Marking 40 years since city officials dropped a bomb on MOVE

Philadelphia

Honoring the 11 people murdered by the state when they dropped a bomb on the MOVE organization’s house in West Philadelphia on May 13, 1985, over 100 people gathered to commemorate the 40th anniversary of this horrific event. From a stage erected at Osage Avenue and 63rd Street, next to the Historic Marker designating what happened nearby, speakers described the events of that day. They also described the history of MOVE’s conflict with the city and the brutality experienced at the hands of the Philadelphia Police Department.

Those present were urged to recommit themselves to the struggle for freedom from a system that little values the lives of so many people.

YahNé Ndgo read the names of the five children — Tree Africa, Delisha Africa, Netta Africa, Little Phil Africa and Tomaso Africa — and the six adults — Theresa Africa, Rhonda Africa, Frank Africa, Conrad Africa, Raymond Africa and John Africa — who died in the fire that consumed their home. When officials from police and fire departments and Mayor Wilson Goode made their infamous decision to “let the fire burn,” 61 homes across two city blocks in a mainly Black neighborhood were leveled to the ground.

Activist Krystal Strong described how the federal government supported Philadelphia police by providing them with high-grade military weapons and the helicopter that dropped the powerfully explosive C-4 bomb on the house. The fire department, which refused to extinguish the fire and save the trapped residents, instead assisted the police with water cannons used over the previous 12 hours to weaken the building’s structure.

Ndgo and Strong, along with Gabe Bryant, took turns recounting the group’s history of clashing with the system since its formation in 1973. A weeks-long police siege of the MOVE house in the Powelton Village area of Philadelphia in 1978 resulted in death by “friendly fire” of one police officer, for which nine MOVE members (the MOVE 9) were sentenced to 30 to 100 years in prison. Media captured the brutal beating of Delbert Africa by police. Mayor Frank Rizzo had the house bulldozed before any examination for evidence could happen.

Strong described how, in 1985, the police gathered MOVE children, who had been playing in the nearby park, and brought them back to the Osage Avenue house just hours before the police attacked. During the confrontation, children and some adults made efforts to escape the burning building through a basement exit to an ally behind the building. Police, including several who were part of the 1978 confrontation, were allowed to patrol this area and according to witnesses fired hundreds of bullets at anyone trying to escape.

only survivors were Birdie Africa, who was 13 at the time, and Ramona Africa, who suffered severe burns in the conflict. As with the Powelton Village house, when the fire burned out, city officials quickly destroyed evidence of the extent of their militarized attack.

Total lack of accountability

In the 40 years since, the MOVE Commission, held in 1988 to investigate the city’s actions, found the officials were “grossly negligent” and their plan to drop a bomb “reckless, ill conceived and hastily approved.” But not one official was ever charged with a crime or held accountable.

On the other hand, Ramona Africa was imprisoned for seven years after surviving the May 13 fire, and the MOVE 9 members remained imprisoned, where two died, until their release in 2018 and 2020.

In 2020, 35 years after the bombing, ex-Mayor Wilson Goode issued a formal apology for his role.

In 2021, the depth of city officials’ depravity concerning MOVE members was revealed when it was reported that a University of Pennsylvania anthropologist mishandled the remains of at least one bombing victim, using the bones in an online course. Around the same time the city Health Commissioner Thomas Farley was forced to resign when the other remains of the MOVE children were found in a box in a storage room. Living relatives of the children only recently forced the city to return the children’s remains.

This year, on May 8 Philadelphia City Council member Jamie Gauthier, who represents the area in which the bombing occurred, succeeded in getting the council to pass a motion to mark May 13 with an official day of remembrance.

‘Reclaim Osage’

The homes destroyed on May 13 in 1985 were eventually rebuilt by the city, but construction was so shoddy that many had to be rebuilt again. Gentrification also took its toll on the neighborhood. The MOVE property at 6221 Osage, which was taken away from the family by the city, was eventually sold for $1.00 to a developer who turned around and sold it for $300,000.

Mike Africa Jr., whose parents were MOVE 9 members, addressed the memorial ceremony with information about his campaign to raise funds to buy back the property. He said that because the city has shown no care for the bombing victims for decades, he and others hope to start a new chapter in the organization’s history and “reclaim Osage.” They are trying to raise $400,000 through a GoFundMe campaign.

“We will show the city that we don’t need you,” Africa told the crowd. “We as a community have everything that we need within it, and we’re not asking for the city to do anything, but we’re demanding justice, and we’re going to keep on pushing forward. On the move.” (WHYY, May 14, 2025)

MOVE 9 members who were finally released frequently raise that justice for them would be for the state to release political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal.