Category Archives: Police Brutality and Misconduct

The Fifth State of the Black World Conference in Baltimore, Maryland

The Institute of the Black World (IBW) hosted the Fifth State of the Black World Conference (SOBWCV) at the Baltimore Convention Center from April 19-23, 2023.
The theme for the Conference was “Global Africans Rising: Empowerment, Reparations and Healing”. As the IBW Web site (https://ibw21.org/sobwcv/) states, “Convened by the Institute of the Black World 21st Century, the State of the Black World Conference is an international gathering of people of African descent to assess the condition of Black people in the U.S. and globally with working sessions around key issues.”

The following details are from the Web site of the State of the Black World Conference V, https://ibw21.org/sobwcv/.

Dr. Ron Daniels.

SOBWC-V 2023 Goals, from the Web site, were as follows:

  • Reassessing the Impact and Implications of the historic 2022 Mid-Term Election on the State of Black America and the Pan African world.
  • Expanding the Multifaceted U.S. and Global Reparations Movements to empower and heal Black families, communities and nations.
  • Advancing strategies and models to effectively address issues of vital concern to Black America and the Pan African world, e.g., the War on Drugs, mass incarceration, gun violence and fratricide, gentrification, environmental justice, climate change, safe, clean and accessible water.
  • Advancing strategies and models for socially responsible, human-centered, democratic and sustainable entrepreneurial business/economic development in Black communities in the U.S. and the Pan African World.
  • Mobilizing/organizing the Global Black Diaspora to engage Africa to foster the development of interdependent, self-reliant, business/economic, social and cultural enterprises, institutions and initiatives.
  • Promoting a consciousness and commitment to Black self-support, self-reliance and self-determination to consolidate, expand and empower Black organizations, agencies and institutions for the survival and development of Black families, communities and nations.
  • Promoting cross-generational dialogue and engagement to advance strategies and models to empower and heal Black families, communities and nations
    Programmatic Features were highlighted on the first day of the Conference.
  • Pan African Institute: The State of Democracy and Development in Africa, the Caribbean Central and South America
  • National/International Town Hall Meetings: The State of Black America and the Pan African World, The State of the Global Reparations Movement

The Honorable Dickon Mitchell, Prime Minister of Grenada, made a video tribute to the late Grenadian leader Maurice Bishop.

Two-hour Issue Area Plenary and Working Sessions were held on Thursday, April 20 and Friday, April 21, which focused on the following issues, each of which was explored in concurrently-running sessions all day Saturday, April 22:

  • Environmental Justice, Climate Change and Water as A Human Right (which highlighted the poisoned water in Flint, Michigan and Jackson, Mississippi, the struggle of the Afrikan-American population of Sandbranch, Texas and issues of rural environmental racism)
  • Displacing Black People and Black Culture: Gentrification as a State of Emergency in Black America (which cited examples from Texas, California and other urban and rural areas as examples of gentrification and Black land loss)
  • Socially Responsible Black Business/Economic Development
  • Combating Gun Violence and Murders/Fratricide in Black Communities: A Public Health Crisis
  • Reimagining Public Safety and Law Enforcement (this session also dealt with police brutality and misconduct)
  • Making Black Lives Matter
  • Building the U.S. and Global Reparations Movements

Participants were asked to sign up for one of the above Issue Sessions so they could participate in the “deep dive” on Saturday. The Thursday and Friday sessions served as an “introduction” to the specific issue and to allow all attendees to get a feel for all of the issues.

Another important focus group that met on Saturday was a special panel dealing with the struggle of the people of Haiti (or “Ayiti” as some activists and scholars cite as the proper name).

Sis. Kim Poole of the Teaching Artist Institute (TAI) addresses the audience.

A side-event to the Conference was the Hip Hop Caucus, moderated by Sis. Kim Poole and Bro. Haki Ammi of the Teaching Artist Institute (TAI), which explored The Role of Hip Hop in the Black Freedom Struggle as part of the observance of the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop. A special panel during the Hip Hop Caucus featured international Pan-Afrikanist Dr. Barryl Biekman from the African Union African Diaspora Sixth Region Facilitators Working Group and Tiye International in The Netherlands, as well as former Ugandan Member of Parliament and former presidential candidate Bro. Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, more famously known as Afrikan musician Bobi Wine.

Reparations activist Kamm Howard and attorney Nkechi Taifa.

Special guest speakers included, but were not limited to, the following:

  • Honorable Dickon Mitchell, Prime Minister of the Republic of Grenada (by video from Grenada)
  • Honorable P.J. Patterson, former Prime Minister of Jamaica
  • Dr. Julius Garvey, son of The Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, serving as the Honorary Master of Ceremonies and Chairman of the Conference
  • Marc Morial, former mayor of New Orleans and current President of the National Urban League
  • Professor Hilary Beckles, considered the world’s foremost scholar and champion for Reparations
  • David Comissiong, Ambassador to the Caribbean Economic Community (CARICOM)
  • Dr. Leonard Jeffries, venerable Pan-Afrikanist, historian, activist and scholar
  • Dr. Julianne Malveaux, longtime author, teacher and media political commentator
  • Mel Foote, Chairman of the Constituency For Africa (CFA)
  • Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, also known as Bobi Wine, musician, former Member of Parliament and former presidential candidate in Uganda
  • Rev. Lennox Yearwood, co-coordinator of the Hip Hop Caucus
  • Ronald Hampton, veteran law enforcement officer and longtime critic of police misconduct
  • Kareem Aziz, local educator and IBW Board Member
  • Dr. George Fraser, veteran business person, author of Success Runs In Our Race, Mission Unstoppable and other important books
  • Dr. Claire Nelson, founder and president of the Institute of Caribbean Studies
  • Makani Themba, Chief Strategist at Higher Ground Change Strategies based in Jackson, Mississippi
  • LaTosha Brown co-founder of Black Voters Matter
  • Tarana Burke, civil rights activist who started the Me Too Movement
  • Mirelle Fanon Mendes France, daughter of iconic Pan-Afrikanist Dr. Frantz Fanon
  • Don Rojas, Vice President of IBW and Media Director
  • Milton Allimadi, author and columnist
  • Kim Poole, founder of Teaching Artist Institute (TAI)
  • Haki Ammi, president of Teaching Artist Institute (TAI)
  • Maryland State Senator Jill P. Carter
  • Kobi Little, President, Baltimore NAACP
  • Bill Fletcher
  • Attorney Nkechi Taifa
  • Kamm Howard, longtime Reparations activist
  • Emira Woods
  • Dr. James Early

The Young Leaders Panel.

Special Sessions included the following:

  • Global Black Leadership Summit Breakfast
  • Global Black Women’s Leadership Summit Breakfast
  • Global Black Mayors and Elected Officials Roundtable Breakfast
  • Crisis in Haiti: The First Black Republic
  • The Black World Media Network
  • Opening and Closing Ndaba Plenary Sessions, including Cultural/Spiritual Rituals, Welcome, Greetings and Solidarity Statements and Keynote Presentations
  • Legacy Award and Cultural Extravaganza, including Presidential Legacy and Pan African Service Awards to Outstanding Leaders from the Global Black
  • Community and Cultural Presentations
  • African Market Place where a variety of vendors presented cultural and informational items for sale, featuring an exquisite variety of Black arts, crafts, apparel and other products, Exhibits by African and Caribbean Travel and Tourism Bureaus, Informational Booths by Civil Rights, Social and Civic Organizations, and Informational Booths by Conference Sponsors

CARICOM Ambassador David Commissiong.

There are several articles on the Web site of the Institute of the Black World (IBW) about the Conference, including:

SOBWCV concludes with calls for stronger global Black connections by Dr. Julius Garvey and Dr. Ron Daniels
https://ibw21.org/news/press-release/sobwcv-concludes-with-calls-for-stronger-global-black-connections/

Vantage Point: Report Back From State of the Black World Conference V
https://ibw21.org/video-audio/vp-radio-posts/042423-vantage-point-dr-ron-daniels-sobwcv/

Dynamic New Generation Speak on Final Day of the State of the Black World Conference V in Baltimore, By Don Rojas
https://ibw21.org/news/initiative-posts/sobwc-posts/dynamic-new-generation-speak-on-final-day-of-sobwcv/

Post SOBWCV message from Dr. Ron Daniels
https://ibw21.org/news/post-sobwcv-message-from-dr-ron-daniels/

More reports from the Conference are expected to be added to the IBW Web site in the coming days and weeks.

Dr. Barryl Biekman, speaking on the Reparations Panel.

Our Personal Impressions of the State of the Black World Conference V

We would like to congratulate the Institute of the Black World for holding the Fifth State of the Black World Conference (SOBWCV). I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Conference, from learning at the plenaries and breakout sessions to interacting with the vendors, presenters and other attendees. A conference of this scope is exceedingly difficult to pull off successfully, and in my opinion this was, on the whole, a successful one.

Most conferences I have attended, including some conferences of organizations I belong to, constantly must deal with running the risk of devolving into “talk shops” where invited speakers and dignitaries spend more time rehashing the issues we face ad nauseam or bragging repeatedly about their plans and their seminal role in meeting these issues and helping “save the Black Race” than figuring out specifically what we will do about them and how we will make the “saving of the Black Race” a reality in the real world. Many conferences never get past the “whereas” part of the discussion (where the problem is re-stated) to reach the “now therefore” part where the solutions and responses are developed, presented to the public and implemented for all to see. This conference strove to be different, and I appreciate that. The “deep-dive” breakout sessions that were the main feature of the Saturday activities showed IBW’s commitment to “drill down” on these issues to work on finding those solutions, and to enlist the ideas of conference attendees to help bring these solutions out. The two-hour sessions on Thursday and Friday allowed all of the conference attendees to get a “snap-shot” of what all of the breakout sessions were going to concentrate on during the Saturday “deep-dive” sessions.
That being said, there were some areas where I personally felt the Conference did miss opportunities to go even further in the development and implementation of those solutions. I will list them here:

  • There was not sufficient time in the Sunday open session, where the different “deep-dive” breakout groups were to make their reports to the general body, for those groups to present truly comprehensive (though summarized) reports that could have helped produce a Conference Declaration. I believe the breakout groups could have benefited from more time to present their points more fully. I am aware that the written summaries from these groups are going to be made available on the IBW Web site, but not everyone will go to the Web site to read those reports, and the conference attendees would have benefited from seeing and hearing all of the different breakout groups’ ideas for follow-up discussed in greater detail in open public session.

    Pan-Afrikan Author and analyst Milton Allimadi.

  • It was often noted in many of the breakout sessions that media exposure was important, and that we could not depend on the current “mainstream” corporate media to tell the world (or even just the Black World) about injustices such as Sandbranch, Texas, or the poisoning of the air in rural areas of North Carolina due to the apparently unregulated hog farming industry, or even honestly report on the poisoned water in Jackson, Mississippi and Flint, Michigan. It was clear to us that we needed to better mobilize our own Black Media to ensure that at least our community was made aware of the issues we face with regard to environmental racism and lack of access to drinkable water. Thus, a Saturday “deep-dive” breakout session on Building a Black Media Cooperative would have been most helpful, or even a mandate to end the conference that such a Cooperative be established. The brief media panel on Friday was important but there needed to be a focused “deep dive” similar to the other sessions on Saturday. IBW does have its own media outlet in the Black World Media Network, but the fact is that this multi-faceted issue is much larger than any one Black media organization, and a true Black Media Cooperative needs to be built that would include (but not be dominated by) Black World Media, Black Agenda Report, The National Black Unity News (who had a vendor’s table at the conference), Black-run Internet radio stations and every serious activist or organizer with a Web site (such as https://kuumbareport.com), a Facebook page, a Twitter feed, an Instagram account, a mic and a mouth, a YouTube channel or a Tik Tok, or who knows anyone connected to Black Media in any way, shape or form. Such a cooperative could establish standards of journalistic integrity, behavior, rigor and truth in research and reporting (to combat misinformation, baseless conspiracy-theories and rumor-mongering), and develop a means by which important stories can be documented, shared and propagated to all members of the cooperative and attract more members.

    Baltimore City NAACP Director Kobi Little.

  • Another comment that was made in many of these breakout sessions was the need for us to get together with other Pan-Afrikan/Black organizations, including those whose specific missions are different from ours. The Environmental group had several points of commonality with the Gentrification and Land Loss group, for example, since environmental racism is often a tactic used to force us to abandon our communities so corporations can enter them and perform their resource-extraction or land-expropriation missions relatively undisturbed. The Black Farmers in North Carolina (the hog farming capital of the world) and Georgia must grapple with environmental destruction (the poisoning of their ground, water and air by the industrial hog farmers) as well as the taking of their land by unscrupulous lawyers, mendacious politicians, corrupt Administration officials and racist financiers who impose usurious loans on them or deny them financing altogether. They all continue to suffer in part because they are not connected to effective legal counsel, political activists, grassroots organizers, business opportunities or media outlets who can make their struggle more visible to the public. Certainly, other breakout groups at some point made mention of the need to come together with the other groups to formulate a comprehensive, cooperative plan for Black People (though they probably didn’t say it quite that way). Thus, there needed to be a “deep dive” breakout session on Building Coalitions. It’s clear that most of our various organizers and activists are either not incentivized to build coalitions with each other or that they simply lack the knowledge and skill to pull it off. In either case, an attitude adjustment is required across the board, and a conference such as this one was an opportunity to offer just such an attitude adjustment. History is replete with examples of efforts that have failed, some disastrously, such as Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Black Wall Street in 1921, the progressive “Fusion” government in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1898, the Black Panther Party in the late 1960s-1970s and more. These efforts did not fail because they “didn’t work” as some critics have insisted. They failed because they were working alone. An economic enclave like Black Wall Street had no chance against a military-style attack led by the police. A political organization like Wilmington’s “Fusion” government could not withstand the wanton, merciless violence of right-wing White vigilante terrorism that had the governor of North Carolina himself afraid to ride a train that ran through the area. And the Black Panthers were unable to weather a coordinated assault that featured infiltration by FBI COINTELPRO agents-provocateur, military-style police assaults, media demonization and simultaneous prosecution of Panther leadership from coast to coast. The fact is, when you are surrounded on all sides, you cannot afford to armor yourself and shoot back in only one direction. If we are to succeed as a people in our struggle, we will have to actually learn from the past (instead of just acting like we have), bring together a variety of Pan-Afrikan activists and organizers from diverse organizations (artists, spiritual leaders, grassroots activists, educators, media, lawyers, political activists, scientists, businesses, international organizers, prison activists, Elders, women, men, youth, revolutionary activists and more) and persistently push them to overcome their philosophical differences about how to unify us so they can learn to first be in the same room without fighting and then start working on ways to combine their efforts into an overarching, comprehensive, cooperative strategy to move all of us forward based on the time-honored principle of Unity Without Uniformity. This will require us to loosen up some of our own ideological rigidity, put away our egos, let go of our sense of organizational entitlement and ownership of The Struggle, resolve our personal beefs and start having frank, honest, sincere and respectful conversations with each other. (The need to find ways to confront what differences we do have was exemplified by an argument between the Pan-Afrikan activist Irritated Genie and the Black Lives Matter panel that was sparked by an ill-advised libation that featured no Black men but began to move to other issues. To me, the issues of fighting homophobia at the same time that we fight against the emasculation and effeminization of Black men and the encroachment of Western cultural norms into Afrika were brought into stark focus, and the inability to discuss these issues without our emotions getting the better of us is something we must deal with if we are to move forward together.) We need to be able to reconcile our differences, whatever they may be, and realize those ways in which we are engaged against the same intractable White Supremacist enemy. We must also overcome this I-Have-The-Answer, Black-People-Must-Unify-Under-My-Leadership attitude that too many of us hold (even if we don’t admit it) and that keeps us from coming together and truly unifying. This is the objective of the Maryland Pan Afrikan Cooperative Coalition (MPACC, https://kuumbareport.com/spokes-of-the-wheel/maryland-pan-african-cooperative-coalition-mpacc/), which seeks to achieve just that mission by intentionally bringing different Pan-Afrikan organizations together. We are working to build a Pan Afrikan Cooperative Coalition in Maryland, and perhaps inspire similar efforts elsewhere and even on a global scale, by proposing an organizational structure that I call “Spokes of the Wheel”, which, as it turns out, gets its inspiration from Ancestor Mary McLeod Bethune’s National Council of Negro Women, which organized itself in a “spoked-wheel” structure back in 1935. My hope is that such a Cooperative Coalition could not only serve the interests of the organizations I belong to (Pan African Federalist Movement, https://pafmuas.org or https://www.pafm-northamerica.org; and Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus, https://srdcinternational.org), but also help to build a means by which the different Pan-Afrikan and pro-Black organizations in Maryland can start to make better progress in their own missions by acting interdependently as opposed to just independently. If we are going to call for unity, then we must do what we can to bring that unity about. If we are going to urge our activists to come together, we must explore and create the atmosphere and the means by which they can do that, often in spite of themselves.

The Democracy in the Black World Panel.

Those are my suggestions for moving forward to make the State of the Black World Conferences, as well as any Pan-Afrikan conference that seeks to help Afrikan People make progress in our common global struggle, more impactful in the future. I wish to reiterate that I found the Fifth State of the Black World Conference to be a rewarding experience. The opportunity to meet with local comrades and allies, reconnect with friends from the Struggle I had not seen in some time, make new friends through our roles in this shared struggle and interact with such luminaries as Dr. Julius Garvey, Attorneys Mama Efia Nwangaza and Mama Nkechi Taifa, Dr. Leonard Jeffries, Kamm Howard and Mama Iyafin Amiebelle Olatunji (wife of the late, great Afrikan drummer Babatunde Olatunji), among other committed Pan-Afrikan activists and organizers, was a special treat. My comments and suggestions are in no way intended to detract from my expression of enjoyment of the Conference or my belief that this was an important and worthwhile effort. It is my hope that my personal comments will be taken in the spirit in which they are given, and that future conferences by IBW and other Pan-Afrikan/Black organizations will continue to make strides toward that point at which the Pan-Afrikan struggle for truth, justice and righteousness can take flight and bring victory within our grasp at last.

Tyre Nichols, Police Brutality and the Black Cop

Black cop!! Black cop Black cop Black cop
Stop shootin Black people, we all gonna drop
You don’t even get, paid a whole lot
So take your M-60 and put it ‘pon lock!
Take your four-five and you put it ‘pon lock!

Lookin for your people when you walk down a block
Here in America you have drug spot
They get the Black cop, to watch the drug spot
The Black drug dealer just avoid Black cop
They’re killin each other on a East Coast block
Killin each other on a West Coast block
White police, don’t give a care about dat
Dem want us killin each other over crack
Anyway you put it it’s a Black on BLACK …

Black cop!! Black cop Black cop …

Thirty years, there were no Black cops
You couldn’t even run, drive round the block
Recently police trained Black cop
To stand on the corner, and take gunshot
This type of warfare isn’t new or a shock
It’s Black on Black crime again nonSTOP
Black cop!! Black cop Black cop …

Here’s what the West and the East have in common
Both have Black cops in cars profilin
Hardcore kids in the West got stress
In the East we are chased by the same black beast
The Black cop is the only real obstacle
Black slave turned Black cop is not logical
But very psychological, haven’t you heard?
It’s the BLACK COP killin Black kids in Johannesburg

Whassup Black cop, yo, whassup?!
Your authorization says shoot your nation
You want to uphold the law, what could you do to me?
The same law dissed the whole Black community
You can’t play both sides of the fence
1993 mad kids are gettin tense

Black cop!! Black cop Black cop Black cop
Stop shootin Black people we all gonna drop
You don’t even get, paid a whole lot
Take your four-five and you put it ‘pon lock!
Take your M-60 and put it ‘pon lock!
Take your uzi, put it ‘pon lock!

Black cop Black cop Black cop

— from Boogie Down Productions – “Black Cop”

Many of us were heavily traumatized by the graphic video of five Memphis police officers beating Tyre Nichols to death as he cried out for his mother. After years of recent high profile police killings of Afrikan Americans that started to gain worldwide attention with the killings of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice and Trayvon Martin and the resultant Movement for Black Lives, perhaps some of us had become numb to these atrocities. For those of you who became so inured to this that you fell asleep, here is your wake up call. Again.

Police body camera video (the ones that were actually turned on) showed police cursing at Mr. Nichols as they violently snatched him from his car immediately upon making the stop, a clear indication of immediate and unprovoked excessive force. This is what it has come to. The fact that the police were wearing body cameras that would supposedly record their actions apparently meant nothing to them. These police officers clearly seemed to be acting on the assumption of their own impunity and displayed no awareness of the atrocity they were committing or even of the trouble they should be in as a direct result of their actions. Pose for a selfie while you’re at it, fellas.

The limitation of body cameras was shown not only in the fact that they did not prevent this behavior on the part of the Memphis police or the fact that several of the cameras were conveniently turned off during parts of the altercation, but also the fact that the pole-mounted video camera provided key visual evidence the body cameras could not. That camera, mounted high on a lamp post, provided a wide-angle view that clearly showed several officers holding Mr. Nichols, who was already slumped over, barely conscious and not resisting, in an upright position so some of the officers could take turns kicking him and striking him with fists and batons.

According to the video evidence, not one of the five main defendants nor the other police officers who ultimately responded to the scene tried to stop the beating. There was no timely call for medical attention, and the medical personnel who did respond also failed to provide timely care to Mr. Nichols. Many, if not all, of the involved parties have been fired or disciplined, though it is unclear if any charges will be made against them. So much for protect and serve.

Some people were quick to point out that these were Black police officers dispensing this brutal “street justice” upon a Black motorist. This argument is what some analysts would refer to as a “red herring”. Police brutality has always been not so much about the race of the officers as about the race or economic standing of the victim (Black or Brown or poor). While the results from studies of the effect of Black police officers on reducing discretionary stops, harassment of citizens and acts of brutality are mixed, some critics have pointed out that Black police can sometimes be more violent against Black suspects than their White coworkers, perhaps out of overzealousness to “clean up the community” or even an effort to prove that they perceive their color as “Blue” and not “Black”.

