plan set up for him upon his release .

(4) Edward has completed all the required programs to make parole and also has an excellent prison conduct record in which he has kept down gang and racial violence inside of Pennsylvania prisons.

Ona Move
The Justice And Accountability Campaign
October 23, 2015

Support Parole for Eddie Africa

In November 2015 our Brother Eddie Africa is set to make another appearance before the Pennsylvania State Parole Board. Your letters of support is urgently needed. All of the information is below as follows:

We are asking for your support at this critical stage to secure the freedom Eddie deserves. Feel free to use parts of the sample letter below. Please write in your own words and with your own experiences of/with Eddie.

NOTE: Please send all letters of support to Orie Ross, P.O. Box 575, Times Square Station, New York, NY 10108-0575 so they can be reviewed and sent to the Parole Board.

Sample Letter:

Board of Probation and Parole
Attn: Inmate Inquiry
1001 South Front Street, Suite 5300
Harrisburg, PA 17104

September 3, 2015

Regarding October 2015 Parole Hearing for: Edward Goodman #AM-4974

Dear Honorable Members of the Parole Board:

As a concerned citizen interested in helping Mr. Goodman successfully transition into life outside prison, I am writing to ask that you please grant him parole. He has served now 37 years of a 30-100 year sentence, even though the average sentence for his charges is 10-15 years. He is still in prison years after his minimum sentence despite having no major disciplinary problems in the last three decades. The notice provided to Mr. Goodman for his last parole denial lists the reasons for the denial as: “Your minimization/denial of the nature and circumstances of the offense(s) committed,” “Your refusal to accept responsibility for the offense(s) committed” and “The negative recommendation made by the prosecuting attorney.”

I understand the severe nature of the crime of which Mr. Goodman was convicted, however, I am concerned that Mr. Goodman maintaining his innocence is seen as an attempt to minimize or deny the nature and circumstances of the offense(s) or refuse to take responsibility, even while there is evidence that corroborates that the shot was fired from a location where it is well known he was nowhere near. This phenomenon is referred to as “the innocent prisoner’s dilemma” implying that it is unfair and unethical to require someone who may have been wrongly convicted to provide false admission of guilt or remorse. Please take this dilemma into consideration.

I also understand that Mr. Goodman has not been recommended for parole by the institution where he is held despite having a clear disciplinary record for many years. In fact, the only time he received a disciplinary infraction in the last fifteen years was for not cutting his hair. He has completed all of the institutional programs he was asked to complete and has volunteered for others. Please take into consideration his good conduct as well as him having housing and employment secured upon his release. These factors, along with strong family and community support, make it very unlikely that Mr. Goodman will recidivate and I firmly believe that he is an excellent candidate for parole. I will personally help him acclimate in any way I can upon his release.

Mr. Goodman has now spent most of his life in prison, and the recidivism rate for people released at his age is very low. Please grant parole and allow him to be a part of, and contribute to, society as free citizen, a loving father and grandfather.

Sincerely,

[Name and signature]

MOVE Children Led Thousand on Spirited March Through Philadelphia

Shortly after noon on Weds. May 13, 2015, a crowd of about over 500 activists where gathered at 62nd Street and Osage Avenue to remember the date 30 years ago when the Philadelphia police and FBI dropped a bomb on the main MOVE home, killing 11 and destroying blocks of home. MOVE children (children and grandchildren of imprisoned MOVE members) led a march of activists that steadily grew to @ 1,000 as it walked through Philadelphia.

Watch video of march: http://www.ustream.tv/search?q=mumia-abu-jamal — and check out the love from neighbors and passersby. Also see the live feed for the concert and cultural performances from 4 – 9pm. Or stop by and see it live at First District Place at 3801 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA. There is a great line up planned including Cornel West, Rebel Diaz, original neighbors from Osage Ave. telling what really happenned, Impact Theater, call-ins from Mumia Abu-Jamal, Delbert and Janine Africa among others.

SEE ONAMOVE.ORG FOR MORE DETAILS ABOUT MAY 13, 2015.

Thirty Years After MOVE Bombing: What Has Law Enforcement Learned?

Linn Washington Jr.
May 13, 2015 , The Root

Today many Philadelphia residents, particularly those under 30 years old, are unaware of that history-staining 1985 police attack on members of MOVE, an anti-establishment group founded in 1972. Authorities deemed MOVE a radical organization. The 11 people incinerated were MOVE members, including the organization’s founder, John Africa.

On May 13, 1985, a fire started after Philadelphia police dropped an explosive on a building where members of the MOVE organization where hiding. (movie still, Let The Fire Burn)

On May 13, 1985, police in Philadelphia—Pennsylvania’s largest city—dropped a powerful bomb containing military C4 explosives on a house occupied by six children and seven adults.

That aerial assault 30 years ago is one of the worst incidents of police brutality in modern America.

The bomb, dropped from a state police helicopter, sparked a fire.

Philadelphia’s then-Police Commissioner Gregore Sambor, along with then-Fire Commissioner William Richmond, barred firefighters from battling that blaze, pursuing a bizarre strategy to use the fire as a tactical weapon to drive the occupants from their barricaded house. Police had sought to arrest four adults inside the building on seven charges ranging from disorderly conduct to possession of explosives.

