Philadelphia MOVE bombing - May 13, 1985

On this day in 1985, police bombed the house where members of the MOVE organization lived in West Philadelphia. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Stay in History Class. It's a production of I
Heart Radio. Hey I'm Eves, and Welcome to This Day
in History Class, a show that uncovers history one day
at a time. Today is nineteen The day was made thirteenth,

(00:24):
nineteen five. The only aerial bombing committed by police in
the United States took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The bombing
was a response to years of escalating conflict between police
and MOVE, a radical black liberation group. It ended in
the death of eleven people and the destruction of dozens

(00:45):
of houses. MOVE was founded in nineteen seventy two by
John Africa born Vincent Lepard. The early nineteen seventies was
a turbulent time in American race relations, as black power
groups organized to demand rights and protested the social ills
of contemporary society. On top of that, opposition to the

(01:06):
protracted Vietnam War was causing a lot of political strife.
After John Africa served in the Korean War, he became
dissatisfied with life in America. John Africa and MOVE advocated
for black nationalism and anarcho primitivism. They wanted to return
to a hunter gatherer society without modern technology and medicine.

(01:30):
They also supported animal rights as they believed that all
living beings should be treated ethically. Members of MOVE changed
their last name to Africa and recognition of their homeland,
and the organization was not quiet about its socio political aims.
MOVE members lived communally, mainly in West Philadelphia. A big

(01:50):
part of MOVE philosophy, detailed in the three page manifesto,
known as the Teaching of John Africa, is self reliance.
That means that Movement verse eight raw food, composted, and
scavenged even when in the city. They lived a life
close to nature, but their neighbors took issue with their
ways of life and how loud their public demonstrations for

(02:12):
racial justice and animal rights were. In nineteen seventy seven,
people complained about the way MOVE members lived and how
loud their protests were. Their neighbors said they had too
many animals on their property, were violating weapons codes, were
keeping filthy conditions, and refusing to pay utility bills. So
the police got a court order that required the group

(02:33):
to vacate their compound and pouton village at three oh
seven to three oh nine North thirty third Street. MOVE
agreed to leave the location and give up their weapons
if members who were arrested during demonstrations were released from jail.
The police agreed, Moves did not leave the property. The
next year, that conflict took a turn for the worst.

(02:56):
On August nine, seventy eight, police showed up at the
compounds execute the court order. That turned into a standoff
where five firefighters, seven police officers, three MOVE members, and
three bystanders were hurt. Police Officer James J. Ramp was
shot in the back of his neck and died during
the firefight, though there was back and forth over whether

(03:18):
the fatal gunshot could have come from a MOVE weapon.
Nine MOVE members, dubbed the Move nine were arrested and
convicted of third degree murder. Move transferred to one O
Sage Avenue, still in West Philadelphia. They put bunkers in
the house and on the roof, and they blasted their

(03:38):
message from a bullhorn day and night. Neighbors again complained
about the cleanliness of the house and excessive animals, and
said that MOVE members were committing verbal and physical assaults.
So on May thirteenth, nine, Mayor of Philadelphia W. Wilson
Good sent police to the home to execute warrants for
the arrest of all the people lived at the compound,

(04:01):
but when police arrived at the house, MOVE members did
not respond to their demands to let them into the
home or to let children inside leave. Police Commissioner greg
Or Sandborg said over a loudspeaker attention MOVE, this is America,
and began attacking MOVE. Police used fire hoses on the house,

(04:22):
fumigated the house with tear gas, then began shooting thousands
of rounds into the compound. A Pennsylvania State Police helicopter
dropped C four explosives onto the house, which caused the
fire that was further fueled by gasoline in the house.
Because the firefight ensued, police let the fire spread rather
than send in firefighters. The fire destroyed more than sixty homes,

(04:46):
and six adults and five children inside the home were killed.
John Africa was one of the people who died in
the incident. The only MOVE members to survive the attack
were Ramona Africa and d Africa. The incident was covered
live on television. Philadelphia had become the quote city that

(05:07):
bombed itself. Mayor good enlisted a commission to investigate the
bombing in nineteen eighty six. The commissions in March sixth,
nineteen six report said that negotiations were haphazard, the mayor's
failure to put an end to the operation was quote
grossly negligent, and dropping the bomb was quote unconscionable. The

(05:28):
commission declared that the police would not have used the
same violent tactics in a white neighborhood. But even though
the commission called for a grand jury investigation, there were
no prosecutions, and Good was re elected in nineteen eighty seven.
Ramona Africa was convicted on riot charges and spent seven
years in prison. She and the family members of two

(05:51):
relatives who were killed in the attack one one point
five million dollars in a civil suit judgment. The federal
jury also found that officials authorized excessive use of force
and violated Fourth Amendment rights. Bertie Africa, who was just
thirteen at the time of the bombing, went back to
using the name Michael Ward and was placed in his

(06:13):
father's custody. Cobbs Creek, the neighborhood where the compound was located,
never completely recovered. The homes built to replace those destroyed
were shoddily constructed, and when the city bought the homes
in the early two thousand's residents left in droves. Newly
rehabbed homes in the neighborhood were ready for sale, though

(06:35):
neighbors were worried about the high prices driving them out.
I'm Eves jeffco and hopefully you know a little more
about history today than you did yesterday. If you're so inclined,
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(06:56):
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