MOVE or the MOVE Organization (though the name is not an acronym, it is spelled by followers in capital letters) is a Philadelphia-based group founded by charismatic leader John Africa. MOVE was described by CNN as "a loose-knit, mostly black group whose members all adopted the surname Africa, advocated a "back-to-nature" lifestyle and preached against technology."[1] It has had notable confrontations with the Philadelphia Police Department in 1978 and later in 1985. During the latter event, the Philadelphia Police dropped a bomb on MOVE headquarters, resulting in multiple deaths of MOVE members.
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MOVE was created in 1972 by John Africa, a charismatic leader who, though functionally illiterate, dictated a document describing his views known as The Guideline to graduate student Donald Glassey. Africa and his followers (the majority of them African-American), wore their hair in dreadlocks and advocated a radical form of green politics and a return to hunter-gatherer society while stating their opposition to science, medicine and technology. As John Africa himself had done, his devotees also changed their surnames to show reverence to Africa, which they regarded as their mother continent.
The MOVE members lived in a commune in a house owned by Donald Glassey in the Powelton Village section of West Philadelphia. MOVE members staged bullhorn-amplified, profanity-laced demonstrations against institutions which they opposed morally, such as zoos (MOVE having strong views on animal rights), and speakers whose views they opposed. MOVE made compost piles of garbage and human waste in their yards which attracted rats and cockroaches. Considering it morally wrong to kill them with pest control, they attracted much hostility from their neighbors. Their actions brought close scrutiny from the Philadelphia police. By MOVE's own account, during a police confrontation, Alberta Africa, partner to John, sustained injuries which caused her to miscarry.
In 1978, an end was negotiated to an almost year-long standoff with police over orders to vacate the Powelton Village MOVE house. MOVE failed to relocate as required by a court order.[2] When police later attempted entry, Philadelphia police officer James J. Ramp was killed in a shootout. Seven other police officers, five firefighters, three MOVE members, and three bystanders were injured.[3] As a result, nine MOVE members were found guilty of third-degree murder in the shooting death of a police officer. Seven of the nine became eligible for parole in the spring of 2008, and all seven were denied parole.[4][5] Parole hearings now occur yearly.
Subsequently, MOVE relocated to a row house at 6221 Osage Avenue in 1985. On May 13, 1985, responding to months of complaints by neighbors that MOVE members broadcast political messages by bullhorn at all hours and also about the health hazards posed by of the piles of compost. The police department attempted to clear the building.[6] After a standoff, police lobbed tear gas canisters at the building and the fire department battered the roof of the house with two water cannons. A burst of gunfire came from the house, touching off a return volley of thousands of rounds from police lasting 90 minutes. The police tried to remove two wood-and-steel rooftop structures, called bunkers by the police, by dropping a four-pound bomb made of C-4 plastic explosive and Tovex, a dynamite substitute, onto the roof.[7] The resulting explosion caused the house to catch fire, igniting a massive blaze which eventually consumed almost an entire city block.[8] Eleven people, including John Africa, five other adults and five children, died in the resulting fire.[9] The resulting fire was then allowed to burn. Ramona Africa and one child, Birdie Africa, were the only survivors.
Mayor Wilson Goode soon appointed an investigative commission called the PSIC or MOVE commission. It issued its report on March 6, 1986. The report denounced the actions of the city government, stating that "Dropping a bomb on an occupied row house was unconscionable." [10]
In a 1996 civil suit in U.S. federal court, a jury ordered the City of Philadelphia and two former city officials, former Fire Commissioner William Richmond and former Police Commissioner Gregore Sambor, to pay $1.5 million to a survivor and relatives of two people killed in the incident. The jury found that the city used excessive force and violated the members' constitutional protection against unreasonable search and seizure.[9]
Subsequent to the death of John Africa, his widow, Alberta, married John Gilbride Jr, and had a child, Zackary Africa, circa 1996. The couple divorced in 1999. Following a custody battle, a court ruling granted Gilbride partial custody of Zachary which allow him unsupervised visits with his son. Gilbride moved to Maple Shade, NJ. Prior to his first visitation date with Zackary, an unknown assailant shot Gilbride dead by automatic weapon fire as he sat in his car shortly after midnight on September 27 while parked outside his home in an execution-style slaying. The case remains, to date, unsolved. MOVE initially conjectured that the US government had assassinated Gilbride in order to frame MOVE. Alberta Africa, who initially acknowledged the murder, claimed in 2009 that Gilbride "is out hiding somewhere".[11]
Ramona Africa acts as a spokesperson for the group and has given numerous talks at leftist events throughout the US and in other countries. MOVE continues to advocate for the release of jailed MOVE sympathizer and former resident of Philadelphia, Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted of the 1981 murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner. MOVE has also called for the release of MOVE members behind bars, who the group considers political prisoners.
"The Roof is on Fire" by Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three is sometimes assumed to have been inspired by this incident. In fact, the single predated the MOVE bombing by a year. The song was, however, played during the ensuing protests near the site of the bombing.
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   | CNN article - CNN - Philadelphia, city officials ordered to pay $1.5 million in MOVE case - June 24, 1996 |
| | "John Africa's MOVE Organization" - John Africa's MOVE organization |
| | Offical MOVE website - JOHN AFRICA'S MOVE Organization |
| | Alice Walker's Thoughts about MOVE and the bombing - Nobody was Supposed to Survive - Alice Walker from Living by the Word, London: Women's Press (1988), 155-7, 159-60. |
| | MOVE on a political support website - ELPSN > Profile > MOVE & Mumia Abu-Jamal |
| | Mindfully.org's scan of a New York Times story on the bombing - Police Drop Bomb on Radicals' Home in Philadelphia WILLIAM K. STEVENS Special to The New York Times 14may85 |
| | 6221 Osage Ave. from Google Maps - 6221 Osage Ave, Philadelphia PA 19143 - Google Maps |
| | Move: Sites of Trauma (Pamphlet Architecture 23) - MOVE: sites of trauma - Google Books |
| | "It Looks Just Like a War Zone" - "It Looks Just Like a War Zone" - TIME |
| | 'I spend my days preparing for life, not for death' - Mumia Abu-Jamal talks to Laura Smith about life in solitary, how he has remained politically active, and why the Panthers are still relevant today | World news | The Guardian |
| | The Suspect - One Who Raised His Voice - 12/10/81 - The suspect: One who raised his voice |
| | Newsbank.com - Boston.com Local Search - Boston Globe Archives |
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