That decision to “let the fire burn” allowed the blaze to roar into a firestorm.

The inferno incinerated 11 inside the bombed building, including five children ages 7 to 13. That inferno also destroyed 60 other homes in the West Philadelphia neighborhood, leaving 250 people homeless. All of those killed in that inferno ignited by police were black, as were those left homeless by the inferno’s destruction.

An Overlooked Atrocity

Incredibly, an aerial bombing in an American city by police rarely makes the lists of worst police-abuse incidents, despite its gruesome death toll and extensive destruction.

Many “worst lists” include the 1991 shooting of Amadou Diallo, who died during a 41-bullet fusillade from New York City police officers. Yet during the assault on May 13 that began at 5:50 a.m., Philadelphia police fired thousands of bullets into the MOVE house using a range of firearms, including machine guns. The confrontation went on until police dropped the bomb at 5:27 p.m.

The infamous 1985 bombing is far from an isolated incident in a dim past. The failure to hold Philadelphia authorities accountable for that deadly, destructive episode contributed to the impunity that drives the persistence of police brutality—brutality that has triggered massive protests across America since last year, after prosecutors in St. Louis and New York City manipulated grand juries away from indictments against the police officers responsible for the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

In America, prosecutors control the grand jury process without input from judges and other lawyers. Legal experts repeatedly criticize the failure of local prosecutors to charge police even when evidence documents indictable offenses. A 1991 article in the American Bar Association Journal criticized the “unwritten code” that prosecutors will not bring charges against police.

After that fatal 1985 raid, Philadelphia prosecutors manipulated a grand jury away from indictments against police. Prosecutors even refused to file perjury charges against police officers caught lying to the grand jury. Not a single Philadelphia police officer or city official faced prosecution for the death and destruction on May 13, 1985.

Philadelphia prosecutors saw no police wrongdoing in the deaths of those children. Their stance contradicted findings of a special investigating commission appointed by Philadelphia’s then-Mayor Wilson Goode (the first African American to hold the position) that described the deaths of the five MOVE children as “unjustified homicides.”

The city’s prosecutors claimed that bombing children was not illegal because the force from the police bomb “was applied only against” the adults, according to a May 1988 Philadelphia grand jury report. That convoluted reasoning rested on the pretense that the blast from the bomb affected only the adults inside the bombed building and not the children.

Although prosecutors refused to charge police and city officials, they did vigorously charge the lone surviving adult MOVE member, Ramona Africa. She served her entire seven-year sentence for conspiracy and riot because she refused state parole-board demands to renounce her MOVE membership as a condition for early release.

Ramona Africa, along with a MOVE child, escaped the fire. Both sustained serious burns.

The special commission concluded that police gunfire drove other fleeing MOVE members back into the inferno. However, prosecutors—again employing convoluted reasoning—claimed that some MOVE members returned to the blazing building either because they wrongly believed that the police were shooting or because they intended to commit suicide.

An Incendiary History of Conflict

In many ugly ways, the series of conflicts between MOVE and Philadelphia authorities constitute a case study in the failures of police, prosecutors and judges.

Those conflicts with the MOVE organization began in 1972 when Philadelphia experienced epidemic-level police abuses under then-Mayor Frank Rizzo, an ex-cop. Police under Rizzo targeted the often-disruptive MOVE for harsh enforcement of minor infractions. Yet prosecutors and judges ignored that brutal enforcement.

An Aug. 8, 1978, clash between Philadelphia police and MOVE in which a police officer died led to 30- to 100-year sentences for nine MOVE members. Those nine included four MOVE women who police testified were unarmed, holding only small children during that clash.

The judge who convicted the MOVE 9 admitted that he could not determine from trial evidence which male MOVE member had killed the police officer, but the judge declared that all nine deserved the same sentence, whether they were armed or unarmed.

MOVE’s campaign to win release of the nine imprisoned members set the stage for May 13, 1985. MOVE’s campaign strangely included intimidating and harassing its neighbors on the 6200 block of Osage Avenue in West Philadelphia. The May 13 police raid on MOVE’s fortified 6221 Osage Ave. house was a belated effort to stop MOVE harassment of its neighbors, who had complained about the group for more than a year.

Afterward, Philadelphia prosecutors used a legally flawed premise to clear all police and civilian officials for their May 13 actions: No one possessed a clear intent to harm MOVE members. Although a legal prerequisite for crimes like arson or murder is intent, crimes like reckless endangerment and risking a catastrophe are based on results, not intent.

Prosecutors proclaimed that dropping a bomb on children was not reckless, and allowing the fire to burn did not cause a catastrophe. Like the Philadelphia prosecutors who had failed to see obvious crimes, federal prosecutors found no civil rights violations in the fiery deaths of those five children.

When Ramona Africa sued city officials for the bombing and firestorm nearly 10 years after May 13, 1985, a federal judge ruled the bombing legal but allowed a jury to determine the legality of the fatal fire. When the federal jury ruled against Sambor and Richmond and imposed modest $600 fines for allowing the fire to burn, the federal judge voided the jury’s action by ruling that the two officials had “official immunity” from any liability. But the judge did not eliminate the jury’s verdict that ordered the city of Philadelphia to pay Ramona Africa and relatives of two of the MOVE members who perished in that inferno a total of $1.5 million.

