Philadelphia Bombing: The MOVE Standoff
Flames rise from homes set ablaze when police bombed Black activists.
Philadelphia Tragedy
A group of Black activists was holed up in a row house in Philadelphia when police, impatient to end the standoff, bombed the property. The result was catastrophic.
Black Liberation
In 1972, Vincent Leaphart, who assumed the name John Africa, formed the group called MOVE in Philadelphia. The name was not an acronym and was chosen by its founder because “Everything that's alive moves. If it didn't, it would be stagnant, dead.”
The group is generally described as radical and its goals were racial equality mixed with animal rights and an adherence to the Rastafarian religion. All its members took the family name of Africa as an homage to what they believed to be their ancestral home.
John Africa
Violent Confrontations of MOVE
The people of MOVE were not angels. In an August 1978 confrontation with police, an officer was shot and killed and many other people were injured. Nine members of MOVE were convicted of second-degree murder and given lengthy prison sentences.
The dead officer was shot in the back of the neck, while he was apparently facing the building from which gunfire was coming. Also, during the arrest of the individuals charged with murder, there were glaring examples of police brutality causing a massive rift with the Black community of Philadelphia.
By the early 1980s, MOVE had recruited new members and had taken up residence in a house in the mostly Black middle-class Powelton Village area of West Philadelphia.
The neighbours did not like having the militant group in their midst and lodged numerous complaints. In May 1985, the first Black mayor of Philadelphia, Wilson Goode, sent police to execute arrest warrants for MOVE members on charges involving “terroristic threats,” “riot” and “disorderly conduct” (The Guardian).
The MOVE Standoff
Police arrived at the MOVE headquarters in the early hours of May 13, 1985. In preparation, police had evacuated neighbouring houses, telling residents to take a toothbrush and change of clothing.
National Public Radio reported that almost 500 police officers were armed with “flak jackets, tear gas, SWAT gear, .50- and .60-caliber machine guns, and an anti-tank machine gun for good measure.”
At the head of this overpowering force, Police Commissioner Gregore Sambor gave a speech through a bullhorn in which he said “Attention MOVE: This is America. You have to abide by the laws of the United States.”
The people inside refused to surrender; they would not even allow the five children in the house to come out. Police responded with tear gas and firehoses, and a gun battle followed. Police fired 10,000 rounds of ammunition.
By 2 p.m., Commissioner Sambor had had enough and he ordered the bombing of the property. The commissioner said the main target was a fortified bunker on the roof of the building; he feared it might be used as a redoubt from which MOVE members could continue shooting.
A helicopter was brought in to drop two improvised bombs onto the roof of the building. The explosions started a fire that grew rapidly, but Commissioner Sambor ordered firefighters to stand down.
The MOVE Fire
For half an hour, firefighters stood aside and watched the blaze grow. The roof of the MOVE headquarters caved in and the flames spread to adjacent properties. By the time firefighters were allowed to train their hoses on the fire, it was out of control.
It wasn't until midnight that the flames were finally brought subdued, by which time 61 buildings had been destroyed and more than 250 people made homeless.
In the rubble of the MOVE house were 11 bodies, five of them children. Two people escaped the blaze—Ramona Africa and a 13-year-old boy called Birdie Africa.
For a while, Philadelphia was known unflatteringly as “the city that bombed itself.”
Five kids died, and the neighbors lost everything. We failed, and it bothers me. Nobody ever seemed to care.
— Philadelphia policeman Jim Berghaier
The Aftermath of the MOVE Bombing
A commission of inquiry was set up and, in March 1986, it issued its report calling the bombing of the MOVE house “unconscionable.” The commission made several key findings:
- “The city administration discounted negotiation as a method of resolving the problem. Any attempted negotiations were haphazard and uncoordinated.”
- “The Mayor's failure to call a halt to the operation on May 12, when he knew that children were in the house, was grossly negligent and clearly risked the lives of those children.”
- “The Mayor abdicated his responsibilities as leader when, after midday, he permitted a clearly failed operation to continue, which posed great risk to life and property.”
Mayor Goode was re-elected in 1987.
Police Commissioner Gregore Sambor resigned in November 1985 saying he knew he was going to be made a “surrogate” for the affair. It's thought he meant “scapegoat.”
The lone person charged with an offence was Ramona Africa, the only adult to survive the bombing. She was found guilty of riot and conspiracy and served seven years in prison. In 1996, she was awarded $500,000 for the pain and suffering she endured because of the MOVE bombing.
Bonus Factoids
- After release from prison, Ramona Africa rejoined MOVE, which is still in existence, as the group's minister of communications and continued working for equality for African Americans.
- In a subsequent trial, damages of $1.5 million were awarded against the city, which was found to have violated the constitutional rights of the MOVE members through the excessive use of force.
- The City of Philadelphia had to pay for the rebuilding of the destroyed homes and the legal costs involved. The bill came to more than $27 million.
- One of the people imprisoned in the 1978 incident was Janine Africa. Her son was killed into the MOVE bombing. She told The Guardian: “The guard opened my cell door and said: ‘Your son is dead,’ then shut the door. That was it. No explanation. Nothing.”
Sources
- “The Day Police Bombed a City Street: Can Scars of 1985 Move Atrocity Be Healed?” Ed Pilkington, The Guardian, May 10, 2020.
- “MOVE Philadelphia Bombing History and Fallout.” Robert Longley, ThoughtCo.com, October 2, 2021.
- “I'm From Philly. 30 Years Later, I'm Still Trying to Make Sense of the MOVE Bombing.” Gene Demby, National Public Radio. May 13, 2015.
- “Philadelphia Chief Says He Wanted Fire to Burn.” Lindsey Gruson, New York Times, October 19, 1985.
- “Excerpts From Commission's Report on Bombing.” New York Times, March 7, 1986.
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© 2023 Rupert Taylor
