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Title: 25 Years on the Move Author: MOVE Date: May 1996 Language: en Topics: MOVE, black anarchism, anarcho-primitivism Source: https://archive.org/details/on_the_move_25_1996/
The MOVE Organization surfaced in Philadelphia during the early 1970s.
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 HOW CORRUPT, ROTTEN, CRIMINALITY ENSLAVING THIS SYSTEM IS. SHOW
PEOPLE THROUGH JOHN AFRICA’S TEACHING, THE TRUTH, THAT THIS SYSTEM IS
THE CAUSE OP 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
“ ...all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to
suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by
abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed But when a long train
of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces
a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it
is their duty, to throw off such government and to provide new guards
for their future security.”
United States Declaration of Independence
During the early 1970’s MOVE was based in the Powrlion Village section
of West Philadelphia. Members valued the personal discipline and
physical strength derived from hard manual labor, and maintained a hefty
work schedule of daily activities such as exercising, scrubbing floors,
running dogs, chopping fire wood, shoveling snow, sweeping the street,
etc.
Demonstrating their reverence for all forms of life. MOVE looked after
neighbors’ pets, 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 purchased a large Victorian house at 309 North 33^(rd) Street,
which became then headquarters. One of MOVES fundraising activities was
a very popular car wash at this location. At regular study sessions for
people interested in the teachings of JOHN AFRICA, MOVE welcomed
dissenting views as an opportunity to showcase their belief and sharpen
their oratorical skills, which they knew would be tested in their
revolutionary struggle.
“IT IS THE POSITION OF MOVE TO CONFRONT ANY SPEAKER, SO-CALLED INFORMED
PERSONALITIES, ALLEGED LEADERS WHO SAY THEY HAVE ANSWERS TO THE VERY
SERIOUS PROBLEMS OF PEOFE, AND DEMAND THAT THEY SUBSTANTIATE, QUALIFY
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING OR STOP MISLEADING PEOPLE. INFORMATION IS IN THE
ABILITY TO INFORM, AND WHEN YOU HAVE NO INFORMATION TO GIVE, YOU CAN
ONLY MISINFORM, THIS IS THE STATED POLICY OF MOVE. TO STAMP OUT
MISINFORMATION. FOR WHEN YOU DO NOT HAVE A SOLUTION, ALL YOU CAN OFFER
IS THE PROBLEM.”
MOVE
MOVE began attending public appearances of such noted personalities as
Jane Florida, Dick Gregory, Alan Watts, Roy Wilkins, Julian Bond, Richie
Havens. Walter Mondale, Buckminster Fuller, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi,
Caesar Chavez, and Russel Means. When questions were taken from the
audience, MOVE challenged the speakers. Many were receptive, some were
hostile, but none could refute JOHN AFRICA’s wisdom.
To expose injustice, oppression and disrespect for Life, MOVE used
strategized profanity and non violent protest in demonstrations at zoos,
pet shops, political rallies, public forums and media offices. By 1974,
MOVE was appearing in public with increasing frequency protesting the
abuse of Life in any form.
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
The mainstream media began a long history of inaccurate, distorted and
misdirected coverage. MOVE’s unique appearance, alarming profanity and
unconventional behavior got prominent attention, but their penetrating
analysis and proposed solutions were largely ignored as were their
extensive community assistance efforts. While those who actually met
MOVE members could see their remarkable strength and health,
dehumanizing news accounts perpetuated the falsehood that members never
bathed and were unhealthy. Protests of unfair coverage by the
Black-owned Philadelphia Tribune were resolved when the editors agreed
to run a column entitled. “ON THE MOVE”. Coordinated by JOHN AFRICA to
be written by MOVE members, the feature ran for about a year, starting
in June of 1975.
Throughout the 1970k, Frank Rizzo was the premier figure in Philadelphia
government, he started as a street cop and rose through the ranks,
eventually serving as Police Commissioner from 1967–73. During this
time, he gained notoriety for his “tough-guy” law enforcement tactics
and racist attitude. In Philadelphia’a Black ghettos, Rizzo’s
predominantly white police force was resented, feared and hated.
Capitalizing on his name recognition and tough-on-crime image, Rizzo
mobilized sufficient voters to be elected mayor of the city for two
terms from 1972 until 1980. Having built his career on opposing Black
efforts to challenge the status quo, he ran the city with a prominent
and heavy-handed police force that had a national reputation for
brutality.
Philadelphia’s overblown and unrestrained police department was a prime
example of the type of injustice the system precipitated, so it was
inevitable that MOVE would start to speak out against them. As with
other issues, this was done using peaceful demonstrations. When MOVE
successfully focused attention on police abuses, many community groups
across the city sought MOVE assistance with similar 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 ordinances could be made to apply.
The fact that MOVE’S headquarters was located in an area of real estate
speculation on the border of a university campus brought further legal
entanglement. Beginning in 1975, the complaints of some neighboring
property owners led to involvement of the Department of Licenses and
Inspections and ultimately a civil suit by the city against MOVE. On
November 18, Judge, G. Fred DiBona, on of Rizzo’s associates, ruled that
city inspectors, with the assistance of the police could enter MOVE’s
house to inspect it, but the case dragged on through numerous
continuances and an appeal by MOVE to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
MOVE never let the threat of being taken to jail interfere with planned
demonstrations. Only a pre-selected group, which excluded pregnant women
and breast feeding mothers, would plan to get arrested if the cops
started trouble. Yet events soon proved that police harassment was not
limited to demonstrations alone.
Late in the evening of May 9, 1974 two pregnant MOVE women Janet and
Leesing Africa were taking a short walk to the corner store to get
something to eat. They were stopped and questioned by police officers
who became abusive and skimmed Janet stomach-first against a police car.
The two were subjected to very rough handling and jailed overnight
without food or water. Both women lost their babies due to miscarriages.
MOVE immediately began demonstrating at the 18^(th) District police
station where the incident occurred.
By 1975, clashes between MOVE and the police readied increasingly brutal
proportions, though the city denied its role in any abusive handling.
Members at demonstrations were getting beaten bloody on a regular basis,
yet MOVE’s deep commitment only led to more determined protests On April
29. 1975 a MOVE demonstration against ill-treatment of jailed members at
the police administration building led to several arrests. Alberta
Africa, who was pregnant was dragged from a holding cell, 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 individuals who had not even been
born many MOVE mothers did bear children, and did so naturally, without
drugs or medical assistance, in accordance with JOHN AFRICA’s teachings.
Sue Africa, in spite of several police beatings throughout her
pregnancy, had a son, Tomaso, born at the 33^(rd) Street headquarters on
August 4, 1975. Janine Africa’s baby Life Africa was born March 8, 1976
but murdered by police less than a month later. (Tomaso was later
murdered by the city May 13, 1985.)
In March 28, 1976, seven jailed MOVE members were released late in the
evening and arrived home after midnight Officers in at least ten police
cars and wagons pulled up in front of the 33^(rd) Street house and said
MOVE was creating a disturbance. When Chuck Africa told police to leave
MOVE alone, Officer Daniel Palermo grabbed him and began to beat him as
other cops pulled out nightsticks and set upon MOVE members. Six MOVE
men were arrested and beaten so viciously they suffered fractured
skulls, concussions and chipped bones. Robert Africa was struck over the
head with a nightstick that broke in two from the force or the blow,
Janine Africa was trying to protect her husband Phil Africa, when she
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.
The next morning, MOVE notified the media that the police had brutally
attacked them and that a baby had been raped. An officer’s bat and the
broken nightstick were displayed outside MOVE headquarters. Police
denied that any beating took place or that a baby was killed, and
claimed that the baby probably never existed because there was no birth
certificate. They then arrested the member who had shown the bat and
nightstick to the press, on charges of receiving stolen property. To
prove the death to a skeptical media, MOVE invited the press and local
politicians to dinner at their headquarters. Those accepting the
invitation included city councilmen Joseph Coleman and Lucien Blackwell,
and Blackwell’s wife, Janine. After the meal, the guests were shown the
baby’s body. (Janine Blackwell herself was later elected to city council
in 1991)
MOVE’s column in the Philadelphia Tribune which had documented the birth
of Life Africa 3 weeks earlier, in a series of pieces covering the March
28^(th) attack. Interviews with several neighbors who had witnessed the
incident were featured. Yet no charges were filed against the officers
involved in the baby’s murder. Instead the District Attorney’s office
pursued prosecution of the six MOVE members arrested that night. MOVE
was prepared to present evidence of a long-standing Rizzo-directed
campaign of harassment that culminated in the death of Life Africa. But
before all the testimony could be presented, Judge Merna Marshall
dismissed the case, thereby thwarting the chance to prove a citywide
conspiracy against MOVE in a court of law. Dismissing felony charges of
aggravated assault on cops was virtually unheard of in Philadelphia.
By confronting the judicial system as an organized, coordinated group
not afraid to go to jail, MOVE was able to run circles around the
procedures and expose the fallacy of justice. Ignoring the status and
elevation of judges, MOVE remained seated when the order “All rise!” was
given, and never addressed the judge as “your honor.” They also rejected
plea bargain offers and public defenders.
In the early years defendants who were released on bail and given a
court date would often send a brother or sister member to the trial if
they couldn’t make it themselves. Most judges at that time couldn’t tell
MOVE members apart and sentenced the apparent “defendant” who would be
taken into custody and held for the duration. The original defendant,
often arrested again before his or her sentence expired, would just give
police the name of another member, leading the system into ever
deepening confusion over who was who.
During a trial, MOVE attacked the legitimacy of the court, demonstrating
contradictions in such concepts as the presumption of innocence, freedom
of religion and the right to free speech. When defendants refused to
blindly submit to a judge’s arbitrary dictates, they were either ejected
from the room, bound and gagged, or cited for contempt. MOVE spectators
were often cited for contempt, too. Sheriffs proved to he just as brutal
as the city’s cops, at times beating MOVE members in the very presence
of judges. All these incidents only generated more cases, and as time
went on, MOVE’S practice of appealing at every opportunity further
compounded an already overwhelming caseload.
By 1976 literally hundreds of MOVE cases were clogging Philadelphia’s
justice system. Court administrators realized that in a typical MOVE
case the city was spending thousands of dollars to prosecute what had
often started out as a trivial trumped up misdemeanor charge. To save
money, the courts began to dismiss MOVE cases in wholesale lots.
During the summer of 1976, MOVE began concentrating on setting up
chapters in other states and refrained from further demonstrations. To
provide a healthy environment for the children, MOVE secured a mortgage
on a 96-acre farm in Virginia. Meanwhile, Frank Rizzo resented a group
of self-proclaimed revolutionaries wreaking havoc in the courts and
exposing his brutal police department. And with no more demonstrations,
there were none of the usual opportunities to harass and arrest MOVE.
On November 5, 1976 a hearing was held before judge Edward Blake
regarding several different MOVE cases. Some 20 MOVE defendants, all out
on bail, appeared in court. Many were given sentences and despite their
intention to appeal, Blake ordered them taken into custody. On the way
to a holding cell, sheriff Jerry Saunders began beating one hand cuffed
young MOVE member, Dennis Africa, and a brief scuffle ensued. Sheriffs
looked up all those who came in Dennis’ defense, then also arrested and
brutalized Robert, Valerie and Rhonda Africa who had played no part in
the altercation. Nearly 9 months pregnant, Rhonda went into premature
labor, giving birth to a bruised and injured baby that died within
minutes.
Charges of assault and resisting arrest against those involved were
later dismissed except for Robert. Conrad and Jerry Africa, who were
given bail. The case marked a new era in the conflict between MOVE and
the courts. After hundreds of cases and years of hearings, MOVE had
accumulated a thorough knowledge of what could typically be expected
from the courts at every stage of the process. The courts, in turn, had
settled into a grudging tolerance of MOVE’s behavior such as the refusal
to stand when a judge entered the room. At a pre-trial hearing on
February 7, 1977, judge Paul Ribner ordered sheriffs to force Robert to
stand as the judge came in. Ribner then issued bench warrants for Jerry
and Conrad despite Robert’s explanation that they were out of town that
day, and would be present at the next listed hearing. Offers around MOVE
headquarters, who normally would not have immediate knowledge of bench
warrants due to the usual bureaucratic delays began taunting MOVE and
talked of forcibly entering the house with the warrants as legal
justification.
As the ease continued, MOVE could see that Ribner’s odd demands and
threats and the unusually large number of armed police and sheriff’s
present in the courtroom created a situation in which a physical
courtroom confrontation could result in some “accidental” MOVE injuries
or deaths. After the defendants refused to participate further, Ribner
tried them in absentia and instead of the usual county jail time, gave
them longer slate prison sentences. They were soon shipped off to
Graterford prison, about 30 miles outside of Philadelphia. MOVE was
outraged at such a blatant set-up and railroading of Robert Conrad and
Jerry who were now political prisoners.
In tale April of 1977, MOVE set up a sister organization called the
“Seed of Wisdom” in Richmond. Virginia. In less than a week Virginia
police provoked a minor confrontation by surrounding the house and
attempting to take custody of the children. Meanwhile, MOVE foresaw the
possibility that Philadelphia police could storm their 33^(rd) Street
headquarters, kill those inside, and blame the victims for their own
deaths in an operation similar to the type of government terrorism used
against the Black Panthers. Information from sympathetic sources in city
government confirmed that plans for some type of police operation had
indeed been made. To safeguard the Philadelphia base, MOVE staged a
major demonstration May 20, 1977 on a platform outside their house. They
demanded 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, some members held firearms. Police used to hold back a
crowd of on-lookers, but the growing numbers of people soon broke
through police lines and swarmed around the platform to hear MOVE speak.
“WE TOLD THE COPS THERE WASN’T GONNA BE ANY MORE 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 KNOW 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
Aware that the Third Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms on
one’s own property, Police Commissioner Joseph O Neill told reporters,
“Under the constitution you have a right to speak your mind and
apparently that’s what they’re doing. Yet four days later, the city
sidestepped the lack of firearms violations by having Judge Lynne
Abraham issue warrants for 11 MOVE members on riot charges and
“possession of an instrument of crime.” The media unfairly depicted MOVE
as illegal gun-toting bandits.
Police set up a 24-hour watch around MOVE’s headquarters to arrest
members when they came off the property. On June 12, 1977 Sue Africa
left the premises and was apprehended a few blocks away. The other
members remained at the house as months passed and police continued to
watch and wait.
MOVE had filed a $26 million civil suit against the city for the March
28, 1976 death of Life Africa and the brutality leading to miscarriages
from 1974–76, but the standoff prevented MOVE plaintiffs from attending
the hearing and the suit was thrown out of court. While the standoff
continued, some Philadelphia politicians and reporters went to the
Virginia area, where MOVE’s farm was located, and spread slanderous
misinformation among people on adjoining properties by describing MOVE
as a group of drug-taking cannibals who would slaughter everyone’s
livestock. The rumors set off a rash of complaints to the Realtor who
demanded that MOVE pay off the entire mortgage at once. Unable to raise
the full sum, MOVE lost their farm.
Rule 1100 of Pennsylvania Criminal Procedures sets a time limit of 180
days within which to either execute an arrest warrant or file for an
extension. On November 20^(th), the deadline on the MOVE warrants
passed. The next day the DA’s office filed a late request for an
extension. (They may have forgotten to file on time or were just
accustomed to bending the laws when prosecuting MOVE) Judge Edward Blake
granted the untimely extension. (Blake became the Common Pleas Court
President Judge in 1991)
Throughout the standoff, mediators and negotiators from a number of
community coalitions and intervention agencies relayed messages between
the city and MOVE in an attempt to come to a peaceful settlement. But
talks always broke down over the issue of releasing MOVE political
prisoners. MOVE would not compromise. Their demand for Robert, Conrad,
Jerry and Sue’s freedom was absolutely non negotiable. Mediation went
nowhere as city personnel were telling MOVE, off the record, “We’ll kill
all of you before we let your people out of jail. A federal agent who
had begun lurking around the barricades likewise informed MOVE that the
Feds were going to infiltrate, disband and destroy them.
To force the warned MOVE members from the house, Rizzo got court
approval to starve them out. On March 16, 1970 an army of hundreds of
cops invaded the neighborhood and sealed off a four block area. While
sharpshooter posts and machine gun nests were set up, workmen shut off
the water to MOVE’s headquarters. Those inside included pregnant women,
nursing babies, children and animals. Rizzo boasted that the perimeter
was so tight “a fly couldn’t get through.” When various community
members, who opposed Rizzo’s cruel tactic, made humanitarian attempts to
rush the barricades with food and water for MOVE, they were arrested and
beaten by the police.
With loudspeakers and amplification, members exposed the folly of the
city’s action in sending thousands of dollars a day on police overtime
just to stand around and watch MOVE. As police in stake-out posts at
surrounding rooftops, apartments, and parked patrol cars were treated to
a steady stream of revolutionary commentary, supervisors instructed
their men not to listen to any thing MOVE said, after too many officers
began to seriously consider what they heard.
There was a great deal of discussion in police ranks regarding the
handling of MOVE. Some cops had taken to tossing bottles, rocks and
firecrackers into MOVE’s yard, hoping to provoke a confrontation. But it
only resulted in a police fistfight wherein two officers got in a
scuffle with a third one who had been throwing rocks at MOVE babies.
Rizzo’s attempt to starve MOVE out continued for almost two months,
capping off nearly a year of continuous 24-hour police surveillance that
had begun on May 20, 1977. Traffic had been detoured, neighbors had to
show identification going to and from their own homes, and reporters
noted that city spending for police overtime had passed the million
dollar mark. On April 4, 1978 thousands marched around city hall in a
massive demonstration protesting the city’s barbaric action. As the
absurdity of Rizzo’s police siege became internationally known.
Philadelphia became an embarrassment to the human rights initiatives of
President Jimmy Carter and United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young.
Under federal pressure to end the stalemate, city officials pushed for a
negotiated settlement, but with MOVE standing firm in their demands, the
city had no real leverage. For Rizzo it became a matter of making the
necessary concessions, but doing it in such a way that his tough-guy
“law and order” image remained intact. The city announced terms of a
settlement in May of 1978, though final clarification was still going on
behind the scenes. To save face, the city had made certain oral promises
that were not spelled out on paper so as to cover up the fact that court
procedures would be bypassed to spring MOVE’s political prisoners.
MOVE was wary of making deals with a government that had historically
broken every treaty ever made with Native Americans, but the final terms
of the agreement gave them what they wanted, so any broken promises
would only further expose the system’s deception and lack of good faith.
Implementation of the agreement began on May 3^(rd). Escorted by
civilian observers, the police took MOVE members, one at a time, to the
police administration building where they were arraigned and released on
their own recognizance. The barricades and roadblocks surrounding the
area were pulled open. To the chagrin of anxious ATP agents police and
DA personnel, all the MOVE “guns” and “explosives” cops had spotted at
one time or another were revealed to be inoperable dummy firearms or
road flares disguised as dynamite. A search of the house with metal
detectors found nothing incriminating. On May 8^(th), Jerry, Conrad,
Robert and Sue Africa were released. The DA’s office, headed by Ed
Rendell, agreed to dispose of All pending MOVE cases within 4–6 weeks
and thereby purge MOVE from the court system. In order to prevent the
start of another quagmire of contempt charges, the city arranged that
attorney Oscar Gaskins would handle all remaining legal proceedings and
members themselves would not make any court appearances. The agreement
also provided that during a 90-day period, the city would assist MOVE in
finding another Location in which to reside.
MOVE’s victory was impressive. The confrontation initiated on May 20,
1977 had succeeded, without bloodshed, in freeing their political
prisoners and forcing Rizzo’s cops to back down. It also provided a
powerful example of a fully dedicated and committed group of people
fighting the system and winning.
Rendell’s promise to dispose of all pending MOVE cases was a blatant
lie. The 90-day time period, which bad been described to MOVE as a
working timetable, was misrepresented to the media as an absolute
deadline. The promise to assist MOVE in findings new place to live was
never completed, and the city began demanding that the house had to he
razed.
Judge Fred DiBona, who only had jurisdiction in the civil suit still
pending from three years earlier suddenly began issuing orders to MOVE
regarding the criminal case that were never a part of the agreement MOVE
had found DiBona to be particularly arrogant in the past, and as his
conflicting directives and unagreed-to demands became intolerable, Phil
and Sue Africa attempted to resolve the problem by going to see the
judge on May 23^(rd). Although it was not a legal court hearing, but an
informal meeting in the judge’s chambers. DiBona wound up citing Phil
for contempt and revoking his bail status previously set by the terms of
the agreement. Before long the city was funneling the entire MOVE
dispute through DiBona’s courtroom, bypassing other judges not as
closely aligned with Rizzo.
At a hearing on August 2, 1978, DiBona ruled that MOVE had violated the
90 day ‘deadline’ and should have vacated the house. Police surveillance
officers could testify to only actually seeing three members present at
the house that morning, but the city was so bent on hunting down and
framing MOVE members that by the time the hearing was over, DiBona had
sentenced attorney Oscar Gaskins for contempt and signed bench warrants
authorizing police to arrest practically every known MOVE adult,
including Robert, Conrad, Jerry and Sue Africa. These four and most
other members were not in the house and couldn’t possibly have violated
an order to vacate it.
On August 5^(th), Philadelphia authorities, in collaboration with
Virginia police staged a midnight raid on the Richmond home of two MOVE
women and 14 children. Storming in at gunpoint, they arrested Gail and
Rhonda Africa. The legal justification for these arrests was Gail and
Rhonda’s alleged failure to leave a house they weren’t within a hundred
miles of.
By August of 1978 the government had: 1} Searched MOVE’s house to insure
the absence of weapons and explosives. 2) Continued to keep the house
under surveillance after the search, 3) Manufactured the appearance of a
legal basis to arrest MOVE, and 4) Kept legal improprieties out of media
coverage while making MOVE out to be the villains with a 90-day deadline
myth. Rizzo was now in a position to use his favorite solution to civic
conflicts: Brute force and lots of it.
On Tuesday, August 8^(th), hundreds of cops in flak jackets and riot
helmets surrounded the 33^(rd) Street location at dawn and ordered MOVE
to surrender. Police then rolled in specially modified construction
vehicles and tore down the fence and smashed out the windows. Just
before 7:00 am, MOVE was notified by bullhorn “Uniformed officers will
enter your house for the purpose of taking each of you into custody. Any
resistance or use of force will be met with force.” In the next hour a
total of 45 armed police entered and slowly searched the three story
house only to find that MOVE was barricaded in the basement. Around 8:00
am, firemen pried off the boarded up basement windows and turned on
water cannons. MOVE adults were soon wading in rising water with
children in their arms in danger of drowning. Suddenly, gunshots rung
out and police throughout the area opened fire. In the short period of
sustained gunfire, Officer James Ramp was fatally wounded. Three other
policemen and several firemen were also hit. (The minutes of a police
stall meeting two days later noted one captain’s opinion of “an
excessive amount of unnecessary firing on the part of police personnel
when them were no targets per se to shoot at.” One of the stake-out
officers later admitted under oath that lie had emptied his carbine into
the very basement from which he heard screaming women and crying
children.) After the gunshots subsided and tear gas was fired in, MOVE
adults began carrying children out of the basement and were immediately
arrested by angry cops.
Later in the day, the large crowds that had gathered in the area were
chased down and broken up by police on horseback. Many people were
knocked to the ground and brutally beaten. Others were chased into their
very homes and assaulted by police.
As police grabbed the twelve adults and eleven children coming out of
the basement, MOVE mothers had limit babies snatched from their arms
before being handcuffed and taken away. All the adults were mistreated
and beaten by arresting officers eager to vent then rage. One such
arrest was captured on him unbeknownst to officers Joseph Zagame,
Charles Geist, Terrance Mulvihill and Lawrence D’Ulisse. As Delbert
Africa emerged from a basement window empty-handed with outstretched
arms (see back cover), Zagame, without provocation, smashed him in the
face with a police helmet as D’Ulisse connected with a blow from the
butt of a shotgun. Knocked to the ground, Delbert 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.
Initial denials of police brutality became difficult to maintain after
video tapes of the beating were broadcast. Only after the resulting
public outcry arose did the DA’s office take any action. A special grand
jury was impaneled which eventually handed down indictments. Not until a
few years later were Zagame, Geist and Mulvihill brought to trial on
assault charges. On February 3, 1981 just before the jury was to start
deliberating, Judge Stanley Kubacki made a surprising departure from
normal procedures and ordered the jury dismissed and the officers
acquitted, despite irrefutable photographic evidence that they had
indeed beaten Delbert. Ed Rendell’s office never brought charges against
Officer D’Ulisse. Though his identity and participation in the brutality
were well known and documented.
Three months alter the acquittal, Geist’s wife, Carolyn, who was also a
police officer, shot him during a domestic dispute, he went into a coma
and died 8 months later. It was revealed that site had been battered by
her abusive husband on many occasions but the police supervisors she had
pleaded to for help had urged her to keep quiet so as not to expose his
sadistic tendencies while be was on trial for beating Delbert. (Zagame,
D’Ulisse, and Mulvihill all took part in the 1985 MOVE confrontation,
each carrying an automatic weapon and firing it during the course of the
day. Mulvihill committed suicide in May of 1989.)
Immediately following the August 8^(th) assault, the standard police
version of events was that MOVE fired the first shot. Yet the limited
number of civilian eyewitnesses, mostly reporters, who had been allowed
past police barricades had different accounts. Radio reporters Richard
Maloney and Larry Rosen both recalled hearing the first shot come form a
house diagonally across the street where they saw an arm holding a
pistol out of a second floor window.
Although destroying the evidence of a crime is illegal, police sent in
bulldozers and had the area leveled by noun, destroying the house, the
foundations, and the trees in the yard. No efforts were made to preserve
the crime scene, inscribe chalk marks or measure ballistic angles.
With his typical showmanship and bravado, Rizzo held an afternoon city
hall press conference around a prominently displayed table of weapons
said to have been removed from the now demolished house. As to whether
or not this was the last Philadelphia would see of MOVE, Rizzo stated,
“The only way we’re going to end them is — get that death penalty back
in, put them in the electric chair and I’ll pull the switch.” (Before
the year’s end, Pennsylvania did reinstate the death penalty, but not
retroactively.)
Prior to August 8^(th), at the request of attorney Oscar Gaskins, Judge
Calvin Wilson had issued a temporary restraining order in prevent the
house from being demolished, but City Solicitor Sheldon Albert had
ignored it. At a preliminary hearing on a motion, to dismiss based cm
destruction of evidence, MOVE argued dial the destruction of the house
prevented them from proving that it was impossible for any MOVE member
to have shot Officer Ramp. The Illinois case of Black Panthers Fred
Hampton and Mark Clark was cited, where the preservation of the crime
scene enabled investigators to prove that all the bullet holes in the
walls and doors were the result of police gunfire. Judge Merna Marshal
denied MOVE’s petition and held them over for trial. (Her health
failing, Marshal was unable to preside to the end of the hearing and
died of leukemia December 30, 1979.)
With nine co-defendants all representing themselves, nine court
appointed back-up attorneys, plenty of press, and an audience of MOVE
supporters. the extensive hearings on pre-trial motions became long,
drawn out affairs with the atmosphere of a circus. MOVE’S sharp wit and
grueling cross-examinations exhausted the patience of several judges who
would resort to having members thrown out of court. As a condition of
re-admittance, the judge would demand a yes or no answer to the
question, “Do you promise to behave if I allow you to return?”
Invariably, the reply was, “I will do what’s right”.
The trial by Judge Edwin Malmed, which became the longest and costliest
in Philadelphia history, did not get started until December of 1979.
Among the initial prosecution witnesses was Chief Inspector George
Fencl, head of the civil affairs unit who, along with Rizzo, was one of
the mam orchestrators of the plot to eliminate the MOVE Organization. At
past trials and hearings, the courts had often thwarted MOVE’s attempts
to get high ranking co-conspirators put on the witness stand. Seizing
the opportunity, MOVE proceeded to grill Fencl with a vengeance. After
four solid days of turbulent cross-examination. Judge Malmed finally cut
off the questioning and excused the exhausted witness. The following
day, Tuesday January lb, I9S0, the courts were closed fora holiday.
On Wednesday MOVE came to the trial enraged, the day before, police had
retaliated by staging another raid in Richmond Virginia where two MOVE
women and many children were living including several whose parents were
August 8^(th) defendants. MOVE demanded the trial be recessed until they
could ascertain tin whereabouts and welfare of their sons and daughters.
Malmed refused. Some of the more vehement defendants were thrown out as
the judge attempted to proceed against the repeated objections of
concerned parents. Over the next two days, hostilities continued until
finally Malmed had all the defendants removed from the courtroom. He
then ordered the back-up attorneys to takeover the case despite MOVE’s
insistence that no attorneys were to represent them even in their
absence. None of the defendants were allowed to attend the remaining 47
days of their own trial.
On May 8, 1980, after 67 days of trial. Judge Malmed pronounced Janine,
Debbie, Janet, Merle, Delbert. Mike, Edward. Phil and Chuck Africa
guilty of third degree murder, conspiracy, and multiple counts of
attempted murder and aggravated assault. Each defendant was given a
sentence of 30 to 100 years.
Several days after the verdict. Malmed was a guest on a local talk radio
show, journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal cutted in and asked the judge, “Who
shot James Ramp?” Maimed replied, “I haven’t the faintest idea,” and
went on to say that since MOVE members wanted to be tried as a family,
he convicted them as a family. Three other adults had also been in the
house on August 8^(th), yet two were never convicted and Consuewella
Dotson, who refused to disavow MOVE, was later sentenced in a separate
trial to 10–20 years by Judge Levy Anderson who added on another three
and a half years for contempt. The nine defendants protested that they
were convicted only because of their unwavering allegiance to MOVE
rather than for any complicity in the death of a policeman.
The legal grounds for Rizzo’s military operation were 21 bench warrants
signed the week before August 8^(th). Judge DiBona issued these warrants
because MOVE members had failed to appear in court at the August 2^(nd)
hearing where he ruled they had violated a 90 day ‘deadline’ to vacate
the house. On January 31, 1980 judge DiBona died, yet his warrants were
not withdrawn. Only 9 MOVE members had been arrested on August 8^(th).
The other 12 warrants remained outstanding, although: 1) MOVE had never
agreed loan absolute 90-day deadline, 2) Judge DiBona never had
jurisdiction on the criminal matter, 3) The terms of the agreement
stated attorney Oscar Gaskins would represent MOVE and no members would
be required to attend any hearings, 4) By August 8^(th), any member who
wasn’t arrested obviously had vacated the house, and 5) After August
8^(th) the house no longer existed. Such technicalities were no obstacle
to the District Attorney’s version of due process. On the basis of a
dead judge’s bench warrants, Ed Rendell’s office fabricated criminal
fugitive warrants, and the campaign to hunt down and destroy MOVE
continued.
During the standoff in the summer of 1977, federal AIF agents had gotten
Donald Glassey, a former MOVE associate, to implicate the organisation
in a bomb making and gun running scheme. But when 10 indictments were
handed down on September 1, 1977, only two actual MOVE members were
named: Vincent and Alfonso Africa. It took federal agents over three
years to find them. Meanwhile, Glassey was put in the federal witness
protection program.
On May 13, 1981, the Feds arrested nine MOVE members in Rodiesieiy, New
York. Vincent and Alfonso were extradited to Philadelphia for a trial on
the bomb making and weapons. barges. New York state judge Andrew Celli
warned Pennsylvania officials he might release the others based on their
arguments that the fugitive warrants for them were illegal. Fearful of
losing their quarry, Rendell’s office then came up with extradition
warrants signed by Governor Dick Thornburgh, and MOVE members were taken
back to Philadelphia.
At legal proceedings, Sue, Carlos, Alberta, Dennis, Conrad, Raymond and
Jerry Africa, the lack of validity of the original warrants was
repeatedly disregarded. In Alberta’s case, judge Kendall Shoyer ordered
her bound and gagged to keep her from raising the issue.
In July of 1981, Vincent Africa, also known as JOHN AFRICA and Alfonso
Africa conducted their own defense in a trial at the federal courthouse
in Philadelphia. The case was called “JOHN AFRICA vs. THE SYSTEM”.