Today the 6200 block of Osage Avenue has a macabre feel. More than half of the rebuilt homes are abandoned.

The black residents of Osage Avenue in 1985, whose life possessions were destroyed in the inferno, received insult and inactions from city officials and federal judges.

The persistence of police brutality proves that authorities across America did not learn an important lesson from that deadly May 1985 incident: Lawless law enforcement harms society.

Linn Washington Jr. is a Philadelphia-based journalist who covered the May 13, 1985, clash. He has reported on police brutality since 1975. Washington is a journalism professor at Temple University.

Debbie Africa Denied Parole for Sixth Time

Debbie Sims Africa The Philadelphia Fraternal Order Of Police in conjunction with The Pennsylvania Parole Board and Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams have gone all out to ensure that innocent Move Members stay in prison for the rest of their lives. Despite having employment and housing both established and an excellent prison conduct record and letters of support From people all over the world The PA Parole Board under the orders of The Fraternal Order Of Police denied Debbie Africa parole for the sixth time.

Debbie a loving Grandmother of nine was denied based on the fact that she was considered a risk to the safety of the community even though their were hundreds of letters of support for parole for Debbie from the community. It was stated that due to the fact that Debbie would not accept guilt or show remorse for the crime that her and other Move Members were convicted of she was denied parole. You can look no further than the late trial Judge Edwin S. Malmed who admitted on public radio after sentencing Move Members to 30-100 years that he had not the faintest idea who killed Officer James Ramp and that he was sentencing Move people to prison for being Move members.

freethemove9-green-web-650x385px At this point this isn’t an issue of whether the Move 9 are guilty or innocent. They have all ready been proven innocent and people all over the world know this and these officials that are holding Move members hostage in prison know it. The bottom line is that a crime is being committed. Eight innocent people are being held hostage seven years past their minimum sentence under the orders of The Fraternal Order Of Police. They are doing this in the eyes of the public for everyone to see. When Do You Say Enough Is Enough?

Debbie went before the board back in May 2014 and was denied parole back in June without her or the public knowing about her parole denial. Debbie was denied parole on 6/18/14 but did not receive her paperwork on the denial until August! These legalized terrorists known as the Pennsylvania Board have been exposed for all of their wrongdoing in the eyes of the public and are feeling so much pressure over the issue of the Move 9 they are playing the dirtiest and foulest games to divert the public outcry over these parole denials and hearings.

They can no longer do what they do secretly and we are gonna further expose them and their filth. We are taking this campaign to the next level and are gonna keep exposing the crimes being committed by the Pennsylvania Board, the Fraternal Order of Police, and the Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams. This fight is far from over.

ONA MOVE
The Justice And Accountability Campaign

20 Years on the Move: John Africa’s Revolution (excerpt)

(The following is an excerpt from the longer publication written over 15 years ago.)

20 Years on the Move: John Africa’s Revolution

The MOVE Organization surfaced in Philadelphia during the early 1970’s. Characterized by dreadlock hair, the adopted surname “Africa”, a principled unity, and an uncompromising commitment to their belief, members practiced the teachings of MOVE founder John Africa.

“MOVE‘s work is to stop industry from poisoning the air, the water, the soil, and to put an end to the enslavement of life – people, animals, any form of life. the purpose of John Africa’s revolution is to show people through John Africa’s teaching, the truth – that this system is the cause of all their problems (alcoholism, drug addiction, unemployment, wife abuse, child pornography, every problem in the world) and to set the example of revolution for people to follow when they realize how they’ve been oppressed, repressed, duped, tricked by this system, this government and see the need to rid themselves of this cancerous system as MOVE does.”

— MOVE statement

During the early 1970’s MOVE was based in the Powelton Village section of West Philadelphia (309 N. 33rd St.). Members had a preference for hard physical work and were constantly chopping firewood, running dogs, shoveling snow or sweeping the street. MOVE ran a popular car wash at this location, helped homeless people find places to live, assisted the elderly with home repairs, intervened in violence between local gangs and college fraternities, and helped incarcerated offenders meet parole requirements through a rehabilitation program. After adopting MOVE‘s way of natural living, many individuals overcame past problems of drug addiction, physical disabilities, infertility and alcoholism. MOVE welcomed dissenting views as an opportunity to showcase their belief and sharpen their oratory skills which they knew would be tested in their revolutionary struggle. MOVE presented their views at public forums and lectures of noted authorities including Dick Gregory, Alan Watts, Jane Fonda, Julian Bond, Richie Havens, Walter Mondale, Roy Wilkins, Buckminster Fuller, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Caesar Chavez and Russell Means, and none could refute John Africa’s teachings. By 1974 MOVE was appearing in public with increasing frequency.

“If our profanity offends you, look around you and see how destructively society is profaning itself. It is the rape of the land, the pollution of the environment, the betrayal and suffering of the masses by corrupt government that is the real obscenity.”

