Anniversary of cop bombing of MOVE
The struggle continues
Seventeen years ago, on May 13, 1985, the Philadelphia
Police Department carried out a vicious act of terrorism
against the Black community. Cops aided by U.S. military
advisors staged an early-morning attack on the MOVE
Organization house on Osage Avenue. The capitalist
establishment had long targeted MOVE supporters for their
radical views including their advocacy of the right to armed
self-defense.
Over 10,000 rounds of ammunition were fired at the house.
Then a helicopter dropped a bomb on the roof.
Eleven people, including five children, died inside.
This powerful bomb ignited, spread like wildfire and
eventually caused 60 homes in the African American neighborhood
to burn to the ground.
Ramona Africa, the sole adult survivor in the MOVE house,
was charged with assault, conspiracy and riot, and sent to
prison. Since her release she has toured the world speaking on
behalf of death-row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal and the MOVE 9
political prisoners, who were unjustly sentenced to life in
prison.
In 2000, on the bombing's 15th anniversary, MOVE's newspaper
First Day wrote: "John Africa's MOVE Organization has not
backed off this rotten corrupt system one bit. We are stronger,
more committed than ever, both in prison and out."
This year supporters protested in Philadelphia's Rittenhouse
Square to remember the victims of the "Mother's Day
Massacre."
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal and the MOVE 9!
--Greg Butterfield
Reprinted from the May 23, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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