VIDEO: May 13 Remembered; Free the MOVE 9!
by Hans Bennett
On May 10, the MOVE organization and supporters gathered at 11th and Market to protest the imprisonment of the MOVE 9, on the 23rd anniversary of the May 13, 1985 bombing of the MOVE's West Philadelphia home. That 1985 morning, police shot over 10,000 rounds of bullets into MOVE's 6221 Osage Ave. home and detonated several explosives on both sides and the front of their house. After the confrontation came to a standstill in the afternoon, and Mayor Goode refused to negotiate with MOVE, a State Police helicopter dropped a C-4 bomb, illegally supplied by the FBI, on MOVE’s roof, which started a fire that was allowed to burn, and eventually destroyed 60 homes: the entire block of a middle-class black neighborhood. The "MOVE Commission" affirmed accounts by survivors Ramona and Birdie Africa that police shot at MOVE members when they tried to escape the burning house. That day, 11 MOVE members were killed, including 5 children and MOVE founder John Africa.
23 years later MOVE is organizing for the freedom of the remaining MOVE 9 prisoners, who are now up for parole (watch new video series). The women (Debbie, Janine, and Janet) have already been denied parole along with two of the men (Eddie and Mike). MOVE was notified today that Delbert and Phil's parole interviews have been "postponed indefinitely," and Chuck is eligible six months later than the others.
The latest in a series of videos spotlighting the MOVE 9 parole hearings, this features interviews with several supporters, including:
--Yvonne Orr, the daughter of MOVE 9 prisoner Delbert Africa
--Anne Lamb, New York City Jericho Movement
--Jeffrey Rousset, Students for a Democratic Society
--Rick Burnley, the Poet Laureate of Camp Casey, reading his poem "Raining in America" (see more at rickburnley.com)
Watch a short video about May 13, 1985, featuring Mike Africa Jr.
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