Even so, there have been Black police officers who have spoken out against police brutality in their community. Many of them have paid a price for their honesty, forthrightness, honor and activism. Back in the mid to late 1990s, I had the opportunity to meet Dr. DeLacy Davis, then a Sergeant in the East Orange, New Jersey police department and the founder of Black Cops Against Police Brutality, several times as he was attending community meetings in Philadelphia, New York and Baltimore to discuss the issue of police brutality and misconduct. His activism led to harassment, assaults and death threats — from police. He participated in the town hall meetings that were held by the Rev. Walter Fauntroy and Martin Luther King III in the summer and fall of 1999 to bring attention to the issue, as documented in several reports at the time, including KUUMBAReport Newsletter, available here:

Support Your Local Sheriff?: Report on the SCLC’s Hearings on Police Brutality, KUUMBAReport, August-September 1999
https://kuumbareport.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/KuumbaReport-12-August-September-1999-Support-Your-Local-Sherriff-PDF.pdf

Dr. Davis still advocates against police brutality, and his work can be followed through his Web site, https://drdelacydavis.com/.

Other efforts to combat police brutality, corruption, racism and abuse include The Marshall Project, https://www.themarshallproject.org/. Other articles pertaining to the Tyre Nichols case, police brutality in general and efforts to stop it are included in the links at the end of this article. One article in particular is the following:

Tyre Nichols’ Death: How Black Officers Alone Can’t Stop Brutal Policing – The Marshall Project
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/01/28/tyre-nichols-memphis-black-police-brutality

And now, we can expect more hand-wringing and excuses over the issue of police brutality. Once again, politicians are going to be concerned about “violence in the streets” in response to this violence in the street. Right wing “conservative” pundits will express concerns about impending new calls to defund the police. And police officers themselves will no doubt be on higher alert for individuals who may choose to vent their rage against law enforcement by targeting police officers themselves for violence. Police brutality and misconduct not only endangers the citizenry. It endangers those police officers who actually do take their responsibility seriously and do their jobs with a degree of honor and integrity. But the failure of police leadership, including the police unions, and the politicians who unconditionally back every misdeed of law enforcement personnel, to rein in police abuse, racism, corruption and violence, endangers all police, including the truly dedicated ones who joined the force to serve their community.

The Legacy and Life of Keona Holley, Baltimore Police Officer Targeted by Violence
https://www.facebook.com/59109969606/posts/pfbid022esH3ZdGkDFgBU8e1ANpgwocXBuPGgNXNM6iQqUDNtctjuSpSFciA5KqPn7RApu5l/?sfnsn=mo&mibextid=6aamW6

The usual “suspects” will come forward with the usual arguments in an attempt to explain or even justify police misconduct. Analysts will again pose the question: where did their training go wrong? I have stated on several occasions that police brutality is not a training issue: training imparts a knowledge or a skill; it does not build character or morality. As someone who has 30 years of experience in both employee recruitment & selection and employee training, I have often stated that this is an issue of selecting bad people to be cops and failing to correct bad behavior through progressive discipline before it becomes catastrophic, not an issue of how well these officers were trained.

But then again, maybe it is a training issue. If that is the case and the training of police is the problem, it could be that often police were too well trained: trained in how to plant evidence, trained in how to falsely set the tone for a defense in court (repeatedly yelling “Give me your hands” a total of 71 times in 13 minutes as the video was running, making statements such as “he tried to take my gun” and speculating that “he must be on something” for the body camera video), trained in how to deactivate several of the body cameras at the appropriate time, trained in what to say in court in an effort to escape criminal prosecution (such as “we feared for our lives”, “he was clearly on drugs”, “he was driving recklessly”, “he tried to take my gun”). In short, trained in how to successfully blame the victim.

The police apologists will once again insist that “these are just a few bad apples” and that “99.9 percent of police do their jobs honorably and with respect for citizens.” How is it, then, that people of Afrikan descent seem to so often encounter that 0.1 percent of police who are violent, corrupt and racist? How was Oscar Grant killed while he was handcuffed, face down, on a Bay Area Rapid Transit platform as he was telling his friends to comply with police? How was Philando Castille gunned down in his own car, in front of his lady and their child, for politely informing the officer that he was in legal possession of a firearm according to Minnesota’s gun laws? How do we wind up with cases such as those of Abner Louima (who survived being sodomized in 1997 by four New York police officers in a precinct bathroom), Amadou Diallo (who was shot 19 times and killed February 4, 1999 — 24 years ago practically to the day — by plainclothes police for entering the apartment building where he lived), Breonna Taylor (killed in her sleep in a hail of bullets), Sandra Bland (killed in a jail cell after a bogus traffic stop), Tamir Rice (killed for playing with a toy gun alone in a park), John Crawford III (killed for shopping in the gun aisle at an Ohio Walmart), Elijah McClain (injected with ketamine and killed by officers who accosted him for Walking While Black) — and these are just some of the victims who never posed any threat to police and were not even breaking the law — and so many others? How was Ronald Madison, a 45-year-old developmentally disabled man, shot multiple times in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina by a police unit that then tried to cover up their crime by claiming he was a violent drug dealer who shot at them first? How was Rayshard Brooks shot in the back as he was running from police in an Atlanta, Georgia fast-food drive-thru? How was Walter Scott shot in the back in North Charleston, South Carolina as he was running from a police officer? How did we end up with Eric Garner being strangled with an illegal chokehold on a New York City street by Daniel Pantaleo and over half a dozen other police as he cried “I can’t breathe” and George Floyd’s throat being crushed by Derek Chauvin and three other Minneapolis police as he begged for his life? How did Freddie Gray end up dying from a broken neck for simply running from Baltimore City police when they stared at him? And now, how did five Memphis police get it into their heads to beat Tyre Nichols literally to death? No, these are not just a few bad apples. To paraphrase a 1990 commentary about racist right-wing politicians by Dr. Julianne Malveaux, this is five rotten apples that have not fallen far from a rotting tree.

So, what is the tree’s root?

This is part of the Slave Patrol legacy, that group of vigilantes who were dispatched to apprehend runaway slaves and who, along with the Pinkertons who crushed worker strikes on behalf of their corporate employers, were a major part of the genesis of the modern-day police force.

On a more contemporary level, the current apparent upsurge in police murders of unarmed civilians is a result, in part, of the culture wars that have been stoked for decades (and actually longer than that, but people’s memories are short, and who has time to read history anyway?) by right-wing, law-and-order, police-are-always-right politicians and media pundits who have refused to hear the cries of police brutality victims since before the Black Panther Party started calling attention to these atrocities in the Sixties.

This is also police paranoia and police gang mentality, bolstered by the “Thin Blue Line” and an “us versus them” mentality among too many cops, and further fueled by the unspoken but often-demonstrated attitude that police not only enforce the law, they are above it as well. That mentality was only encouraged and amplified by the glorification of Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) and Police Paramilitary Units (PPUs), so-called “elite” units who were provided with military-grade weaponry, provided with simulated urban-warfare training centers (like the one in Atlanta that has been the target of guerilla-style protests by environmentalists and critics of increased police power) and granted broad authority to enforce order, often however they saw fit. This is where units like Memphis’s SCORPION (“Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace In Our Neighborhoods”), the Baltimore Gun Trace Task Force and Red Squad, and so many other “elite” police units derived much of their authority and discretion, which they exploited to empower them to commit acts of violence such as this.

How will this latest act of police brutality impact “The Talk” that so many of us have felt the need to have with our children, especially our young men? How will this impact the recommended strategy of compliance and non-resistance with police who may abuse and kill you anyway? What impact will this have on building a more revolutionary Pan-Afrikanist agenda within the Black community, particularly in those cities and neighborhoods where police already had a strained relationship with the people?

And how much harder will it make the jobs of those who actually do become police officers out of what some might regard as a naive commitment to do good for their community?

These questions are often difficult to answer, but one thing is certain.

As long as we continue to react to these atrocities instead of proactively organizing the activists of our community, our oppressors and enemies will continue to tolerate, cover up, ignore, encourage, defend, approve, plan and personally commit these heinous acts. Our continued dis-organization and collective in-action expresses, in an activist context, what Dr. King described on a personal level: “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.” (from Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence, April 4, 1967) We must begin to truly organize as a people, and it must start with our activists, organizers and self-described leaders. And it must start now. No more egos, no more “you must follow me”, no more ideological rigidity and arrogance. Start talking to each other and planning together or get used to seeing more and more of atrocities like this.

Some links to related articles about Black victims of police brutality

Black Atlantans Terrorized by Memphis Police Speak Out: “They’d Beat Your Ass”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/black-atlantans-terrorized-by-memphis-pd-chief-s-old-unit-speak-out-they-d-beat-your-ass/ar-AA175ksR

Full List of 229 Black People Killed by Police Since George Floyd’s Murder
https://www.newsweek.com/full-list-229-black-people-killed-police-since-george-floyds-murder-1594477

Know Their Names: Al Jazeera
https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2020/know-their-names/index.html

Tyre Nichols Beating Raises Scrutiny on Elite Police Units
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/tyre-nichols-beating-raises-scrutiny-on-elite-police-units/ar-AA16XQaJ?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=8d91eadaadc24dae8c23667120850a31

Opinion: The Deplorable Reason Memphis Police Stopped Tyre Nichols
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/opinion-the-deplorable-reason-memphis-police-stopped-tyre-nichols/ar-AA16XWCI?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=370ab24232f544188e6432e5900eea0a

MSN: Memphis cops reportedly gave Tyre Nichols 71 commands in 13 minutes: ‘So far out of the norm’
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/memphis-cops-reportedly-gave-tyre-nichols-71-commands-in-13-minutes-so-far-out-of-the-norm/ar-AA16WxLb?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=8d91eadaadc24dae8c23667120850a31

MSN: Double amputee, 36, shot dead after attempting to run away from cops
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/double-amputee-36-shot-dead-after-attempting-to-run-away-from-cops/ss-AA16XqQX?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=8d91eadaadc24dae8c23667120850a31#image=2

MSN: Memphis police seen beating another Black man and forcing his face to the ground, while detaining him [VIDEO]
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/memphis-police-seen-beating-another-black-man-and-forcing-his-face-to-the-ground-while-detaining-him-video/ar-AA16Zsou?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=10ed80a77022425aa171e7694cfed8ce

Nichols Death Proves Elite Police Units Are A Disaster: Real Clear Policy
https://www.realclearpolicy.com/2023/01/30/tyre_nichols_death_proves_elite_police_units_are_a_disaster_878531.html

“Elite” Police Units Face More Scrutiny as Memphis SCORPION Unit Disbanded over Tyre Nichols Death: DemocracyNow!
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/1/31/radley_balko_warrior_cops_elite_units

Do ‘elite’ police teams like Memphis’ SCORPION unit do more harm than good?: On Point
https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2023/02/01/specialized-police-units-tyre-nichols

Opinion: Tyre Nichols’s Death Proves Yet Again That ‘Elite’ Police Units Are a Disaster – The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/opinion/tyre-nichols-police-scorpion.html

Memphis SCORPION Unit Deactivated
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/tyre-nichols-live-updates-scorpion-unit-permanently-deactivated/ar-AA16O2sg?ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=0c5f1ce054814fbbae9d20cbe5265857

Memphis man says he was assaulted by same Scorpion officers charged with Tyre Nichols’ death
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/memphis-man-says-was-assaulted-scorpion-officers-charged-tyre-nichols-rcna68860

What Tyre Nichols’ Death Reminds Us About Black Suffering: Medicine’s racist history bleeds into today’s medical practices, by Mengyi “Zed” Zha, MD February 2, 2023
https://www.medpagetoday.com/popmedicine/popmedicine/102934?xid=nl_popmed_2023-02-03&eun=g1701093d0r&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=PopMedicine_020323&utm_term=NL_Gen_Int_PopMedicine_Active

The Legacy and Life of Keona Holley, Baltimore Police Officer Targeted by Violence
https://www.facebook.com/59109969606/posts/pfbid022esH3ZdGkDFgBU8e1ANpgwocXBuPGgNXNM6iQqUDNtctjuSpSFciA5KqPn7RApu5l/?sfnsn=mo&mibextid=6aamW6

Remembering Officer Keona Holley: Baltimore officer ambushed, shot in patrol car a year ago December 16, 2022, CBS Baltimore
https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/remembering-officer-keona-holley-baltimore-officer-ambushed-shot-in-patrol-car-a-year-ago/

Why Diversity Hasn’t changed Policing – Christian Science Monitor
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2023/0203/Why-diversity-hasn-t-changed-policing

How common are killings by police? How often are officers prosecuted?
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2023/0202/How-common-are-killings-by-police-How-often-are-officers-prosecuted?icid=mkt:web:exitd-related

Tyre Nichols’ Death: How Black Officers Alone Can’t Stop Brutal Policing – The Marshall Project
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/01/28/tyre-nichols-memphis-black-police-brutality

A Panel of Human Rights Defenders and Organizers on Africa400, Wednesday, September 15, 2021

The Wednesday, September 15 edition of Africa400 features a panel of guests representing several organizations working in defense of human rights and the empowerment of People of African Descent.  Show hosts Mama Tomiko and Baba Ty welcome members of several organizations to discuss their roles in the pursuit of human rights, restorative justice and raising the voice of the grassroots Pan-Afrikan Diaspora and marginalized communities.

To listen to the September 15 show, click below:

Below are descriptions of each of the organizations that appeared on the show:

US Human Rights Network (USHRN)

The US Human Rights Network (US Human Rights Network (ushrnetwork.org)) is a national network of organizations and individuals working to strengthen a human rights movement and culture within the United States led by the people most directly impacted by human rights violations. We work to secure dignity and justice for all.

We work to realize human rights by:

  • Engaging, connecting and mobilizing communities, Peoples, workers, and diverse sectors across issue areas, constituencies, and regions to uphold and defend human rights and hold government accountable;
  • Building the capacity and leadership of grassroots groups and individuals to effectively apply the human rights framework in developing strategy and making long-term structural shifts to achieve justice;
  • Raising the visibility of local human rights concerns and activism to shape the public discourse locally, nationally, and internationally; and
  • Facilitating effective collective action to secure the structural change needed to fully realize human rights.

 The US Human Rights Network is guided by these core principles:

  • Human rights are universal, interdependent, indivisible, and inalienable.
  • Human rights movements must be led by those most directly affected by human rights violations.
  • Human rights advocacy and organizing should prioritize the struggles of the poor and most marginalized groups in society.
  • Human rights movements must be inclusive and respect and reflect the diversity within communities.
  • Human rights encompass civil, political, economic, social, cultural, environmental, sexual, and development rights for individuals, Peoples, and groups.

Jericho Movement

Jericho is a movement with the defined goal of gaining recognition of the fact that political prisoners and prisoners of war exist inside of the United States, despite the United States’ government’s continued denial … and winning amnesty and freedom for these political prisoners.

The Jericho Movement (https://thejerichomovement.com/) addresses four principal issues:

  1. Building the Amnesty Campaign

A big part of this work is locating political prisoners, compiling dossiers on them, and building the case for amnesty.

  1. Continuing the Educational Campaign

About the Existence of Political Prisoners inside the U.S.

  1. The Jericho Legal Defense Fund

Providing supportive expenses for lawyers and law students etc. to provide legal defense for political prisoners.

  1. The Jericho Medical Project

Fighting for adequate and quality medical care for political prisoners.

George Jackson University (GJU)

AN OVERVIEW

In 2003, Abdul Olugbala Shakur, Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa, Hodari Kambon, Abasi Ganda, Yafeu I-yapo, Dr. Donald R. Evans, and Dr. Rashad Ali developed the concept of transforming the entire U.S. Prison Industrial Slave-Complex (P.I.S.C.) into the largest university in the country. The initial name for the project was University of the Mind, but under this title we received very minimum feedback, so by Summer of 2003 we decided to name our university The George Jackson University (GJU), https://www.georgejacksonuniversity.com/, within six (6) months we received over 20,000 applications for enrollment into our GJU from New Afrikan (Afrikan Amerikan) prisoners across the country, we even received applications from as far as Brazil, London, and Canada, brothas and sistas trying to connect.

HISTORY OF GJU

In the past five (5) years a growing number of people have inquired about the GJU, make no mistake about it, we were not discouraged from pursuing our objective, many of us have been extremely busy working on a number of other issues, and not to mention all documents related to the GJU were fraudulently confiscated, therefore we have to start all over again. Our first step towards revising the GJU is developing a strong and dedicated outside support network and faculty . We are re-instituting the concept of transforming the entire U.S. prison industrial slave complex into the largest progressive educational institution in the country with emphasis on Afro-centric and Pan-Afrikan studies and New Afrikan political education.

The Kent State Truth Tribunal

On May 4, 1970 a troop of Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on unarmed Kent State students protesting America’s invasion of Cambodia. Four students were shot dead and nine others wounded. Ten days later, also in a student protest against the Vietnam War, two Jackson State College students were killed and more than 11 wounded by the Mississippi police. 

The Kent State and Jackson State student killings seized headlines at a watershed moment in American history, bringing the war home and distressing a country already divided over the Vietnam War. In the days that followed the campus massacres, more than four million students rose up in dissent across 900 university campuses, generating the largest nationwide student protest in U.S. history. 

The Kent State massacre has never been thoroughly, impartially investigated and no person or group has been held accountable for wrongdoing. Through the courts, families of those who were killed or injured received paltry sums of compensation and a statement of regret.

Forty years after Kent State in 2010, new digital forensic evidence emerged in a tape recording of the Kent State commands-to-fire and gunfire. Still, the U.S. Dept. of Justice refused a credible inquiry into the new audio that contained the sounds of shooting and killing of students exercising their fundamental right to political expression. There has been no admission of responsibility on the part of the state.

The Truth Tribunal (https://www.truthtribunal.org/) is a direct response to this history of impunity for Kent State. On the 40th anniversary of the Kent State massacre, Allison’s sister Laurel decided to learn and record the truth at Kent State from the people who were there. For decades she had watched Kent State University and the U.S. government act with institutional power and unlimited funds as they repressed the truth at Kent State and buried all evidence of government complicity in committing the Kent State massacre. The Truth Tribunal archive will stand as an enduring record of the truth, as told by those who witnessed and survived that day. 

Just before his death, Boston University history professor and renowned advocate Dr. Howard Zinn sent Laurel this note:

Laurie,

You are right that trying to get “redress” via the judicial system is a dead end, or a maze, and that learning and spreading the truth is the most important thing you can do. That was the idea of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. 

Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC)

The Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (https://srdcinternational.org) was founded in 2006 in response to the African Union’s (AU) decision in 2003 to invite the African Diaspora “to participate fully as an important component in the building of the African Union.”  The AU initially coined the term “Sixth Region” to describe the Diaspora, which consisted of “people of African descent and heritage, living outside the Continent, irrespective of their country of citizenship, who are willing to contribute to the development of the African Continent and the building of the African Union.”  While the AU established the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC), an AU organ that was established to allow for the participation of Africa’s “non-state actors” or grassroots civil society in advising the General Assembly, as the means by which the Diaspora would begin our journey to full AU membership, as well as a set of criteria and procedures to establish that representation, the actual organization of the people of the Diaspora to accept this invitation was left up to us in the Diaspora ourselves.  Toward that end, SRDC has developed a plan to empower the people to choose our Diaspora representatives in ECOSOCC through a series of local, national and international elections (one cannot appoint themselves or others to be a representative), and to bring our many Pan-African organizations together in a cooperative effort to accomplish this task, so we can truthfully say that the result of our efforts is a delegation that truly speaks for the people of the Pan-African Diaspora.  Our work will  not stop there, however; our hope is to help establish representation for the Diaspora in the AU’s Pan African Parliament (which can actually create legislation), as well as fight for the recognition of the Diaspora by the United Nations and its numerous international human rights and geopolitical bodies.

This, of course, has turned out to be no easy task.  To maintain the trust of our grassroots communities, we need to consistently demonstrate that we are indeed dedicated to addressing the issues that afflict us as a people, which we continue to do by holding Community Town Hall Meetings where information and ideas are shared with and by the community, by planning or assisting with on-the-ground projects such as cultural events, educational events and capital projects, by inviting different organizations to participate with us, and by forming coalitions to help bring those organizations, as well as our communities, together on a more regular basis.  Still, rivalry and distrust continue to threaten the unity we are working toward, disinformation is spread by those who wish to prevent us from coming together in the first place, and even the African Union itself often allows its own bureaucracy to complicate our work and make our job that much harder.  These obstacles cause some activists to lose hope and abandon the struggle, but SRDC has continued to push forward despite all this.  Thus, while we continue to work to establish our voice in the African Union, we also participate in discussions and forums of the United Nations, coalitions of grassroots civil-society groups and of other international Pan-African organizations in hopes of building a standing global coalition that can more effectively pursue truth, justice, self-determination and prosperity for African people and the world as a whole.

SRDC is organizing in several areas of the US and Canada, and our organizational allies in Central America (Central American Black Organization, or CABO), Europe (African Union African Diaspora Sixth Region, AUADS), the Caribbean (Mouvement International pour Reparation in Guadeloupe), the Middle East (Middle East African Diaspora Unity Council in Dimona, Israel) and recently, the African Continent (Sehwah-Liberia and organizations in Tanzania) are doing similar work where they are.  Our plan for organizing the Diaspora includes sponsoring regular local community Town Hall Meetings, establishing Councils of Elders, holding an annual International Summit (This year’s Summit will be in Monrovia, Liberia) and building alliances and coalitions with other organizations.

To find our more, visit https://srdcinternational.org, or email info@srdcinternational.org or cliff@kuumbareport.com.

Spirit of Mandela Coalition

Created in 2018, In the Spirit of Mandela Coalition (https://spiritofmandela.org/) is a growing grouping of organizers, academics, clergy, attorneys, and organizations committed to working together against the systemic, historic, and ongoing human rights violations and abuses committed by the USA against Black, Brown, and Indigenous People. The Coalition recognizes and affirms the rich history of diverse and militant freedom fighters Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela, Graca Machel Mandela, Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hamer, Ella Baker, and many more. It is in their Spirit and affirming their legacy that we work. This October 22-25 2021,  In the Spirit of Mandela Coalition  will be organizing and hosting an International Tribunal which will be charging the United States government, its states, and specific agencies with human and civil rights violations against Black, Brown, and Indigenous people. The Tribunal will be charging human and civil rights violations for:

  1. Racist police killings of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people.
  2. Hyper incarcerations of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people.
  3. Political incarceration of Civil Rights/National Liberation era revolutionaries and activists, as well as present day activists.
  4. Environmental racism and its impact on Black, Brown, and Indigenous people.
  5. Public Health racism and disparities and its impact on Black, Brown, and Indigenous people.
  6. Genocide of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people as a result of the historic and systemic charges of all the above.

