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. 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
(alcholism, drug addiction, unemployment, wife abuse, child pornography,
every problem in the world) and to set the example of revolution for
people 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
cancerious system as move does.
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 use 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-dealung 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.