Unconcerned about the lies and distortions of the prosecutor’s
witnesses, Vincent slept through much of the case as cops, ATF agents,
explosives experts and former MOVE associates testified. In an
impassioned closing argument, his only formal remarks to the court,
Vincent made no direct rebuttal to the governments evidence and
testimony, but instead condemned the entire reformed world system and
exposed the courts as mere tools of the industry that profits from
poisoning the air, water and food necessary for all Life. The government
was stunned when the jury declared Vincent and Alfonso innocent on all
charges.
After the August 8^(th) confrontation, MOVE’s primary activity 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. Both the police department’s callous
attitude and MOVE’S determination and commitment only intensified after
Rizzo’s January 1980 departure from office.
In January 19 79, and again in 1980, MOVE held large outdoor rallies on
the anniversary of August 8^(th) to draw attention to the injustices the
city continued to perpetrate MOVE also published their own newspaper,
the First Day, to correct widespread misconceptions.
According to MOVE belief, one cannot expect to receive justice from a
system that has none and continues to demonstrate its blatant lack of
justice time and time again. Nevertheless, MOVE diligently appealed the
August 8^(th) convictions so as not to be accused of abandoning the
prescribed grievance procedures before taking a confrontational stance.
Higher courts denied all these appeals.
MOVE then sought to meet with any city officials who would hear out
their complaint against the legal system. Common Pleas Court President
judge Edward Bradley admitted there were inconsistencies in the August
8^(th) convictions but declined to take any action. District Attorney Ed
Rendell outright refused to meet with MOVE or with lawyers willing to
discuss the case on MOVE’s behalf. Councilman Lucien Blackwell and city
council chairman Joseph Coleman were non-committal.
Beginning in 1982, MOVE met several times with city managing director
Wilson Goode who entered and won the mayoral election during 1983. After
reviewing MOVE’S claims, Goode agreed that MOVE had been denied justice
and promised to remedy the situation, but not until after he took office
as mayor. Such words and promises from a politician meant nothing to
MOVE. Based on his actions and deeds, Goode had turned his hack on the
injustice.
One of the few media people to accurately report on MOVE and make a
serious effort to understand the organization was Mumia Abu-Jamat, a
highly regarded Philadelphia journalist and president of the local
chapter of the Association of Black journalists. Throughout the 1978
confrontation and resulting trials, his in- depth MOVE coverage often
left him at odds with his employers. Rather than compromise his
integrity as a journalist, he began free-lance reporting while driving a
cab at night to support his family. On December 9^(th), 1981 around 4:00
am, Mumia was driving through downtown Philadelphia when he came upon
William Cook, his own brother, whose car had been stopped by a police
officer. What happened in the next few minutes has become obscured by
conflicting testimony, altered or missing evidence, and misleading
inflammatory publicity. By the time back-up police arrived on the scene,
gunshots had been fired, Mumia was badly wounded, and Officer Daniel
Faulkner was dead. During his arrest and subsequent hospitalization,
Mumia was abused and beaten by police, His brother was charged with
aggravated assault, though later testimony and evidence indicated the
officer had beat William over she head with a flashlight hand enough to
draw blood.
Charged with first degree murder, Mumia maintained his innocence and,
like MOVE members in trials he had reported on, exercised his
constitutional right to argue his own case. The high publicity trial was
presided over by Judge Albert Sabo who quickly denied Mumia’s request to
be represented by JOHN AFRICA. During jury selection. Mumia put his well
honed interviewing skills to use. As his impressive dignity and
eloquence became apparent to prospective jurors, Sabo stripped Mumia of
his right to conduct the defense and ordered the court appointed
attorney, Anthony Jackson to take over the case. Mumia then refused to
participate in a blatant railroading and his version of the crime scene
events was never recounted.
Some eyewitnesses saw a man running from the scene who was never
identified by police. Others gave descriptions of the gunman that did
not match Mumia appearance. The political nature of the case became
apparent when prosecutor Joseph McGill argued that Mumia deserved the
death penalty because of slate merits he made over 12 years earlier as a
Black Panther spokesman. The jury, from which over ten Blacks were
systematically excluded and on which two Blacks remained, returned a
verdict of guilty and a sentence of death.
MOVE operates on the principle that hard work pays off in good health.
Long hours of legal and political work did not prevent members from
keeping to their normal day to day activities which included a special
dedication to relieving the suffering of animals. MOVE put out hundreds
of pounds of food for birds, dogs, squirrels, and fish on a daily basis.
“MOVE’S AIM IS NOT TO MAKE ENEMIES BUT MOVE’S AIM IS EQUALLY MOT TO
COMPROMISE LIFE BECAUSE WE ARE COM PEI LED TO PROTECT LIFE, DOGS CATS
RATS FISH DIRT GRASS TREES BIRDS BEETLES WORMS ARE ALL LIFE. FEEDING
LIFE, PROTECTING LIFE, KEEPING THE STREETS, THE EMPTY LOTS, THE PARKS
FREE OF SHARP OBJECTS THAT WILL HURT ANIMALS AND PEOPLE IS AS MUCH AN
OBLIGATION TO JOHN AFRICA’S REVOLUTION AS FIGHTING THESE POLITICIANS.”
MOVE
During the early 1980 several MOVE members and many children lived in a
row house at 6221 Osage Avenue on the western edge of the city. Baskets
of fresh fruit and vegetables were put outside to encourage passing
children and adults to eat strong food rather than junk food. MOVE also
built stoves and supplied firewood to people without heat, checked on
the elderly living alone and built dog houses for pet owners who kept
their dogs outside in the winter. In warmer months one of MOVEs
fundraising activities was a thriving watermelon business. The fruits
were transported on large hand-made wooden carts that provided a hearty
workout as members pulled them through the streets. MOVE let customers
sample each watermelon before buying and always replaced any that were
unsatisfactory.
Long hours of hard work kept MOVE always on the move, and maintained the
strong family bond the organization revered. Yet one of the most
troubling of deals during the years on Osage Avenue was the task of
comforting and reassuring the children of imprisoned members, when the
pain of separation from their parents left them grief-stricken and
crying.
By the end of 1981, government officials on all levels had proved
ineffective and unwilling to take any action against the unjust
imprisonment of innocent MOVE members. The media ignored the issue
altogether. On December 25, 1983 MOVE by-passed the news blackout in a
direct appeal to the public by using loudspeakers on their house to
inform people of the injustices and the city’s conspiracy against them.
When some Osage Avenue residents complained about the noise, MOVE told
them they should put pressure on the city to do something about the
innocent people in jail, because allowing such an injustice to go
unchallenged meant anyone, including the neighbors themselves, could be
set-up, framed and locked away. The neighbors instead put their trust in
the government and sought a way to get MOVE out of the neighborhood.
A few weeks later Wilson Goode took over as mayor. While many
Philadelphians were glowing with pride at the installment of the city’s
first Black mayor, behind the scenes Goode reneged on his earlier
promise to MOVE and took no action as another confrontation took shape.
Anticipating how far the city would go to silence them, MOVE began
fortifying their Osage Avenue home. Meanwhile the police made
preparations for a murderous assailant by secretly obtaining from the
FBI over 17 pounds of the powerful military explosive “C4,” in violation
of police regulations, FBI policies, and federal laws regarding the
transfer of explosives.
As months wore on, news stories began covering MOVE once again but
focused on the Osage Avenue neighbors’ disagreements with MOVE rather
than MOVE’s long standing legal dispute in the city. After MOVE held a
meeting with Osage residents in May of 1984 to explain their position,
police stepped up their intimidation and harassment campaign Between
June and October, Alfonso Africa was arrested and beaten bloody several
times by police, and shot (non fatally) during one arrest. 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. Frustrated with city officials inability to
resolve the conflict, the Osage neighbors asked Governor Dick Thornburgh
to intervene but he refused to get involved. (And when he later headed
the U.S. Justice Department, Thornburgh declined to investigate the very
May 13 1985 catastrophe he could have averted.)
MOVE told negotiators attempting to avert a crisis at the last in mine
that if the city could refute any claim regarding past improper legal
procedures, and if any one official would initiate an honest
investigation of the 197B incident, MOVE would call off the
confrontation. Officials and the media ignored this.
On May 8^(th), Alfonso Africa was sentenced to 5 years for ill re ate
rung an officer during a prior arrest. On May 11^(th), police obtained
tin arrest warrant for Alfonso (even though lie was already in jail) and
used it two days later to justify a tear gas assault on Alfonso’s home
tn Chester Pennsylvania. The only adult present, his wife Mary, was
arrested and their 5 children were taken away as police ransacked the
house.
To provide a legal basis for the Osage Avenue at tack, Judge Lynne
Abraham signed arrest warrants on May 11^(th) for Ramona, Conrad, Frank
and Teresa Africa on charges of disorderly conduct and terroristic
threats. The next day police evacuated the 6200 block of Osage Avenue
and towed away parked cars.
On Monday, May 13^(th), police and firemen launched a full scale
military assault on the MOVE row house using tear gas, water cannons,
shot guns, Uzi’s, M-16’s, silenced weapons, Browning Automatic Rifles.
M-60 machine guns, a 20mm antitank 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 flooded the area with tear gas and
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. None of
these measures succeeded in driving MOVE from the house late in the
afternoon, a state police helicopter was used to drop a bomb on the roof
which started a fire that officials deliberately allowed to burn. It
soon spread to the adjoining row houses, eventually burning down the
centre block of some 60 home.
With their house in flames, 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. One adult, Ramona Africa, and
one child, Birdy Africa, escaped the fire and were taken into custody.
Six adults and five children were killed, including Rhonda Africa,
Birdy’s mother.
Mayor Goode later claimed he had ordered that MOVE children be taken
into custody in the few days before the assault whenever they were seen
away from the house. Investigations revealed that the very morning of
May 13^(th) when a known MOVE vehicle carrying children attempted to
drive down Osage Avenue, police pulled aside the barricade to let it
through.
The bombing of Osage Avenue became international news overnight. Media
reports the next day indicated that a gun fight continued in the alley
behind the house after the bomb was dropped, but the story soon changed.
At a press conference, Police Commissioner Gregore Sambor, who was
himself in the vicinity of the alley, initially confirmed that police
had fired at this time, but after conferring with aides, corrected
himself to say they did not. Several months later, investigators
questioned all the officers involved. When police sharpshooter William
Stewart mentioned stake-out officers firing their Uzi’s in the alley
around 7:30 pm, his attorney quickly stopped the interview to confer
with him privately. Several firemen testified that they heard automatic
gunfire in the evening. A bolt-action rifle, two shotguns, and two
revolvers were the only weapons found in the ashes of the MOVE house.
Philadelphia police had finally outdone themselves in depravity, making
it all the more difficult for their partners in crime, the Medical
Examiners Office, to cover for them, as was done in both the August 8,
1978 case and Mumia Abu-Jamal’s case in 1981. Medical Examiner personnel
made a deliberately late arrival on the scene, after a crane had scooped
through the debris, obliterating the exact recovery positions. The
bodies were then left unrefrigerated, and examination of blood specimens
and lung tissue was delayed long enough to make test results
inconclusivc as to the cause of death. On the basis of the May 13^(th)
mishandling, the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office later had their
certification revoked.
At Ramona Africa’s trial, both Judge Michael Stiles and prosecutor
Joseph McGill indicated to the jury that police and city officials would
lie equally punished at some other proceeding by a separate jury.
Ramona’s jury found her guilty of riot and conspiracy and she was
sentenced to 16 months to 7 years. Lt. Frank Powell, who dropped the
bomb, and Officer William Klein, who assembled it, refused to testify,
citing the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination.
Mayor Goode appointed a special commission to investigate the
catastrophe. Their findings were critical of city officials but the
commission had no power to indict. In 1986, District Attorney Ron
Castille impaneled a grand jury to investigate criminal wrongdoing on
the part of the city. Not withstanding 11 deaths, 60 homes burned to the
ground, unauthorized possession 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.
(Castille later had only hollow excuses to explain why a scathing report
by an independent team of nationally known forensic experts, hired by
Castille’s own office to review the evidence, was never shown to the
grand jury) A federal grand jury investigating civil rights violations
also returned no indictments. All of these investigations limited the
scope of their inquiries to events surrounding May 13, 1983 and
neglected to look at earlier legal improprieties, most notably the
continuing unjust imprisonment of the nine MOVE members arrested on
August 8, 1978.
In 1987, Wilson Goode was re-elected mayor. He and his supporters
considered this a vindication of the disastrous handling of May 13^(th).
Others saw his victory as a grim necessity. The opposing candidate was
Frank Rizzo.
Before cold blooded murder in broad daylight could be permanently swept
under the rug, Ramona filed a civil suit against selected officials and
the city itself for violation of her civil rights on May 13^(th). The
case proceeded at a very slow pace as federal judges changed their minds
regarding who could ultimately be held responsible. At one point,
federal magistrate William Mail actually ruled dial dropping the bomb
was not excessive force. Ramona immediately appealed this ruling which a
three judge panel later overturned, but the issue was again appealed to
the U.S. Supreme Court by the city.
THIS SYSTEM DIDN’T BUILD PRISONS WITH CORRECTIONS IN MIND. THEY BUILT
PRISONS WITH SLAVERY AND THE MONEY TO BE HAD FROM ENSLAVING IN MIND.
JAILS ARE MONEY MAKING INSTITUTIONS, WITHOUT PRISONS THE SHERIFS,
SUPERINTENDENTS, WARDENS, MATRONS AND GUARDS WOULD BE OUT OF JOBS AND
POLITICIANS WOULD BE OUT OF THE THOUSANDS OE DOLLARS FROM THE INDUSTRY
OF PRISONS.
MOVE
For years Pennsylvania has been filling prisons to overcrowding faster
than they could build new ones. JOHN AFRICA’s analysis is borne out of
the fact that by the 1990s, prison construction had become the largest
growth industry in the courttry, The US government maintains its facade
of being a “Free” society by denying the existence of any U.S. political
prisoners, despite numerous Black Panthers, Native American leaders,
Puerto Rican independence fighters and other political activists
imprisoned for their beliefs and associations. In attempts to break
them, these officially unacknowledged political prisoners are commonly
subject to intensified harassment and torture.
At prison locations in the remote areas of Pennsylvania, MOVE members
have endured years of repeated physical and mental abuse. Delbert,
Carlos, and Chuck Africa were kept in solitary confinement for over six
years for refusing to violate MOVE belief by cutting their hair. MOVE
women Janet, Janine. Merle, Debbie, Consuewella, Sue and Alberta Africa
upheld their religious belief by refusing to give blood samples and were
repeatedly put in solitary confinement, sometimes for as long as three
years. Sadistic prison guards were delighted to inform Delbert, Janet,
Sue, Phil, Janine and Consuewella Africa that their children were killed
in the police assault on May 13, 1985.
The MOVE family stays in close contact through letters and as many
visits and phone calls as the prisons allow. This takes a considerable
amount of time and money as inmates must make collect calls and most of
the prisons are along day’s drive away.
As several MOVE members became eligible for parole, the Pennsylvania
Board of Probation and Parole issued a special stipulation that any
potential MOVE parolee agree not to associate with other MOVE members as
a condition of being released. All those eligible refused to abide by
this unconstitutional stipulation and remained incarcerated. One at a
time, members eventually began to come home only after their maximum
sentences expired: Alberta Africa in 1988 after 7 years, Alfonso Africa
in 1990 after 5 years, Ramona Africa in 1992 after 7 years, and Sue
Africa in 1992 after 12 years.
Upon her release on May 13, 1992, Ramona made numerous radio and
television appearances as public respect and admiration for her strength
and endurance made her a somewhat reluctant celebrity. Drawing a
parallel with Black South Africans’ fight to free themselves from the
legal persecution of Apartheid, Ramona stated the family Africa was
stronger, more committed than ever before and would continue their work
to free all MOVE prisoners. Contradicting the sanitized grand jury
findings, she also confirmed that police had opened fire on MOVE as they
tried to exit the burning house in 1981.
In the fall of 1993, the Parole Board finally conceded to mounting
pressure to lift the special MOVE stipulation. Carlos Africa was granted
parole and released December 9, 1993 after 12 years of incarceration.
Consuewella Africa’s release soon followed on January 6, 1994 nearly 16
years after her arrest.
“DESPITE OUR FAMILY BEING MASS MURDERED, DESPITE THE FACT THAT WE’VE
BEEN IN JAIL FOR YEARS FOR A CRIME WE DID NOT COMMIT. DESPITE BEING
LOCKED UP IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT FOR YEARS AT A TIME, DESPITE ALL THE
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL TORTURE WE’VE BEEN SUBJECTED TO BY THIS SYSTEM, WE
AIN’T SLOWIN’ DOWN, AIN’T BACKING DOWN ONE BIT, WE ARE GETTING STRONGER
THANKS TO JOHN AFRICA.”