Black Alliance for Peace (BAP)

The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP), https://blackallianceforpeace.com/, seeks to recapture and redevelop the historic anti-war, anti-imperialist, and pro-peace positions of the radical black movement. Through educational activities, organizing and movement support, organizations and individuals in the Alliance will work to oppose both militarized domestic state repression, and the policies of de-stabilization, subversion and the permanent war agenda of the U.S. state globally.  

PRINCIPLES OF UNITY

RIGHT TO SELF-DEFENSE

BAP is not a pacifist movement. While committed to peace, we understand there can be no peace without justice, and we will stand in solidarity with all peoples (and nations) who strive to liberate themselves from oppression.

SELF-DETERMINATION

BAP supports people’s struggles for national liberation and self-determination, with a special focus on the struggles of Black peoples and nation-states in the “Americas.”

ANTI-IMPERIALISM

BAP takes a resolute anti-colonial, anti-imperialist position that links the international role of the U.S. empire to the domestic war against poor people and working-class Black people in the United States.

WORKING-CLASS FOUNDATION

BAP identifies the Black working class as the main social force of any reconstituted Black Liberation project.

INTERSECTIONALITY

“People(s)-centered human rights” as defined as emanating from bottom-up mass struggle and informed by a Black, revolutionary, feminist intersectional framework will be the basis for analysis and actions.

ANTI-PATRIARCHY

All members, on an organizational and individual level, must be committed to ending patriarchy and all forms of male domination in either internal organizational practice or external/public political positions.

DECOLONIZATION

Members of this Alliance see the U.S. state as the ongoing institutional expression of settler-colonialism and are committed to an authentic process of decolonization in every sense of that term.

PRISONER SUPPORT

BAP is committed to working against all forms of state and domestic repression, including the issues of political prisoners and prisoners of war in the United States.

BLACK UNITY

BAP sees itself as one aspect of the effort to revitalize the broader Black Liberation Movement.

SOUTHERN ROOTS

The South is the base of U.S. military infrastructure. It’s also where 55 percent of Black people happen to live. BAP identifies this region as a priority for collective learning, organizing, and mobilizing the power and influence of Black workers and the poor to oppose militarism, war and imperialism.

AFRICA400
Wednesdays 2-3pm EST.
https://handradio.org/
https://kuumbareport.com/
webuyblack.com
kweli.tv

  

 

 

 

We Are the Mothers of the Revolution: Message to Black Women on International Women’s Rights Day

Mama Julia Wright, Pan-Afrikan human rights champion and daughter of legendary author Richard Wright, wrote the following Message to Black Women for the Million Woman March Movement on International Women’s Rights Day:

We, Black women, are mothers in more ways than one.

We are the mothers or mothers-to-be of our Black daughters and sons.

We nurture our warriors with the hope and the love that is at the root of all resistance.

We are the mothers of the lynched ones – and of all those who died in the struggle but still live in our hearts.

It is to us that their spirits return because there were so often no bodies, no graves, no mourning.

We are the mothers of the Revolution.

I remember a story told by my father, Richard Wright, in “Uncle Tom’s Children” where a Black mother goes to retrieve the body of the son the white supremacists are about to lynch. She meekly carries a sheet outwardly intended as a shroud but secretly hiding a pistol. She is able to shoot down one of her son’s torturers before being slain with her son.

I remember Maimie Till, the mother of Emmett Till, who moved mountains to have her 14 year old son’s lynched remains returned from the oblivion of an unmarked Mississippi grave to Chicago. There she decreed an open coffin for the whole world to see. The child’s innocence and his mother’s love gave birth to the civil rights movement.

I remember Sister Yuri Kochiyama, mother of six, cradling Malcolm X’s agony after he was shot down, ten years after Emmett Till’s lynching, in the Audubon Ballroom.

Yuri’s scribbled notes on the events that night already presciently pointed to Raymond Woods’ implication.

I will always recall going with Yuri and Pam Africa to visit Mumia.

The voice of Chairman Fred Hampton Jr is still scarred by the staccato tempo of the bullets he heard in his mother’s womb.

And how can we forget George Floyd placing himself in his mother’s hands as he takes his last breath.

Mumia’s 39-year long struggle for justice behind bars speaks to the mothers we are.

He is our brother, father, grandfather but most of all he is our revolutionary native son because time froze his freedom prematurely at the age of 27 when he was brutally framed and nearly killed by the most corrupt police force in the country.

What will we Black mothers do for our native son ?

We, Black women, are legion.

Training prosecutors in Pennsylvania were taught to exclude us from their juries because we are said to be prone to anger.

We are demonized, deleted, shunned, raped – so yes we are angry.

Our anger is rooted in our deep capacity to love.

We ,who love Mumia and all he stands for, we who are legion, will know how to seize the time and stand for him as COVID-19 and congestive heart failure put his life at serious risk again in carceral isolation.

As Sister Assata said : “It is too late for Malcolm but we can still save Mumia.”

Let’s bring Mumia Home!

The only treatment now is Freedom!

Let all our elders and political prisoners go!

Message from Julia Wright to the Million Woman March Movement for International Women’s Rights Day

March 6th 2021

More Killing and More Dying in Black and Blue

BLM asks Stop Killing Us 3For many, the issue of police brutality and the social upheaval it brings was brought home with the killing of Michael Brown two years ago in Ferguson, Missouri, and the cell phone video-inspired emergence of a nationwide protest movement centered on police violence and abuse against Black people and other people of color.  Just before that, of course, was the killing of Trayvon Martin by police-wannabe George Zimmerman and the rise of Black Lives Matter as protests started spreading across the nation.  Some of us remember Abner Louima (1997), Amadou Diallo (1999) and Sean Bell (2006) in New York City, and Oscar Grant in Oakland and Adolph Grimes in New Orleans, both on New Year’s Day 2009.  For others, it was the 1991 beating of motorist Rodney King, the first time many of us ever saw videographic evidence of police brutality, and the 1992 Los Angeles “Rebellion” (or “riots”, depending on your perspective) that followed.  Those with more of a sense of history will recall the August 28, 1955 lynching of Emmett Till by an angry mob of White vigilantes, or the bombing of Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921, both under the direction of White hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan but clearly with the acquiescence of local law enforcement.  And those who want to go “all the way back” will point out the fact that the earliest municipal police departments were often commissioned to pursue runaway slaves in enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850, a pursuit reminiscent of the slave catchers that kidnapped our Ancestors from Afrika in the first place.  Despite the recent killings of Martin, Brown, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Walter Scott, Tyrone West, Freddie Gray and so many other, lesser-known victims of police brutality over the last two years, the annual fireworks spectacle on July 4th seemed to provide a chance for many of us to marvel at the rockets’ red glare, revel in the belief in (or the illusion of) “one nation indivisible” and go back to sleep for a while.

But one day after Americans engaged in their often food-stuffed and drink-soaked Alton Sterling 1celebration of the independence of the United States, Alton Sterling (June 14, 1979 – July 5, 2016), known locally as “CD Man”, was shot and killed by police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana as he was selling compact disks outside a convenience store.  This account of the events of that day comes from Wikipedia(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Alton_Sterling):

The owner of the store where the shooting occurred, Abdullah Muflahi, said that Sterling had started carrying a gun a few days prior to the event, because other CD vendors had been robbed recently. Muflahi also said that Sterling was “not the one causing trouble” during the situation that led to the police being called.

The police officers involved in the shooting were Howie Lake II and Blane Salamoni. Lake had three years of law enforcement experience which included a previous shooting of an African-American male for which he was placed on department-mandated leave; Salamoni had four years of experience.[8] Salamoni and Lake had both been previously investigated, and cleared for use of excessive force.

At 12:35 p.m., at 2112 North Foster Drive, in the parking lot of Triple S Food Mart, Sterling was detained by Baton Rouge Police Department officers after an anonymous caller reported that a man believed to be Sterling was threatening him and waving or brandishing a handgun while in the process of selling CDs. Sterling was tasered by the officers, then the officer grabbed Sterling, who was of heavy build, and tackled him to the hood of a silver sedan and then to the ground. Sterling was pinned to the ground by both officers, with one kneeling on his chest and the other on his thigh, both attempting to control his arms.

One officer exclaimed, “He’s got a gun! Gun!” One of the officers yelled, “If you f##king move, I swear to God!” Then Salamoni was heard on the video saying, “Lake, he’s going for the gun!” One of the officers aimed his gun at Sterling’s body, then three gunshots are heard, and then the camera pans away; just before the camera pans back, three more gunshots are heard. The police officer sitting on Sterling’s chest is out of the picture, and the officer who drew the gun is about a meter away with his gun trained on Sterling, who has a clear gunshot wound in his chest. According to witness Abdullah Muflahi, the officers then retrieved a firearm from Sterling’s pocket. The officers then radioed for Emergency Medical Services.

According to Parish Coroner William Clark of East Baton Rouge, a preliminary autopsy on July 5th indicated that Sterling had died due to multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and back.

Multiple bystander cell phones captured video of the shooting, in addition to store surveillance and officer body cameras. One of the bystander videos was filmed by a group called “Stop the Killing” which listens to police scanners and films crimes in progress as well as police interactions in an effort to reduce violence in the community. A second video was made available the day after the shooting by the store owner and eyewitness Abdullah Muflahi. In a statement to NBC News, Muflahi said that Sterling never wielded the gun or threatened the officers.

On the night of July 5, more than 100 demonstrators in Baton Rouge shouted “no justice, no peace,” set off fireworks, and blocked an intersection to protest Sterling’s death. Flowers and messages were left at the place of his death. …

On July 6, Black Lives Matter held a candlelight vigil in Baton Rouge, with chants of “We love Baton Rouge” and calls for justice.

Philando Castile 1Then, as though following the unfortunate tradition that one bad turn must lead to another, Philando Castile was killed by a Minnesota police officer during what was supposed to be a routine traffic stop (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Philando_Castile):

On July 6, 2016, Philando Castile was fatally shot by Jeronimo Yanez, a St. Anthony, Minnesota police officer, after being pulled over in Falcon Heights, a suburb of St. Paul. Castile was driving a car with his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, and her four-year-old daughter as passengers when he was pulled over by Yanez and another officer. According to Reynolds, after being asked for his license and registration, Castile told the officer he was licensed to carry a concealed weapon and had one in the car. Reynolds stated: “The officer said don’t move. As he was putting his hands back up, the officer shot him in the arm four or five times.”

Diamond Reynolds live-streamed a video on Facebook in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. It shows her interacting with the armed officer as a mortally injured Castile lay slumped over, moaning slightly and bleeding from his left arm and side. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s office ruled Castile’s death a homicide and said he had sustained multiple gunshot wounds. The office reported that Castile died at 9:37 p.m. CDT in the emergency room of the Hennepin County Medical Center, about 20 minutes after being shot.

Philando Divall Castile (July 16, 1983 – July 6, 2016) was 32 years old at the time of his death.[

Micah Xavier Johnson

Just as the nation was beginning yet another perfunctory discussion about the precariousness of Black lives at the hand of police, Micah Xavier Johnson rather brutally turned the tables (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_shooting_of_Dallas_police_officers):

On July 7, 2016, Micah Xavier Johnson ambushed and fired upon a group of police officers in Dallas, Texas, killing five officers and injuring nine others. Two bystanders were also wounded. Johnson was an Army Reserve Afghan War veteran who was reportedly angry over police shootings of black men and stated that he wanted to kill white people, especially white police officers. The shooting happened at the end of a peaceful Black Lives Matter-organized protest against police killings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, which had occurred in the preceding days.

Following the shooting, Johnson fled inside a building on the campus of El Centro College. Police followed him there, and a standoff ensued. In the early hours of July 8, police killed Johnson with a bomb attached to a remote control bomb disposal robot. It was the first time U.S. law enforcement used a robot to kill a suspect.

Reaction to the Shootings

National and international reaction to the shootings of Sterling, Castile and the Dallas police officers included public statements calling for racial justice from entertainers such as Nick Cannon, Snoop Dogg and even White rapper Macklemore; travel advisories from the governments of the Bahamas, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates that cited racial tensions in the United States; and a statement from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) condemning the killings of Sterling and Castile.  Protests in Baton Rouge led to arrests and some injuries as policed clashed with demonstrators (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Alton_Sterling):

On July 8, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued a statement strongly condemning Sterling and Castile’s killings. Human rights expert Ricardo A. Sunga III, the current Chair of the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, stated that the killings demonstrate “a high level of structural and institutional racism” in the U.S., adding that “the United States is far from recognizing the same rights for all its citizens. Existing measures to address racist crimes motivated by prejudice are insufficient and have failed to stop the killings”. …

Professor Peniel E. Joseph, founding director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at Tufts University, editorialized that “the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile evoke the past spectacle of lynching” and that for change to happen, Americans must confront the pain of black history. …

Louisiana U.S. Representative Cedric Richmond said that the footage of Sterling’s shooting is “deeply troubling” and called for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the man’s death. Governor John Bel Edwards announced on July 6 that the Department of Justice would launch an investigation. A civil rights investigation was opened by the Department of Justice on July 7.

Again, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Alton_Sterling:

Speaking shortly after the shootings of Sterling and Philando Castile, President Barack Obama did not comment on the specific incidents, but called upon the U.S. to “do better.” He also said “Americans should feel outraged at episodes of police brutality since they’re rooted in long-simmering racial discord.”

Gavin Eugene Long

Then, on July 17, Gavin Eugene Long shot six police officers in Baton Rouge, the city where Sterling had been killed by police 12 days earlier.  Three officers died, two of whom were members of the Baton Rouge Police Department and the third of whom was a deputy for the East Baton Rouge Sherriff’s Office.  Long was shot and killed by a SWAT officer during the shootout.  While some reports have linked him to so-called “Black separatist” organizations and have even attempted to blame Black Lives Matter for the shootings of police officers, others have pointed to the written statements of both men that they were acting alone, and a few people we have spoken with have cited the failure to release the recordings of police negotiations with Micah Xavier Johnson to bolster their belief that he and Long may have been “patsies” as part of a series of “false flag” attacks designed to stir up racial tensions in the United States, usher in a more authoritarian government and reverse whatever gains were made during the Obama administration in the area of racial justice.

Giuliani 4

The Right Wing’s Bombast

Needless to say, as these events were unfolding, the backlash against the police-brutality protests was steadily escalating, from the emergence of the hashtags “All Lives Matter” and “Blue Lives Matter” to public statements from elected and former-elected officials. Former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani, known throughout at least the Black community for his “zero-tolerance” stance toward so-called “Black thugs” while he covered for New York City police officers’ acts of brutality (Abner Louima, Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell and many others), appeared on Meet The Press on Sunday, July 17 to publicly declare that the phrase “Black Lives Matter” was “inherently racist”.  The slogans “Blue Lives Matter” and “All Lives Matter” began to gain in popularity, especially after two Black police officers publicly called for it at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, July 19.

Giuliani and others have also directly accused Black Lives Matter of placing a target BLM asks Stop Killing Us 2on the backs of police officers across the country and calling for the execution of police, despite no evidence whatsoever that any BLM activist has ever advocated for such a thing. But the racist vitriol didn’t stop there.  Texas Republican Representative Louie Gohmert declared that President Obama has repeatedly failed to unite Americans after tragedies like the shooting in Dallas (http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/287057-gop-rep-obamas-divided-us-more-than-ever).

“He has divided us more than ever,” Gohmert said July 15 on Fox Business Network. “Every time there’s been a tragic shooting by police, he has taken the chance to call out police.

“He always comes out against the cops. This administration has supported Black Lives Matter as even their leaders have called out for killing cops. The president has failed miserably as he’s been so divisive.”

Needless to say, Gohmert demonstrates here one apparent prerequisite for becoming a right-wing public official: the liberal (pun intended) and consistent use of wild exaggeration, inflammatory (and unfounded) accusation and bombast for the purpose of stirring up racial tension and paranoia.

The Police: From Conflict to Compassion

Meanwhile, police departments across the United States have gone to “high alert” as their paranoia towards Black protesters has increased.  Some might say that the recent events have forced police departments to become more conscious of the fear of being attacked and killed for no reason, something that Black motorists, pedestrians and children playing with toy guns have felt not only for the last two years, but for the past several decades.  The fact that no one should have to live with this fear should go without saying, although Black people, from entertainers to athletes to elected officials to the President of the United States are expected to say this on behalf of “blue lives” while there are relatively few prominent police officers consistently saying this on behalf of Black lives.  But there are some.

Police Capt Ray Lewis 1In spite of the multitude of bombastic comments that appear designed to increase tensions between the police and the citizenry (particularly the Black citizenry), there are White voices, and White police voices, that have swum against the current and have been raised against police brutality.  A consistent voice in opposition of late has been that of retired Philadelphia Police Captain Ray Lewis (no, not the future Hall of Fame football player), who was once a self-admitted “brutal cop” who came to realize the abusive nature of his job and since that time has frequently been arrested, in full police uniform, while protesting against police brutality.  His Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/captainraylewis/) features a post that answered the question, Is “All Lives Matter” Racist?

You betcha! It’s an attempt by white racists, to frame blacks, as ONLY caring about black lives with their “Black Lives Matter” slogan. Anyone with a minimal knowledge of language, realizes that if that was the message that blacks wanted to convey, the slogan would read, “ONLY Black Lives Matter.”

Captain Lewis also wrote a post titled “Alton Sterling Would Be Alive Today If He Were White”:

ALTON STERLING WOULD BE ALIVE TODAY IF HE WERE WHITE

The call was “anonymous,” and NO complainant was on the scene upon police arrival. The police had no reason to even question him, let alone immediately tackle him.

WITHOUT A COMPLAINANT, nor seeing the individual waving a gun at others, there is NO job here! WITHOUT A COMPLAINANT no arrest can be made. The report is written up as UNFOUNDED, and the officers resume patrol. PERIOD! END OF STORY! And Alton Sterling is alive.

How do we make sense of this?

Investigations continue in an effort to determine whether or not Micah Johnson and Gavin Long acted alone, as well as what caused them to embark on their violent anti-police campaigns aside from their connections to military service (Iraq, Afghanistan) and their shared outrage over the continuing police violence against Black civilians which usually went unpunished (the killers of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Michael Brown in Ferguson and Eric Garner in New York were never even charged, while the killers of Freddie Gray in Baltimore have now been acquitted in all three trials that have run to completion as of this writing).

At the same time, some in the Pan-Afrikan community are dealing with how they should regard these two vigilantes. These men apparently saw themselves as acting in response to the terrorism Black communities feel subjected to at the hands of a “colonial” police force, but at the same time they men committed acts of terrorism themselves by firing upon people who had made no aggressive actions toward them.  Thus, they have been referred to as “cowards” by many in the mainstream press, as “martyrs” by some Black people who are themselves fed up with police violence against our communities, and as the “freest Black men on earth” by some who saw them as fighting back against the constraints put on us in our efforts to resist oppression.  We do not see them as “cowards” simply because they had to know what the response would be to their actions, they took these actions personally and in the field of conflict (as opposed to launching a drone from a comfortable control room to strike a village halfway around the world), and they both paid with their lives in the end.  We also do not see them as “martyrs” as use of that word would lend a degree of heroism to their actions than we see as warranted.  After all, ambushing any unsuspecting group of people, cops or not, who were actually demonstrating at least some solidarity with the protesters – more than most police departments do nationally – would be seen by most of us as against the principles of Ma’at and this not as an honorable act.  Too often, we see our young men come home from the theater of war damaged, as these men BLM and Police 1apparently did, and they turn their skills at combat inward on themselves or outward against their own communities or against the police.  And the result is often as we see here: a backlash against Black activism of any kind, an escalation of the militarization of police forces and a crackdown against the civil liberties of all those who would speak out in protest against the encroaching police state.  Instead, what our young battle-tested but combat-weary men and women must do is come “home” to their people, learn to use their skills for the defense of their community instead of the assault on an enemy they often misidentify and cannot defeat, help to teach our young people how to use their skills constructively for their people, defend our community leaders from the gang-bangers as well as the storm-troopers, and heal themselves and our communities at the same time.  In the face of heightened antagonism from the political right-wing, paranoia from the police and feelings of anger, confusion, misdirection, aggression and hopelessness from our own community, what we need now are safe spaces where we can share together, heal together, grow together and, most importantly, build together.  Now more than ever, especially with the prospect of a new president in the White House whom many Black people will either distrust or outright fear, it is important for us to, as Ancestor Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) said decades ago, organize, organize, organize.

The April 2000 Osage Avenue Interview

MOVE Bombing 1985i Remember the Osage Avenue VictimsEditor’s note: This interview was conducted on April 29, 2000 with five residents of the Osage Avenue neighborhood which had been the scene of the May 13, 1985 bombing of the MOVE Organization.  The interview has been edited for length, and the names of the interviewees were not recorded to ensure their privacy.  The text had been saved on an old computer hard drive and was only recently recovered.

I’ve had the last 16 years since the interview (and a couple of years before that) to meet and talk with members of MOVE, particularly Mama Ramona Africa and Mama Pam Africa, and to see the integrity of the members of the MOVE Family, as well as their compassion and affection for those who would go so far as to simply listen to them.  Over the years, MOVE may have “softened” their approach (not as many swear words, for example), but they have never wavered in their commitment to resisting this “rotten-ass system”.  I pretty much understood this even back then on April 29, 2000 when I sat down to interview the five gentlemen on Osage Avenue, but still, I wanted to be sure they had their say.  And the more they said, the more I saw that their concerns were not that different from those of MOVE, even though they disagreed with, and at times even condemned, MOVE’s methods.  I hope that understanding comes through as you read the interview below.

Interview at Osage Avenue
April 29, 2000

There are a number of articles on this website that describe the ongoing struggles of the MOVE Organization from the MOVE perspective, as well as links to the MOVE site.  While we at KUUMBAReport would not personally practice every tactic, strategy and philosophy of MOVE, we agree with them in general and remain committed to defending MOVE’s right to live their lives as their philosophy has determined to be in harmony with their beliefs and their convictions.  We call for justice for the six adults and five children who were victims of the 1985 MOVE bombing and for the hundreds of neighbors who lost their homes and faced a protracted struggle to make their lives while again.  We call for justice and full vindication for Mama Ramona Africa, the sole adult survivor of the bombing, and the members of the MOVE Organization who were forced to endure the violent deaths of their family members that day.  We advocate for the immediate release of the imprisoned members of their family, the MOVE Nine (seven of whom still are alive in prison since the 1978 Powelton Village assault by Philadelphia police) and for the exoneration and liberation of their best-known defender, journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal.  But there was one perspective I had always wanted to hear, that those of us who support revolutionary struggle rarely have an opportunity to truly engage with – that of the “average citizen” who does not share the “revolutionary” philosophy and who might be strongly critical of it, but who might actually share more with us than we would expect.