— MOVE statement

The mainstream media began a long history of distorted MOVE coverage using misquotes, unverified rumors and biased stories. While those who actually met MOVE members could see the remarkable strength and health they exhibited, dehumanizing news accounts perpetrated the falsehood that members never bathed and were diseased.

Frank Rizzo, Police Commissioner from 1967-71 was the key figure in Philadelphia government and built his career on opposing black efforts to challenge the status quo. In 1967 Rizzo’s first major action as Commissioner had been to halt a peaceful demonstration of some 3500 Black high school students asking for educational reforms and Black Studies programs by unleashing hordes of cops who charged with no provocation and chased students for blocks. Many were beaten. He ran the city with a prominent and heavy-handed police force that had a national reputation for brutality.

MOVE launched demonstration after demonstration aimed at focusing attention on police abuses. Community groups across the City sought MOVE‘s help in setting up demonstrations in their own neighborhoods. As a result of this activism, the police began a concerted campaign of harassment against MOVE, breaking up demonstrations by arresting MOVE members on disorderly conduct charges or violations of whatever local ordinance could be made to apply. On May 18, 1974, Leesing and Janet Africa, both pregnant at the time, were so brutally beaten by Rizzo’s police that they both had miscarriages. By 1975, clashes between MOVE and the police reached increasingly brutal proportions, with frequent beatings, arrests and jail stays. On April 29, 1975, Alberta Africa, pregnant at the time, was held spread-eagle by four officers and repeatedly kicked in the stomach and vagina by a matron named Robinson, suffering a miscarriage as a result. Despite police violence against MOVE many MOVE mothers did bear children, including Sue Africa, in spite of several police beatings throughout her pregnancy, had a son, Tomassa, on Aug. 4, 1975 (Tomassa was later murdered by the city on May 13, 1985). Janine Africa’s baby, Life Africa, was born March 8, 1976 but murdered by the police less than a month later, when his mother was grabbed by a cop, thrown to the ground with 3 week old Life Africa in her arms and stomped until she was nearly unconscious. The baby’s skull was crushed. Police denied that the baby existed because there was no birth certificate.

MOVE took on the courts and eventually overwhelmed them, acting as their own attorneys in hundreds of trials and hearings. On November 5, 1976, Rhonda Africa was arrested and brutalized. Nearly 9 months pregnant, Rhonda went into premature labor the next day, giving birth to a bruised and injured baby that soon died. (Rhonda herself was later murdered by the City on May 13, 1985.)

On May 20, 1977, MOVE staged a major demonstration demanding the release of their political prisoners and an end to the violent harassment by the City. To keep an increasingly brutal police force at bay, MOVE appeared outside their house with firearms.

“We told the cops there wasn’t gonna be anymore undercover deaths. This time they better be prepared to murder us in full public view, cause if they came at us with fists, we were gonna come back with fists. If they came with clubs, we’d come back with clubs, and if they came with guns, we’d use guns, too. We don’t believe in death-dealing guns, we believe in life. But we knew the cops wouldn’t be so quick to attack us if they had to face the same stuff they dished out so casually on unarmed defenseless folk.”

— MOVE

To force MOVE members out of their Powelton Village headquarters, Rizzo got court approval to starve them out. On March 16, 1978, the police set up a blockade around the house and shut off water lines. Those inside included pregnant women, nursing babies, children and animals Police arrested anyone who tried to break through the barricades, though some attempts to get food and water to MOVE were successful. During this time MOVE lost the farm they had paying on in Virginia. The blockade lasted almost two months and on April 16, 1978, thousands marched around City Hall protesting the City’s action.

The City tried to negotiate a settlement. MOVE knew officials could not be trusted but entered into an agreement to expose the City’s deceit. Terms of the settlement were publicized May 3, 1978 before MOVE had given final approval. MOVE then told mediators why those in the house could not be legally arrested. When newly installed D.A. Ed Rendell confirmed that the arrest warrants were indeed void as per Rule 1100. Terms were finalized after MOVE had a 90-day deadline for vacating the house deleted from the agreement. To obscure legal improprieties, a gag provision was included to prevent MOVE from talking to the media. Police were allowed to arrest, arraign and release on bail pending appeal, each wanted member in the house. Police searched the house for weapons and found only inoperative ones. The city agreed to dispose of all other pending MOVE cases within 4-6 weeks.

On August 2, 1978, Judge DiBona ruled that MOVE had violated the unagreed-to 90-day deadline and the D.A.’s office then solicited MOVE arrest warrants for not vacating the house. The fact that Rendell’s office could not legally practice law at a civil proceeding went unpublicized and the media was instrumental in perpetuating the myth that MOVE had agreed to a 90-day time limit. The City was so bent on framing and hunting down MOVE members the DiBona signed bench warrants authorizing police to bring before him practically every known MOVE adult, though over half of them were not in the house and couldn’t possibly have violated an order to vacate it.

On August 5, Philadelphia authorities, in collaboration with Virginia police, staged a midnight raid on the Richmond home of two MOVE women and 14 children, arresting Gail and Rhonda Africa at gunpoint and returning them to Philadelphia. The legal justification was Gail and Rhonda’s alleged failure to leave a house that they weren’t within a hundred miles of.

In the early morning hours of August 8, hundreds of police and firemen surrounded MOVE headquarters. Using heavy construction equipment they tore down the barricades and knocked out the windows. With guns drawn, over 20 officers entered the first floor of the house, only to find that MOVE had taken refuge in the basement. Fire hoses and deluge guns were then turned on, flooding the basement with water. MOVE adults were forced to hold children and animals in their arms to keep them from drowning. Suddenly gunshots rang out and immediately bullets filled the air as police throughout the area opened fire. Officer James Ramp was struck and killed by a single bullet. Three other policemen and firemen were wounded. MOVE never fired any shots and no MOVE members were arrested with any weapons. 12 adults were arrested, all suffering physical abuse at the hands of the police, and 11 children had been in the house. As news cameras recorded the event, officers Joseph Zagame, Charles Geist, Terrance Mulvihill and Lawrence D’Ulisse severely beat MOVE member Delbert Africa while taking him into custody. Without provocation, Zagame smashed Delbert in the face with a police helmet as D’Ulisse connected with a blow from the butt of a shotgun. This knocked Delbert to the ground and he was then dragged by his hair across the street where the other officers set upon him, savagely kicking him in the head, kidneys and groin.

An afternoon conference was held at City Hall during which Police Commissioner Joseph O’Neill said Officer Ramp was killed by a shot in the back. Moments later a typed police press release was distributed stating that Ramp was shot in the chest. Rizzo displayed a table of firearms and claimed they were taken from the MOVE house. Some reporters noted the seemingly new condition of the weapons; others wondered what these guns were doing in the mayor’s office rather than impounded in the police crime lab as evidence. No MOVE fingerprints were found on any of these weapons. Although destroying evidence of a crime is illegal, police bulldozed and leveled the house as soon as MOVE members were taken away. No efforts were made to preserve the crime scene, inscribe chalk marks, or measure ballistic angles. MOVE told Judge Merna Marshall that the destruction of the house prevented them from proving that it was impossible for any MOVE member to have shot officer Ramp. The Fred Hampton case in Illinois was cited, where the preservation of the crime scene enabled the estates of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark to prove that all offensive fire came from the police. Judge Marshall denied MOVE‘s petition and held them over for trial. Three defendants were tried separately and those who disavowed MOVE were released. MOVE protested that they were being held strictly because they were MOVE members rather than on any evidence that they had anything to do with the death of James Ramp. After refusing to disavow MOVE, Consuewella Dotson was later tried and sentenced to 10-20 years. Even though the MOVE members were in the basement when the gunfire occurred and only one bullet struck Ramp, Judge Malmed pronounced the remaining nine defendants guilty of the murder and sentenced each one to 30-100 years. On a radio talk show the next day, a caller (Mumia Abu- Jamal) asked Malmed, “Who shot James Ramp?”, he replied, “I have no idea.”

The police assaults and court hearings continued for several years, and one of the few media people to accurately report on MOVE and make a serious effort to understand the organization was Mumia Abu-Jamal, a highly regarded Philadelphia journalist and president of the Association of Black Journalists. Throughout the 1978 confrontation and resulting trials, Mumia continued to produce in-depth coverage of MOVE issues, often against the directives of his employers. On December 9, 1981, Mumia was found shot through the chest and badly wounded on a downtown Philadelphia street. Nearby lay a police officer, dead from gunshot wounds. During his subsequent arrest and treatment in a hospital, Mumia was abused and beaten by police. Mumia maintained his innocence and conducted his own defense until Judge Albert Sabo ruled he was being disruptive and ordered a court-appointed lawyer to take over the case. Mumia then refused to participate and the events at the crime scene were never fully determined. A jury found him guilty of first degree murder and gave him the death penalty. There has been an international call for the release of Mumia from what is regarded as an unjust sentence based on his association with MOVE.

The primary activity of MOVE now became securing the release of innocent members facing not only 30-100 years in prison, but the wrath of a vindictive prison system and its abusive guards. Several members went on hunger strikes to obtain the basic rights other inmates received. In post trial motions, court-appointed lawyers neglected to raise the illegality of the arrest warrants from the 1978 confrontation. Judge Edward Bradley admitted there were inconsistencies but declined to take any action. D.A. Ed Rendell outright refused to meet with MOVE and Councilman Lucien Blackwell and City Council Chairman Joseph Coleman were non-committal. Starting in 1982, MOVE was able to meet several times with City Managing Director Wilson Goode. After consulting a lawyer on MOVE‘s legal claims, Goode agreed that MOVE was innocent and promised to remedy the situation after he was elected mayor. Media refused to cover the issue and there was blackout on any information about MOVE. MOVE began publishing their own newspaper and using loudspeakers to inform people of the injustice and the City’s conspiracy to eliminate them.

In 1984 Wilson Goode became mayor, then quickly reneged on his earlier promise and took no action as another confrontation with MOVE took shape. Anticipating how far the City would go to silence them, MOVE began fortifying their rowhouse at 6221 Osage Avenue in the Cobbs Creek section of West Philadelphia. At the same time, police made preparations for a murderous assault by secretly obtaining from the FBI over 37 pounds of C-4, a powerful military explosive, although this violated police regulations, FBI policies and federal law regarding transfer of explosives. Media suddenly began covering MOVE again, focusing on Osage Avenue neighbors’ disagreements with MOVE rather than MOVE‘s longstanding legal dispute with the City. MOVE held a meeting with neighborhood residents in May, 1984 to explain their position and police stepped up their campaign of intimidation and harassment. Between June and October Alfonso Africa was arrested and beaten bloody several times by police. On August 8, 1984, hundreds of police and firemen spent the day surrounding the Osage block in what came to be viewed as a dry run for the later disaster, but MOVE would not be provoked. MOVE told negotiators they wanted at least one official to honestly investigate the unjust jailing of MOVE members, but officials and the media ignored this. On May 11, 1985, Judge Lynne Abraham signed arrest warrants on charges of disorderly conduct and terroristic threats. On Mother’s Day, May 12, police evacuated the 6200 Block of Osage Avenue and towed away parked cars.

On Monday, May 13, 1985, police and firemen launched a full scale military assault on the MOVE rowhouse using tear gas, water cannons, shotguns, Uzi’s, M-16s, silenced weapons, Browning Automatic Rifles, M-60 machine guns, a 20mm anti- tank gun, and a .50-caliber machine gun. Some of these weapons were illegally obtained with the help of the U.S. Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms Agency. Between 6:00 and 7:30 am police fired over 10,000 rounds of ammunition at the house knowing there were women and children inside. They also tried to blast through the walls with the military explosives the FBI had illegally provided. When none of these measures succeeded in driving MOVE from the house, a state police helicopter was used to drop a bomb on the roof. This started a fire that officials deliberately allowed to burn, burning down the entire block of some 60 homes. MOVE members repeatedly tried to exit but were met with police gunfire which killed some of the adults and children in the alley behind the house. Six adults and five children died. Also on May 13, 1985, police in Chester, PA in cooperation with Philadelphia, used tear gas to storm the Chester home of Alfonso Africa. The only adult present, his wife Mary, was arrested and their 5 children were taken away as police ransacked the house. The legal basis for this action was Judge Lynne Abraham’s warrant for Alfonso, although he had been incarcerated since May 8 on charges of threatening officer James McDonnell (who previously shot Alfonso on June 10, 1984).

Ramona Africa was charged with conspiracy, riot and multiple counts of simple and aggravated assault. Although no testimony was presented indicating she ever held or fired a weapon, a jury found her guilty and Judge Michael Stiles sentenced her to 16 months to 7 years. Mayor Goode appointed a special commission to investigate the catastrophe, but it had no power to indict. Findings released in March, 1986 were highly critical of City officials and included extensive recommendations, but as years passed these were largely disregarded and forgotten. In 1986, D.A. Ron Castille impanelled a grand jury to investigate criminal wrongdoing on the part of the City. Notwithstanding 11 deaths, 60 homes burned to the ground, unauthorized possession and use of military explosives, and a fire that was deliberately allowed to burn out of control, Castille’s grand jury followed his recommendations and returned not a single indictment. A federal grand jury investigating civil rights violations also returned no indictments. None of the investigations looked at earlier legal improprieties.

There are currently 9 MOVE members imprisoned by the PA penal system. Locked away in remote areas, far from the public eye, they have endured years of continuous physical and mental harassment. Delbert, Carlos and Chuck Africa were kept in solitary confinement over five years for refusing to violate MOVE belief by cutting their hair. At Muncy prison, MOVE women upheld their religious principles by refusing to give blood samples and were repeatedly put in solitary confinement, sometimes for as long as 3 years. Sadistic prison guards were delighted to inform Delbert, Janet, Sue, Phil, Janine and Consuewella Africa that some of their children were killed in the police assault on May 13, 1985. No MOVE members were involved in a 1989 Camp Hill prison riot, but Chuck Africa was singled out by correctional officers Bray, Cywinski and Lt. Komsisky, and while handcuffed and shackled, Chuck was brutally attacked and beaten. He was then transported incommunicado across the country until lodged at the maximum security prison in Lompoc, CA, until his return to PA 16 months later. Delbert, Phil and Edward Africa were also abruptly transferred out of state and weeks passed before their family learned of their whereabouts. Phil and Edward were shuffled through a number of prisons before arriving at the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, KS. Delbert was eventually taken to the military prison at Fort Gordon, GA. They spent many months, and in Phil’s case, over a year at these locations before being returned to Pennsylvania.

Lack of media coverage has given the Parole Board the power to demand the special stipulation for MOVE members at parole hearings that they may be paroled if they agree never again to associate with MOVE, even when the person’s husband or wife is a member. All MOVE members have refused this stipulation and are doing/have done their maximum sentences.

After the tragic deaths and destruction the city caused in 1985, the vast publicity surrounding the disaster continually overlooked the fact that MOVE‘s original demand for justice in the 1978 confrontation remained unresolved. Now, Ed Rendell is the mayor of Philadelphia, and Judge Lynne Abraham is now D.A. Lynne Abraham. Judge Sabo has been called out of retirement in the City’s efforts to ensure the murder of Mumia-Abu Jamal.

