May 13 MOVE bombing commemoration

In an annual ceremony of remembrance, activists and family members gathered at 63rd Street and Osage Avenue in Philadelphia on May 13 to retell the story and struggle of 11 members of the MOVE organization who were murdered 41 years ago when the city dropped a bomb on their rowhouse.  

After officials made the decision to “let the fire burn,” 62 homes in this Black community were totally destroyed and 11 people, including 5 children, were killed. The only survivors were Ramona Africa, who was imprisoned after the raid, and a child, Birdie Africa, who died in 2013.

Beautiful caricature portraits of those killed in 1985, painted by Brice Patterson, provided a background for the speakers –– YahNé Ndgo, Krystal Strong, Gabriel Bryant and Mike Africa Jr. –– who took turns recounting developments leading up to the murderous and intentional attack on the MOVE home in West Philadelphia.   

Many police officers who had been involved in an assault on a MOVE home in Powelton Village in 1978 also took part in the 1985 attack. Tens of thousands of bullets were fired into the building. Water hoses were used to destroy some of the structure. No city official was ever held accountable, although 61 of the houses were rebuilt.

Mike Africa Jr. concluded the program by providing updates on his family’s 2023 repurchase of their home at 6221 Osage Ave and plans for a movement called Reclaiming Osage where neighbors will define their community.