MOVE
After May 13^(th), MOVE would forever be a part of Philadelphia history.
Thousands of features, editorials, articles, and interviews were
followed by documentaries, books, and plans for a feature-length movie.
A decade of biased and distorted stories spawned a new generation of
misinformation, though the truth did begin to emerge here and there. To
set the record straight, MOVE supporters published 20 YEARS ON THE MOVE
in late 1991.
As Wilson Goode’s second term ended, Frank Rizzo made another bid to get
his old job back, but died of a heart attack July 16, 1991. In January
of 1992, Ed Rendell became the mayor of Philadelphia and faced the
daunting task of refurbishing the city’s poor image, tarnished by
corruption scandals, serial killers, a bankruptcy crisis, and the stigma
of being “the city that dropped the bomb”. In 1994, Justice Rolf Larson
(who had remarked during MOVE’s August 8^(th) murder trial, “they ought
to hang those niggers in cages from the ceiling and try them that way”)
was removed from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for improperly obtaining
prescription drugs. Former Philadelphia DA Ron Castille was elected to
fill the vacancy. Former judge Lynne Abraham (who had signed MOVE
warrants in 1977 and 1985) became the city’s new District Attorney.
Years of sacrifice in blood and lives had earned MOVE a formidable
credibility and integrity that kept police from attempting the
intimidation and harassment tactics of the early days when members were
arrested and beaten constantly. While a lot of cops still wished all
MOVE members were dead, killing the intangible legacy of Osage Avenue
could never be accomplished with guns and bombs, the city switched to a
tactic of focusing attention elsewhere in the hopes that government
culpability in the tragedy would be quietly forgotten and history books
could be censored accordingly. MOVE countered this new ploy with the
same dedication and commitment they applied to past confrontations.
Forums, demonstrations, and other public events were held yearly on the
anniversaries of August 6^(th) and May 13^(th) in 1994, MOVE resumed
publication of the First Day newspaper. Members kept busy with
increasing requests to speak to students, community groups, political
activists, and interviewers across the country,
After he was transferred in a prison far from Philadelphia in 1983 and
his regular appeals were debted, Mumia was written off by the mainstream
and largely forgotten by the general public. MOVE however, stood by
Mumia through thick and thin. In reporting on the August 8, 1978
confrontation and resulting trials, Mumia had taken a bold stand for
truth and justice. He had also bucked the status quo and thrown away a
chance to be a network news anchor. The payback took many years and
extracted enormous personal sacrifice, but eventually Mumia’s career as
a journalist came full circle in an unprecedented way, and MOVE played
an instrumental role.
While confined to the bleak isolation of death row, Mumia never lost his
journalistic instincts and continued to write about what he saw, heard
and felt. By 1990, some of his articles had appeared in The Yale Law
Journal, The Nation, and other publications. In 1991, the MOVE
Organization, through the coordination of JOHN AFRICA consolidated local
support for Mumia by forming the Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia
Abu-Jamal, headed by Pam Africa. The committee set about lobbying,
educating. and fund-raising, and through years of dedicated hard work
grew from a small community group to an international collective.
Renowned defense attorney Leonard Wcmglass was enlisted to
re-investigate the case.
Starting in 1993, The International Concerned Family and Friends began
publishing The Jamal Journal, Mumias own newspaper. In 1994, National
Public Radio agreed to air a series of audio recordings of Mumia reading
his commentaries, but under pressure from the Fraternal Order of Police
the plans for broadcast were cancelled.
In January of 1995, Tom Ridge became governor of Pennsylvania. Unlike
his predecessor, Ridge was an avid proponent of capital punishment, and
the first execution in Pennsylvania since 1962 was soon carried out. In
early May Live From Death Row, a 215-page hardback collection of Mumia’s
writings was published and became available in bookstores nationwide.
Ridge’s June 1995 signing of Mumia’s death warrant brought a storm of
international protest.
Pennsylvania’s Post-Convict ion Collateral Relief Act (PCRA) allows
prior convictions to be re-examined under claims of newly discovered
evidence, constitutional violations, or ineffective assistance of
counsel. It is rare for a new trial to be granted through the PCRA
process, possibly because few convicted defendants can afford the cost
of a full-scale re-investigation. Whereas just staying in contact with
the outside world is difficult enough, conducting witness interviews,
consulting with experts, and re-examining evidence is virtually
impossible from a prison cell. Additionally, post-trial appeals often
deal more with complex interpretations and case precedents of the
judicial process, rather than the specific crime scene events.
Most of MOVE’S legal materials from the August 8, 1978 case (and much of
Mumia Abu-Jamal’s legal documentation) were destroyed in the fire May
13, 1985. In light of these constraints, the nine August 8^(th)
defendants were not able to file for PCRA appeals until the early 1990s
when they enlisted the assistance of an attorney. As of early 1996, due
to repeated delays and continuances, the case is still pending.
In June of 1995, after years of extensive research, a team of lawyers
led by Leonard Weinglass filed a PCRA appeal for Mumia Abu-Jamal, which
documented gross misconduct and constitutional violations in what was
anything but a fair trial by a jury of one’s peers. Researchers
discoverered that Mumia had been watched and targeted by the FBI since
he was 14 years old, and that Judge Sabo had sentenced more people to
death than any other sitting judge in the country. Claiming that he
could be fair to both sides, Sabo denied a motion to be recused and
presided over the PCRA evidentiary hearing. Abandoning even the pretense
of impartiality, Sabo attacked defense counsel, jailing one for
attempting to enter into evidence a defense exhibit, and fining another
$1,000 for failing to move fast enough before the hearings were ended,
even the major media editorials were acknowledging that Sabos
injudicious and openly biased conduct made the proceedings a farce. In
the fall of 1993, the case went to the State Supreme Court after Sabo
refused to gram Mumia a new trial.
Many MOVE people who were children in 1978 now have children of their
own making, the original MOVE members grandparents. Predictions of
MOVE’S demise after May 13. 1985 were proved false by the organizations
steady re-emergence as a visible, active entity. A quarter century since
first appearing in Philadelphia, the MOVE Organization stays in touch
with an international list oi contacts and maintains a full schedule of
speaking engagements. Ramona Africa has been invited to speak at such
respected institutions as Harvard University, thus fulfilling a
decades-old prophecy of JOHN AFRICA. To satisfy an ever increasing
demand for information about the organization Sue, Ramona and Carlos
Africa embarked on a European speaking tour in February of 1996, with
stops in London, Amsterdam, Brussels, and other cities. MOVE’s
activities continue at a vigorous clip and the ongoing struggle for
Munia Abu-Jamal’s freedom has become a major part of their work MOVE has
also begun working in solidarity with support groups for all U.S.
political prisoners including Leonard Peltier, Linda Evans, Mutulu
Shakur, Geronimo ji Jaga, Marilyn Buck, Sundiata Acoli, and many others.
Government propaganda mischaracterizing MOVE as terrorists has
occasionally led to speculation on the possibility of another violent
confrontation. However, a factual review of past conflicts reveals that
the ones to initiate violence have always been police, sheriffs, or
other government agents. Invariably, MOVE’s first stance in any conflict
has been to put out information through demonstrations, protests,
letters, interviews, etc. Only if the opposition chooses to react with
less peaceful methods, will MOVE respond in kind. Whether the weapons
used to attack them are fists, clubs, guns, bombs, tear gas, tape
recorders, cameras, fax machines, or lap tops, MOVE members will defend
themselves masterfully with the strategy of JOHN AFRICA.
“THIS GOVERNMENT GONNA ALWAYS HAVE A PROBLEM ‘TIL THEY LET OUR PEOPLE
COME HOME. AND WE DON’T CARE HOW THESE OFFICIALS DO IT, WHAT KIND OF
FACE-SAVING EXCUSES OR SCAPEGOATING TACTICS THEY COME UP WITH TO COVER
UP THE FACT THAT THEY’VE HAD NINE INNOCENT PEOPLE IN JAIL FOR OVER 17
YEARS, AND AN INNOCENT MAN ON DEATH ROW.”
MOVE
| GOVERNMENT:
| MOVE:
The MOVE Organization is a family of strong, serious, deeply committed
revolutionaries founded by a wise, perceptive, strategically minded
Black man named JOHN AFRICA. The principle of our belief is explained in
a collection of writings we call “The Guidelines,” authored by JOHN
AFRICA. To honor our beloved founder, and acknowledge the wisdom and
strength he has given us, we say “LONG LIVE JOHN AFRICA”
JOHN AFRICA taught us that Life is the priority. Nothing is more
important or as important as Life, the force that keeps us alive. All
life conies from one source, from God, Mom Nature, Mama. Each individual
life is dependent on every other life, and all life has a purpose, so
all living things, things that move, are equally important, whether they
are human beings, dogs, birds, fish, trees, ants, weeds, rivers, wind or
rain. To stay healthy and strong, life must have clean air, clear water,
and pure food. If deprived of these things, life will cycle to the next
level, or as the system says “die.”
We believe in natural law, the government of self. Man-made laws are not
really laws, because they don’t apply equally to everyone and they
contain exceptions and loopholes. Man-made laws are constantly being
amended or repealed. Natural law stays the same and always has. Man’s
laws require police, sheriffs, armies, and courts to enforce them, and
lawyers to explain them. True law is self explanatory and self
enforcing. In the undisturbed jungles, oceans and deserts of the world,
there are no courtrooms or jails. The animals and plants don’t need
them. No living being has to consult a law book to be able to know if
they have to cough, sneeze or urinate. Natural law says that when you
see something getting too close to your eye, you will blink, whether you
are a German shepherd or a Supreme Court Justice.
All living things instinctively defend themselves. This is a God-given
right of all life. If a man goes into a bears cave, he violates and
threatens the bears place of security. The bear will defend his home by
instinctively fighting off the man and eliminating him. The bear is not
wrong, because self defense is right.
The fact that something is legal under the system’s laws, doesn’t make
it right. Slavery was legal. Killing Native Americans and stealing their
land was all done legally. JOHN AFRICA taught us that what is right
applies equally, across the board. If something is right, it’s right for
all of life, with no separations.
We don’t believe in this reform world system — the government, the
military, industry and big business. They have historically abused,
raped and bartered Life for the sake of money. These rulers and
policy-makers don’t care who they kill, enslave, cripple, poison or
disease in their quest for money. They have made material wealth a
priority over Life. Marvels of science and technological so called
advancements all stem from the system’s greed for money and disrespect
for life. But a person who is suffocating or drowning doesn’t call out
for diamonds, gold or wads of money. Each person will do a11 in their
power for a breath of air, because is a necessity and money is
worthless. Over the last century, industry has raped the earth of
countless tons of minerals, bled billions of gallons of oil from the
ground, and enslaved millions of people to manufacture cars, trucks,
planes and trains that further pollute the air with their use. And
because of the billions of dollars in profits to be made, the system
will favor artificial transportation over the legs and feet Mama gave us
to Walk and run with. Big business and industry are responsible for the
mass production and mass manufacturing of cigarettes, alcohol, and
drugs, which are used to extract further profits from people while
keeping them sick and addicted. Politicians are put in place to
legalize, endorse and protect industry and big business, therefore we
don’t believe in politics at all.
MOVE’s work is revolution. JOHN AFRICA’s revolution, a revolution to
stop man’s system from imposing on life, to stop industry from poisoning
the air, water and soil and to put an end to the enslavement of all
life. Our work is to show people how rotten and enslaving this system is
and that the system is the cause of homelessness, unemployment, drug
addiction, alcoholism, racism, domestic abuse, AIDS, crime, war, all the
problems of the world. We are working to demonstrate that people not
only can fight this system, they must fight this system if they ever
want to free themselves from endless suffering and oppression.
Revolution starts with the individual. It starts with a person making a
personal commitment to do what’s right. You can’t turn someone into a
revolutionary by making them chant slogans or wave guns. To understand
revolution you must be sound. Revolution is not imposed upon another, it
is kindled within them. A person can talk about revolution, but if they
are still worshiping money or putting drugs into their bodies, or
beating their mate, they obviously haven’t committed themselves to doing
what’s right. Revolution is not a philosophy, it is an activity.
We are a deeply religious organization. We know that the current
political system resents our clean, righteous example and wants to stop
us from exposing their corruption, even if they have to kill us. Just as
Jesus was labeled a radical and persecuted to death by the politicians
of his day for what he said, we know how threatening our message is to
those in power and why they come down so hard on us. We expect it and we
are prepared for it.
We don’t measure our success with reference to a calendar. As long as we
do what’s right, the only way things can turn out is right, regardless
of time. We are not anxious or impatient and we will not compromise our
principles for quick, temporary results. We don’t necessarily expect to
see a dramatic change in this system in our lifetime or our children’s
lifetime. We know that many hundreds of years til degeneration and
imposition will take many hundreds of years to correct, but the initial
turning of the tide has to start somewhere. JOHN AFRICA began that
process through the MOVE Organization. LONG LIVE JOHN AFRICA!
Our organization was founded by JOHN AFRICA, however, he is not our
leader. JOHN AFRICA has equipped each of us with the wisdom, strength
and understanding to lead ourselves. Using the strategy of JOHN AFRICA,
we know we can’t fail. Everything that happens to us happens a certain
way, because its supposed to.
All committed MOVE members take the last name ‘Africa’ out of reverence
for out founder JOHN AFRICA, and to show that we are family, a unified
body moving in one direction. We have black, White and Puerto Rican
members from upper and lower class backgrounds, both college and street
(mis)educated. While we do not need the system’s legal institution of
marriage, we do adhere to the natural law that requires one male and one
female to mate and produce new life. We are monogamous. JOHN AFRICA
taught us that childbearing is a natural, instinctive function of a
mother and requires no drugs or hospital stays.
We dearly love our children. We protect them and watch over them so they
will become healthier and stronger than we ourselves. We are all one
family and all the adults help to look after the kids. We don’t punish
them through beatings or physical abuse. If they do something wrong, the
whole family takes part in giving them direction and showing them what’s
right. We don’t send them off to school for the system’s brainwashing
and indoctrination. We stay close to our children and they stay close to
us.
Our hair is left the way nature intended, uncombed and uncut. Though we
don’t favor using the system’s chemicals, cosmetics, and disposable
conveniences, we do spend a good deal of time keeping ourselves and our
surroundings clean and tidy. We dress functionally, in clothing that
doesn’t interfere with our active lives.
The diet JOHN AFRICA gave us consists of fresh raw food. We always keep
plenty of wholesome raw food on hand and eat whenever our bodies tell us
to, not according to artificial meal-time standards. We make sure no one
around us goes hungry, because we know that good food is an essential
requirement of life. We acknowledge that some of us were raised on the
system’s food, or “distortion” as we call it. Doing the work we do can
also put us under a lot of pressure when parent and child or husband and
wife are separated by the system’s oppression. So it is not uncommon to
see some of us eating cooked food on occasion. However, you will never
see a committed MOVE: member use drugs, cigarettes or alcohol. The
hundreds of miles that the system has placed between us and some of our
brothers and sisters in distant prisons has also forced us to use cars
to maintain the close contact our family is used to. But we look forward
to the day when we can live together the way we want to, without the
need for air polluting technology.
To keep ourselves healthy and strong, we rely on plenty of exercise as
well as good hard physical labor. Scrubbing floors. sweeping walks and
running dogs are daily tasks. Maintaining the hundreds of pounds of food
we keep stocked is a big job, too. We have seeds for the birds, nuts for
the squirrels, raw meat for the dogs and cats, and fruits and vegetables
for the people. We love all life. It is tremendously upsetting for us to
see someone mistreat an animal and we will take immediate action to stop
anyone from beating a dog, throwing stones at birds, or causing similar
impositions on innocent life.
The word MOVE is not an acronym. It means exactly what it says. MOVE,
work, generate, be active. Everything that’s alive moves. If it didn’t,
it would be stagnant, dead. Movement is the principle of life. And
because MOVE’s belief is life, our founder, JOHN Africa, gave us the
name “MOVE”. When we greet other, we say “ON THE MOVE!”
“THE POWER OF TRUTH IS FINAL”
— JOHN AFRICA