MOVE points out that in their over 20-year history, destruction and death have always been the work of the police, so inquiries as to the future likelihood of such occurrences should be directed to city officials. MOVE has never dropped a bomb, burned down a neighborhood or killed anyone, they have only demanded the release of innocent members. The City of Philadelphia has murdered 17 MOVE members, including adults, children, 1 baby and 4 miscarriages.

Nine MOVE members remain unjustly incarcerated on 30-100 year sentences.

“As long as we are alive, we will never abandon our innocent brothers and sisters in jail, and they know we will never abandon them, and this city gonna always have a problem until every last one of our brothers and sisters is home.”

— MOVE statement

To order “20 Years on the Move” please send a check or money order for a $6.00 donation (discount for bulk orders) and to help in the struggle for justice. For more information contact:

Concerned Citizens in Support of MOVE
P.O. Box 19709
Philadelphia, PA 19143

Hearings on the bombing of MOVE: The police were out for murder.

February 20, 1986,
Reprinted from The Workers’ Advocate,
Vol. 2, #2.

Last May 13, the Philadelphia police carried out a murderous assault on the black group MOVE. After hours of firing ammunition, tear gas, and water cannon on the MOVE house on Osage Avenue, the police dropped a powerful bomb on the roof. The inferno which resulted was allowed by city officials to destroy 61 houses in the west Philadelphia neighborhood, leaving over 250 people homeless. Eleven people in the MOVE house, including five children, were incinerated.

Outrage among the masses has not let the MOVE massacre fade away. And the police and city officials, with black Mayor Wilson Goode at their head, continue to feel the heat for their responsibility for this atrocity. To relieve the pressure and whitewash the massacre, the government is holding a string of official inquiries. In November the Philadelphia Special Investigative Commission (PSIC) concluded 18 days of televised hearings. The finds of the hearings are soon to be released. And four more investigations are yet to come: by the Philadelphia district attorney, the Pennsylvania Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the U.S. Justice Department.

The 11-member PSIC was appointed by Mayor Goode to “investigate” himself and. his cronies. It included big time lawyers, bankers, and FBI men. Some of its members were also big contributors to Goode’s election campaign.

Although its official “findings” have not yet been released, one thing is clear: in no way will this inquiry condemn Goode and company for the cold-blooded, premeditated murder of the MOVE people, and the destruction by fire of a black working-class neighborhood. Quite the opposite. The whole thrust of the hearings was that it was quite necessary and correct to stamp out the MOVE people. At the same time, it was unfortunate that the assault suffered from “miscommunications” and “mistakes”. In fact, the capitalist authorities are using these hearings to sum up how the SWAT and police assault teams can do their jobs more neatly, with better equipment, better communications, and better planning in future assaults on groups the government may want to eliminate.

The Murderers Point the Finger at Each Other

The commission hearings saw a parade of, some 88 witnesses including the four key figures in the assault: Mayor Goode, then city Managing Director Leo Brooks, Police Commissioner Gregore Sambor, and Fire Commissioner William Richmond. These are the officials who bear the greatest responsibility for planning and ordering the murderous actions of the police and fire departments on May 13. To escape blame, they lied, contradicted each other, and pointed the finger. The lower officials, in turn, contradicted the chiefs, repeatedly giving conflicting testimony.

Goode, who last May thought it best for his image to accept full responsibility, changed his tune a bit during the hearings. Now he portrayed himself as uninformed, duped by his lieutenants, a bit foolish perhaps, but well-meaning, and oh-so sorry that things turned out as they did. Today, of the big four, only Goode’s job is still secure. Brooks resigned shortly after May 13. Sambor resigned shortly after the hearings. And there are reports that Richmond is considering leaving his post. This is a typical cover-up in capitalist politics while all are guilty, the subordinates withdraw in order to save the top dog.

The Federal Government Also Had a Hand in the Massacre

In all fairness, Mayor Goode and his henchmen were not alone in unleashing the massacre of May 13. The hearings confirmed that they had the eager assistance of higher levels of the capitalist government, right up to the federal agencies.

Intelligence on MOVE was shared with agents from the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureau. It was also the ATF that approved and helped the Philadelphia Police Department acquire automatic weapons and other military equipment for the assault on the MOVE home.

Massacre Was Long Planned

Back in 1984, Goode went to the FBI and the Secret Service to solicit their help. In January 1985, the FBI gave the Philadelphia Police Department 37.5 pounds of the powerful military explosive C-4 to carry out the bombing of the MOVE home. Then on May 9 and 11, FBI agents, including an explosives expert and two SWAT technicians, participated in final tactical planning sessions for the assault. The helicopter and pilot that were used to drop the infamous bomb were provided courtesy of the Pennsylvania State Police.

No Survivors Was Part of the Plan

The testimony at the hearings — despite all the contradictions, lies and cover-up — painted a picture of the city officials and police working out a careful plan for the murder of the MOVE people. And when they put the plan into effect it was clear that they wanted no survivors, neither men, women nor children. Here are a few of the pieces of this murder plan that came out in the hearings.

Murderers of MOVE — Mayor Wilson Goode, Managing Director Leo Brooks, Fire Commissioner William Richmond, Police Commissioner Gregore Sambor

In their testimony, Goode, Sambor and Brooks all repeatedly, said that uppermost in their minds was the safety of the MOVE children. (What kind-hearted gentlemen these child bombers are!) They said that there was even an order to seize the children prior to May 13. Yet on May 11, two days before the confrontation, a cop opened a police barrier on Osage Avenue to allow a carload of MOVE children to return to the house.

The truth is, Goode, Sambor and Brooks were out to see that the MOVE people fry, no matter their age. In the days before the assault, the people living in the MOVE house frequently went out and the police could have picked them up on the street. But that would have spoiled the plans to bomb MOVE, plans which the city and police had devoted so much time and energy to.

Ex-Police Chief Sambor testified that the bombing was “the safest and most conservative plan” (safer than what? nuclear-tipped artillery?) for ending the siege, supposedly because it would poke a hole in the roof, allowing the police to drop in tear gas bombs. Needing a hole for inserting tear gas is the official claim for why the bomb was used. But this official claim is a flimsy cover-up. In fact, the building was already full of holes and full of tear gas. For hours the police had been pumping gas into the house through holes in the walls created by nine earlier explosions. If anything, the problem the police had was that the gas was dissipating through big gashes in the house, with the lower front portion of the house ripped wide open.

The police didn’t want a hole, but a fire. That’s why they dropped a bomb on the roof after a helicopter pilot reported that large-gas cans (fuel for MOVE’s generators) were “obvious” on the roof.

Helicopter Dropping Bomb — From a Pennsylvania State Police helicopter, Philadelphia Police Department Lt. Frank Powell drops two bombs on MOVE home

That’s also why they dropped an exceptionally powerful and hot bomb. The Tovex TR-2 and C-4 explosives dropped on the house threw off an intense heat of some 7,200 degrees.

And that’s why, once the fire had started, the police and fire chiefs did nothing to put it out. A fire expert testified at the hearings that the blaze could have been extinguished even up to 45 minutes after it began. But the top City brass stood by as the fire descended deep into the house – raging at 2,000 degrees, which is the temperature customarily used for cremating bodies – before they allowed the water hoses to be turned on. But by this time the inferno was out of control.

During the hearings, City Director Brooks explained that he gave the go-ahead to drop the bomb out of concern that MOVE people might try to escape under cover of darkness if the siege lasted a second day. “Concern about the children” sounds good at the hearings afterwards. But at the time the mayor’s office and the police had only one concern: they were hell bent that none of the MOVE people escape the punishment that had been prepared for them.

A good deal of the testimony in the hearings showed how the police did everything they could to make sure no one escaped from the MOVE home after it had been turned into an inferno by the police bomb.

The testimony showed that people trying to come out of the home were fired on by the police. Birdie Africa, 13 years old, succeeded in fleeing the burning house and, along with Ramona Africa, was one of only two survivors. In videotaped testimony played at the hearings, Birdie stated that the adults shouted repeatedly that the children were going to come out through the garage. Conrad Africa attempted to take out one child as others followed, but the police opened fire, driving them back into the garage.

Even after the bomb had set the house ablaze, television footage recorded the sound of the police continuing to pound away at the building with automatic weapons. At first, all the adults and children sought refuge from the fire in the basement. As the fire spread and grew more intense, they began to shout that they wanted to come out.

Birdie, Ramona Africa, and two other children ran out as flaming debris was falling on them in the alley. Birdie recalled seeing the other two children west in the alley, but did not know what happened to them. It appears that the others who attempted to escape the fire with Ramona and Birdie were cut down by the police. Among other things, a detective who kept a log of events recorded a cop telling a crane operator taking part in the cleanup after the siege to “dig over here, you’ll find a body of a male I dropped when the female and the child came out.”.

In the days after the assault, the police took a lot of care to destroy evidence of what actually took place; including allowing the badly burned corpses of their victims to further decompose. Nevertheless, a forensic expert, Dr. Ali Z. Hameli, was able to find shotgun pellets in the remains of three of the bodies. The fragments matched the buckshot. used in the shotguns of the Philadelphia Police Department. This is consistent with other evidence that the police may have shot down some of the MOVE people attempting to escape, and then threw their bodies back into the burning house to cover up their murderous plan to take no prisoners.

The Cover-up Goes On

In the future rounds of hearings and inquiries, the mayor, the police and the others, will continue to spin their web of lies to cover themselves. But their crimes in the assault against MOVE are too monstrous to hide. Through the cracks in their own self-serving testimonies comes ‘a picture of a carefully planned and gruesome murder of 11 men, women and children by the Philadelphia police, acting under the directives of Mayor Goode and his lieutenants, and aided by the FBI and other federal agencies. No amount of cover-up can wipe the blood from the capitalist authorities who are responsible for the west Philadelphia massacre of last May 13, 1985.

(An article on the outrageous trial of Ramona Africa is in the February 1, 1986, issue of The Workers’ Advocate.)