On April 29, 2000, I visited the Osage Avenue neighborhood where the infamous MOVE bombing took place.  Fifteen years after an entire city block of 61 houses was burned down and eleven people – six adults and five children – were killed, the houses had been rebuilt, some of them several times over.  A friend of mine from my daytime employment had grown up in Philadelphia, and as we had debated the fear he had expressed of the MOVE Organization, I had been able to disabuse him of most of his misconceptions.  As a result, he had gotten me in touch with someone who lived in that Osage Avenue neighborhood and, through contacting this person, an interview with several people who had a rather unique perspective on the confrontation was arranged.

I did not record the names of the interviewees on the audiotape, in part to protect their identities in case any of their opinions were considered too controversial to ensure their privacy.  I have instead listed them as “Mr. A”, “Mr. B”, “Mr. C”, “Mr. D” and “Mr. E”.  These were five gentlemen who lived in the Osage Avenue MOVE Bombing 1985bneighborhood at the time of the MOVE bombing on May 13, 1985. Their opinions regarding MOVE were at least somewhat varied. Some were more sympathetic to MOVE than others.  They all agreed that their perspectives were different from that of MOVE, and thus they generally did not approve of MOVE’s methods of confrontation.  They also agreed, however, that what happened to MOVE, from the Osage Avenue bombing to the Powelton Village confrontation in 1978 to the years of abuse they had suffered at the hands of the Philadelphia Police Department, was undeserved and was the result of the actions of a corrupt, racist and repressive system.  They also made several allegations regarding the conduct of the 1978 and 1985 police actions and the subsequent investigations that some might consider shocking.

Interviewer – Bro. Cliff (KUUMBAReport)
Interviewees – Mr. A, Mr. B, Mr. C, Mr. D, Mr. E

KUUMBAReport: We’re here in the 6200 block of Osage Avenue and we’re talking about the history of the MOVE Organization in this neighborhood as it led up to the 1985 bombing, and even some issues that might have come out since then because I’m sure that wasn’t the last anyone heard of the MOVE Organization. What was the first time that people had heard in this neighborhood about MOVE, and what were the first impressions of people about them?

Mr. B: Well actually we had heard about MOVE prior to this experience that we had with them – back in Powelton Village. At the time, I just figured it was one of these radical groups, from what I’d seen in Powelton Village. … But I really didn’t pay that much attention to MOVE then, not until we had this experience. I don’t care what your religion might be or whatever. That’s yours. But don’t infringe it on me. If I don’t want to listen to your [political or religious agenda], then that’s my prerogative. They just seemed to have this thing where their people were in jail, but that didn’t have anything to do with holding us prisoner because their people were in jail, which we had nothing to do with. And we had a lot of elderly people around here, kids and whatever, and their lives were in jeopardy, they were in danger, and to me, I just lost all respect for them.

Mr. A: They told us, basically, “if you don’t help us, we’re going to irritate you so bad that the police are gonna come in,” but then what happened, we used to call the police, and the police used to say “we’re not coming in there. We can’t come in there. And you better not go in there messing with them. Just leave it alone.” A hands-off situation.

KR: Was this during Wilson Goode’s administration?

Mr. A: It was during Wilson Goode’s administration, when he got in office, because we had a meeting with him downtown one day and I remember, I said “Why don’t you do like [former mayor Frank] Rizzo did – just knock down the whole building?” He went off on me. He said “I’m not gonna do nothing.”

KR: Of course he wound up doing something even more extreme.

Mr. E: But what happened is, if you were following it very closely, he was pushed into it politically because who really pushed the button, and people don’t realize it, is Joan Spector. She pushed Wilson Goode to the point where he had to try to do something. She was a city councilperson; Arlen Spector’s wife. What happened was, Wilson Goode, before he turned it over to [police commissioner Gregore] Sambor, he kept putting it on the news, “Anybody with any peaceful solutions, please step forward and try to do something,” so people came through here and talked to them through the window and all of that kind of stuff, and so then, when he put it in the White man’s hands, that was it.

KR: So, once he turned it over to Sambor…

Mr. A: See, when a Black man says “I’m gonna kill you,” it doesn’t mean the same thing as when a White man says “I’m gonna kill you”; he literally is gonna kill you. We use that term all the time, “I’m gonna kill you.” It’s not the same.

KR: They’ll kill you for real.

Mr. A: That night just before the MOVE thing busted off, that was Sunday night, they were up there, MOVE people were saying that they were going to kill the White cops and all that. Getting into “The Dozens”.

KR: I understood that MOVE took the art of talking stuff to a new level.

MOVE 1Mr. A: That was a political thing to keep it hyped up. See, because they wanted a confrontation to try to get the people on their side. The whole issue, the whole thing boiled down to one thing – getting their people out of jail, and it’s still like that. That’s what it’s all about.

KR: Because their people are still in jail. The MOVE Nine are still in jail and one of them died [Merle Africa, 1998 – Editor].

Mr. E: That’s the whole issue. … But the deal is, if you go to war and you lose, hey, you’re fighting the system. You can fight the system like the NAACP, b.s.ing, or you can physically fight the system. And the NAACP is a good example because they spend a lot of money – they really don’t do that much, in my opinion anyway. What’s gonna happen, if you get back to the 60’s and all that stuff in my era, if you really checked it out, the people who really made the difference – they gave Martin Luther King the glory, because he was always talking about peaceful demonstrations … but the little communities … had the same agenda, “hey, I can’t work for these wages. I’m tired of these White people doing this to me.” Everybody was on the same accord. But … he was holding the Blacks back. Same thing in South Africa, Tutu, he was always “peaceful demonstrations”, they let Mandela out. [But] they’re worse off now with him being the president. Only thing he did was put a buffer on those Mau-Maus and the Zulus, they would have took over Africa. … And that’s what people don’t understand, these so-called Black leaders. And then after the civil rights thing in the 60’s, all these so-called preachers, “Oh, we’ll teach [you] how to be a carpenter, we’re going to go through all these programs and the money trickles down”; we don’t learn crap. The White people are still controlling, they’re still making all the money.

KR: It almost sounds like the philosophical argument between, say Booker T. – cast your bucket down where you are – and Garvey – the whole Pan-Afrikanist concept.

Mr. E: I was in church today, and this minister said something today that really blew my mind, and I said “Good, Blacks are finally coming out and saying the truth.” He was talking about Ethiopia and he was saying Jesus was a Black Ethiopian, he was a Black man. They don’t even teach that, the Bible was written about Black people basically, but Black people are never mentioned. So, everybody has an agenda, like MOVE has an agenda, but what makes a revolution is when everybody gets on the same accord, and they’re thinking the same way, “I ain’t taking this crap no more.” I don’t have to tell you, you don’t have to tell me, we just wake up one morning and you say “No, I’m not gonna do this no more,” and then that’s what the revolution is, the same thing is in everybody’s mind. But what the White man, the media does, he tries to pick the one that’s most peaceful; “hey man, let’s talk.” Just like Malcolm X; “let’s not do this, no.” The only way you get anything in the end is physical force, when you’re dealing with Whitey, you cannot make compromises, because he kills you every day. That’s the only way you can do it. That’s just my opinion.

“We were pawns in the game”

KR: I don’t know whether there’s any consensus around any of this or not, but, in looking at say, for instance, the way the MOVE Organization was dealing with whatever their grievances were, would you say that most of the Osage Ave. residents disagreed with the MOVE Organization itself, disagreed with its philosophy, or disagreed with its tactics?

Mr. B: Well, I think both the philosophy and tactics. …

Mr. A: Well, one thing I’ll never forget. It was Christmas Eve 1982. It was the first time we heard the bullhorns because everybody came to the door, and we were trying to figure out, What in the world was going on? All of a sudden we hear these voices and we’re sitting in there, getting ready for the holiday and everybody comes to the door, What was that? First thing they had was a speaker this big [about one foot tall], well that grew to a stadium-size speaker. And I remember, I used to talk to Conrad [Africa] all the time and one day Conrad came up the street, and we were standing out in front of my house, and I was complaining about what was going on, and he told me, right up front. He said, “All of what we’re doing, we’re not doing it because we have anything against you people as neighbors. But we need you to go to City Hall to get these people’s attention.” So we were used; he told me, point-blank. He said “We will use you to get to them.” We were pawns in the game.

KR: Had they ever approached you to ask you for your assistance?

Mr. A: They asked us. My answer to them was hey, I didn’t do it. I didn’t start it. I’m not in your organization. What can I do? You know, I didn’t start none of this.

KR: Did they try circulating petitions or anything like that?

Mr. A: I think they did do that one time.

Mr. E: I never got a clear-cut picture of what they really stand for. I still don’t know. Can you tell me what they stand for?

KR: Basically, what I understand about the MOVE Organization—this is primarily from what I’ve read in some books and some other things—is that essentially, they’ve been described often as a back-to-nature organization, and I don’t know that they necessarily describe themselves that way but that’s probably as close as you can get, at least with a cliché, in terms of what they were about. There were a number of things they did not believe in doing. Supposedly in Powelton Village this led to some difficulties smell-wise because they didn’t believe in the traditional way of, for instance, disposing of garbage. And that led to some difficulties with the Powelton Village neighbors but ultimately, I think, one of several mediators – and I want to ask you about whether any of these outside mediators came through either – I know they came through Powelton Village and they worked pretty extensively; I know Oscar Gaskins was a lawyer, Walter Palmer was a community activist.

What I also understood about them is that there were a number of other things that they didn’t believe in; for instance, one of the things Pam Africa talks about now is Ritalin. It’s being given to, apparently, a lot of children in a lot of public schools, apparently in Philadelphia, I know it’s in Baltimore, it’s in DC. And Ritalin is sort of like Prozac.

Mr. A: It’s to keep them calm?

KR: It’s supposed to deal with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, and that’s a major cause for her now, so she’s branched out a little bit now from just “Release Mumia, Release the MOVE nine…”

Mr. E: This is what fascinates me too, about this whole setup, you take the kid, you try to change the kid, when the kid comes. You stop it, you get it from the root. The parent is the root. That parent must be re-educated, because you go the malls and stuff. I was up at the Pathmark [grocery store] a couple of weeks ago and this man was talking to his daughter. He said “Look here, little b—-, if you don’t shut up, I’m gonna kick your ass.” I’m serious. This is a man, talking to a little kid, about 8 or 9 years old. That person needs to be re-educated, because people now don’t have any morals. Morals is out. The thing is, “Long as I don’t get caught.” It’s nothing to do with what’s right or wrong.

Mr. A: Well, you know what it is? The things that you are saying is symptomatic of what our society has come to. There doesn’t seem to be any civility out there anymore. It’s like people just don’t care. And you’re right—people need to be re-educated. They need it but they don’t want it. They seem to be satisfied with the status quo. But there’s many of us out there, just like you, that, we’re not satisfied with the status quo. [But] we’re not going to allow people like MOVE to just force their will on us. Everything that we did was within the law. We never stepped out of the boundaries of the law, even up to today.

