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<font face="arial" size=4><b>IT’S TIME TO STOP POLICE
TERRORISM!!!!!<br><br>
This year marks 25 Years since the bombing of our Family! <br><br>
At 9:00am MOVE is delivering MURDER charges to The Courts on May 12th,
Charging officials with the Vicious Murder of 11 Innocent MOVE family
members! <br><br>
There will be a 10:00 am press conference at The AFSC, located at 15th
& Cherry Sts., about the Murder Complaints. <br><br>
Immediately following the press conference, everyone will participate in
a Honk Against Police Terror @ City Hall from 3pm to 5pm.<br><br>
Following that is a Rally Demonstration March from City Hall to the <br>
African-American Museum for a 6:00 pm program , located at: <br>
7th & Arch Sts., which includes the screening of 2 Films On
MOVE. Joining the program will be Journalist Linn Washington and
Freedom Fighter Fred Hampton Jr.<br><br>
On Sunday, May 16th, at 2:00pm there will be a Children’s Play performed
by the MOVE children at The Rotunda, located at 40th & Walnut Sts.,
directly behind the Bridge Movie Theatre. <br><br>
For more INFO please contact: <br><br>
MOVE<br>
P.O. BOX 19709<br>
PHILA., PA. 19143<br>
<a href="mailto:onamovellja@aol.com">onamovellja@aol.com</a><br>
215 387-4107<br>
</b></font>*********************************************<br>
<font size=3>A "BROAD AND BLACK" BLOG<br>
At "A Thinker's Greenspace"<br><br>
Terry Lynn Howcott <br><br>
UNDERSTANDING THE 1985 PHILADELPHIA, <br>
MOTHER'S DAY BOMBING OF MOVE <br><br>
</font><font face="arial" size=2>I listened to Ramona Africa as she
filled my phone ear with her keen assessments, and began to comprehend
some of the dimensions of John Africa and the MOVE perspective as they
actually were. <br><br>
Ramona Africa and 13 year old Birdie Africa were the sole survivors of
the 1985 Mother's Day bombing perpetrated against the MOVE organization
by the Philadelphia police, sanctioned by then Mayor Wilson Goode .
<br><br>
As I gathered information on how MOVE members lived and believed, I
thought of the Green Party, and the environmentalist movement of the 90's
and the 2000's. The MOVE Organization is among the early pioneers of what
is commonly known as the movement to "save the
planet."<br><br>
They were perhaps among the first organizations in this country to take
Earth Day seriously, publicly integrating its principles into their daily
affairs. <br><br>
In our talk, Ramona Africa explained John Africa's philosophy -<i> that
life was the priority</i>, and that all who "maim or exploit
it" were the proverbial enemy. <br><br>
I nodded with complete understanding as she talked of being at the park
with the children of MOVE - all but one killed in the bombing - and her
dismissing their logic about taking home "green things" they
had found on the ground. <br><br>
John Africa, she explained, had taught the children how to observe life -
how to keep their eyes on their living environment. As such, they had
noticed the squirrels breaking open these items, therefore insisting that
they were "food." <br><br>
Later that day, they learned that they had been playing with nutritious,
fresh black walnuts. <br><br>
While Sister Africa explained how John Africa insisted that both adults
and children could "request family meetings" for purposes of
settling frustrations or concerns, I remembered the literature that
recommends that the healthier children are those who have a sense of
independence and freedom of expression <br><br>
In fact, she recalled how they were "obligated to be honest"
with the children, and exude the language of "equality" -
rather than taking "bullying adult stances." <br><br>
She described how the children had a sense of that, and therefore
believed in their intrinsic equality and value both inside the MOVE
Organization and beyond. <br><br>
I considered the church - and some of its preachers who are allowed to
roam, live freely, prosper - and "lay hands" - as Ramona
African spoke of a "significant and impressive" John Africa who
had "the wisdom of God." <br><br>
I was reminded of Black elitism, as Sister Africa talked of a minority of
neighbors who were embarrassed about MOVE's rejection of traditional
living and lifestyles. <br><br>
Sister Africa explains that a week prior to the bombing, police ransacked
and assaulted members at another MOVE owned household in Chester,
Pennsylvania. She described how they used tear gas on Mo Africa's wife
and children. claiming that they were looking for a man that they had
already arrested. <br><br>
I listened as she talked of the claim that the bombing was a result of
neighbor complaints - and about all of the years of legitimate community
complaints that had gone unanswered. I turned to other areas of this
website/blog - to countless irrational explanations regarding
"official" decisions to cause harm and destruction to various
living things and people. <br><br>
We spoke the truth - that no neighbor complaint could justify wanton
murder and destruction. <br><br>
I recalled public officials who fold like lawn chairs under the pressure
of public dissent, as Ramona Africa described John Africa as one who
"was never threatened by strong MOVE members." <br><br>
I recoiled at the thought of contemporary Black representation as Africa
states her pride in John Africa's humility - for his never allowing MOVE
members to "exalt him" as a leader. <br><br>
"He was our Brother," she says, and "a wise and
perceptive, righteous Black man." <br><br>
I cringed at Philadelphia's tax dollars - splurged in an effort to
prosecute John Africa. And I, too, was impressed hearing the news that
through much of his 1978 trial, he represented himself, was unattentive
during much of the trail, waited for the prosecution to rest, contested
the prosecution's case without calling one single witness - and yet was
found not guilty on every count. <br><br>
Finally, I tried to picture Ramona Africa's unimaginable pain - her
incomplete mourning process - as she delightfully references MOVE members
and their children in the present tense. I listen, as she tirelessly
dedicates her life to fighting for her beloved imprisoned MOVE 9 - her
family - until they are freed and exonerated of all charges against them.
<br><br>
And so it went, and so it goes. I am on her side, which would leave me on
the side of the planet. <br><br>
Join me in demanding that the state of Pennsylvania frees The Move 9,
that they might be released and teach us how to live. <br><br>
The Move 9 was arrested in 1978, 7 years before the Philadelphia Move
bombing. <br><br>
The MOVE Organization never stopped working to have the MOVE 9 released
from prison. <br><br>
These events were the precursor to growing "official"
resentment against the them for their rejection of various assaults to
their living space based upon purported reasons which could have been
resolved in a wide variety of ways. <br><br>
Copyright © Terry Howcott, 2010 <br><br>
<br>
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