Mr. E: There’s two laws; there’s man-made law, and there’s nature’s law; God’s law.

KR: Even that’s kind of close to a lot of things that I’ve heard come out in MOVE statements. There’s this one thing that I sometimes get a kick out of whenever this thought comes to my mind but it’s something that I’ve heard a lot, and it’s a quote: “Down with this rotten ass system.” And, basically, what they’re doing is they’re looking at a lot of the same things that we’re looking at, and their claim is that a lot of the things that are going on now in our community are the result of the influence on our minds by the prevailing system.

Mr. A: Can I ask you a question? They say “Down with the system” but did they ever come up with what they had to put in the place of the system that they want to take down? So you can’t take a system down, not unless you’ve got some idea as to replacing it. I’ll put it another way. We have a lot of radical groups in this country. They’re all out west and different places. They get their little cults … down in little villages. Just take your idea and move somewhere else with your little group, and leave me alone. I’m in the mainstream, I’m catching hell in the mainstream, right? But if I don’t really like it, I’ll go down south in the woods somewhere, okay? I’m not going to try to kill everybody off. My point is, if MOVE says “Down with this damn system”, what are you gonna put in its place?

Mr. E: But this system is corrupt and everything…

Mr. A: Well, we know that!

KR: I don’t think MOVE’s problem is even one of not having anything to replace it with, because, technically, if you were to ask any member of MOVE “What would

John Africa

John Africa

you replace the system with?”, they would say, “We have John Africa’s Guideline.” From what I understand, when John Africa first got a foothold in Powelton Village, he was walking neighbors’ dogs and then the Powelton Village people gave him a house in return for various handyman duties he was performing around the neighborhood, and then Donald Glassey, this White guy, comes in. He’s fascinated with the consistent way John Africa was living his life. And so they sit down, [John Africa] transcribes this Guideline, and it comes out to something like 800 pages long. Next thing you know, members of John Africa’s family are meeting in his house, some of his friends are coming along, and they’re having these study groups around the Guideline, and then that was basically the genesis of MOVE.

Mr. C: MOVE always said that Glassey, who I think was a student or something, was just – he just wrote down what John Africa told him. Glassey had no part in setting any guidelines, or establishing the concept or anything. He was just a viewer.

KR: I’ve also read he turned informant after a few years. Some people think he always was.

Mr. C: Well, I can believe that.

Mr. E: I used to see Glassey every day, I used to work at Temple, I used to go past there every day. And what really kicked off the thing with the MOVE people was they were going pretty good, walking the dogs and all, but when these White girls started hanging around there, that’s when the crap hit the fan.

KR: White girls became attracted to John Africa’s organization and all of a sudden….

Mr. E: Oh yeah, that’s when the crap hit the fan!

Mr. C: But what he’s talking about is a college community. We have our working-class White neighborhoods but …

Mr. E: What’s that campus? What’s that school down there?

Mr. C: Drexel.

Gentrification Looms Over Everything

KR: I think Drexel and Penn were buying up land in the Powelton Village area, so the residents had a beef – that was another thing, the residents of Powelton Village, even though there were a lot of White folks in that neighborhood, they had this major beef with Drexel and Penn gentrifying the neighborhood and they had a beef with Frank Rizzo, because they didn’t vote for Rizzo, they didn’t like Rizzo.

Mr. E: That’s political, same thing with Temple. The community was crying about that. Temple’s all into everything. They’re pushing everybody, they’re just pushing. Now you go down Diamond Street, they got all them White folks living there on Diamond Street. … White folks are gonna take over North Philly. They’re gonna actually take it over. People think you’re crazy when you say it but you watch what they’re doing. Now, [year 2000 Philadelphia Mayor John] Street, Wilson Goode and a couple other of the politicians and [prosecutor and future Pennsylvania governor Ed] Rendell, he went in with it, now they got these new homes they built down there, right off of Girard Avenue, around 15th… they got all these new homes around there. But see, they’re making these houses so high, the prices are gonna be so outrageous for Blacks, who’s gonna buy them?

Mr. C: Well, what do you think they’re trying to do around here?

Mr. E: Sure, it’s the same thing. All the White folks, they’re coming back into the city, because it’s too long a drive, they’re tired now.

KR: So the whole city’s basically being gentrified.

Mr. E: Sure, sure.

Mr. C: Yeah, it’s too high. … Except for this area right here. This area right here, that they call Cobbs Creek. This has 80% Black home ownership, and it’s the largest Black neighborhood in the city. It’s larger than Mount Airy, and all the rest of them. There’s no place else that you have a Black neighborhood where you have 80% Black home ownership. But the reason they can come into other neighborhoods is because of the lack of home ownership. Because a lot of times we are in places where we are renting, so we don’t have control over who comes in and takes over the properties. Here, they would like to come in here, but we’re not moving out, as a community. Because it’s a nice area, you’ve got the park, you’ve got transportation, you’ve got everything that anybody would want in a community.

Mr. A: Really it started coming back in the latter part of the 70’s. When I moved in, in 1976, that was the beginning, because I think that the interest rates were down to about 9 percent … and the interest rate I remember because a buddy of mine – I was saying “man, you better buy a house.” The interest rates went up to about 18, almost 20 percent.

Mr. E: Mine was about 5¾ when I bought mine.

Mr. C: There was a 6% interest rate back in around ‘70.

Mr. E: But I remember there were 4 houses over there, right?

Mr. A: In this general area there were about 8 houses that were empty, I remember. So, the whole area, there was a whole bunch. You can’t find one in this area now.

Mr. B: What it was back then, in the middle 60’s and early 70’s, you had the city, they wanted to come in here … and they wanted to run an expressway through here. So what they were doing, the city wanted to buy up all this land, all these houses around here … so what they were doing was trying to get the Black people so that they would move out of here. … Redlined this area. Couldn’t get a mortgage, couldn’t get a loan, couldn’t get anything. And, whatever came of it, I didn’t really follow it that much, but at that particular time they said they were trying to lay this expressway in here.

KR: Then you try to destabilize it, you funnel the drugs into this area of the city and then everyone’s gonna run.

Mr. C: And probably because there was so much home ownership, they couldn’t do it. Say, for example, there had been less home ownership, then they could have grabbed up all the houses that Blacks didn’t own, let ‘em go down so that the people that did own homes didn’t want to live next to this abandoned house – this is the way they’re doing it in north Philly – they just put everybody out, let the house go down, or let somebody live in there but the house is still going down. …

The Lack of Common Ground between Neighbors and MOVE

KR: The way it kind of looks to me, it looks like a lot of the things that we’re concerned with in general, are actually a lot of the same things MOVE were concerned with, but for whatever reason, they didn’t know how to make their point [to you].

Mr. A: The real problem we had with MOVE was they were selfish in what they wanted to do. The only concern they had was the concern for what was theirs, and what they needed to do. They weren’t concerned about our right to pursue happiness, our right for our families to be safe and secure. They had one agenda and that’s really what angered us. It wasn’t the fact that we didn’t want to help them. I feel as though if they had approached us in the right way, we may have been willing to assist them. But they forced themselves on us. They forced us into the middle of a conflict that we had nothing at all to do with. They forced us, and that’s the problem we really had with them … their back-to-nature situation, they forced this on us. They made us feel like we didn’t have a right to live. They had all the rights in the neighborhood and we weren’t going to allow that. So that’s where our problem really came in with the MOVE people.

KR: I guess part of the problem here is that, in order for agreements to come between MOVE and the neighbors of Powelton Village, you still had to have third-party intervention, so it wasn’t a situation where the two sides were going to see eye-to-eye just left to their own devices, because I’ve read about a number of the third-party interventions. I wrote some of the names down so I wouldn’t forget them – but it seems to me from here, and I don’t know how effective they were on Osage Avenue, but Walter Palmer and Oscar Gaskins seem to be the closest ones in Powelton Village to actually settling anything, because I think they had helped to broker a composting agreement with Powelton which basically had MOVE taking their garbage and cycling it in their backyard. The smell problem went down, the rat problem went down, MOVE got exercise, they sold compost to the neighbors. In other words it was something that the Powelton Village organizations and MOVE ultimately agreed on and that actually started to ease tensions in that area, but by then Rizzo had already instituted the blockade.

Mr. B: We didn’t have that here.

Mr. A: We had no intervention. We were left standing alone. We wanted the city, they didn’t want us. We wanted the politicians. They came in and they lied to us. So we were virtually left standing alone, fighting against something, we really didn’t know, from one moment to the next, what was gonna happen or what was gonna go on. But we knew one thing: we were gonna protect our families, at whatever cost it might take.

Mr. B: Not only that, when MOVE first entered the block, you would see maybe one or two of them. You didn’t pay them any attention. And as time went on and you started seeing more and more of them, moving into the house over there; this is, I would say, a pretty middle-class neighborhood here. Everybody tries to take care of their property. Then all of a sudden you turn around, you see boards being put all up on top of the houses, windows being boarded up, the driveway back there – this is a driveway for everybody that lives on that side of the street. Why is it that one family can say “this is mine, you can’t use it”? They didn’t take into consideration the other neighbors.

Mr. C: What Mr. B is talking about is, they blocked off the driveway from their property line on one side to their property line on the other side, because they were picking up all the stray dogs in the community. So they would start feeding them all kinds of raw meat and stuff, out in the driveway … but the stuff that wasn’t eaten, then the rodents came because you got the field mice and everything coming up, roaches and everything. … An exterminator could have bought an apartment on the block, if it was an apartment complex, and lived there and paid rent based on just going up and down. Because you would always have to keep going because there was nothing that they could do to stop the rodents from coming in because of the way they dealt with their feeding of these animals. Although they got out and they swept the fronts and they were clean in their own way, but then they were dirty in our way, because we’re not going to leave food and stuff out in the driveway because we know that that’s going to bring rodents.

KR: They were once quoted as saying, “As long as [the rodents] ate good, they didn’t bother us” in Powelton Village before the composting agreement. So it almost sounds as though, even though they had succeeded in coming to a composting agreement in Powelton, when they came here to Osage, they didn’t have that same practice when they got here automatically.

Mr. C: I think, here, it was different than down there. Down there, the city went to them, because that is like what we were talking about a little earlier. That’s rapidly being taken over by Drexel University. So that’s a Black area that the university and the city were trying to make White through expansion of the university. So the city wanted them out, so they would use whatever techniques available under the law such as health codes and this, that and the other.

KR: Did that make independent mediators more likely to try to get involved there too, because they had a concern over what Rizzo might do to them, or what Rizzo might do to the entire neighborhood?

Mr. C: I don’t know, but I think that that’s a good possibility because I think the Black community didn’t trust Rizzo because he had alienated himself from the Black community…

The Notorious Brutality of the Philadelphia Police Department

KR: Well, the regular police were called “Rizzo’s Thugs”. Amnesty International said they were the most brutal police force in the country, bar none.

The MOVE Nine after the 1978 assault.

The MOVE Nine after the 1978 assault.

Mr. C: I was on the police force myself, when Rizzo became commissioner. I was on there before he became commissioner, and I was on there when he became commissioner. And his philosophy was, shoot first, ask questions later. His philosophy was, a show of force, and if anybody had to use force he was going to back them up.

KR: So this started when Rizzo came into power?

Mr. C: Right, exactly. And so, the general feeling of the members of the police force is that they were above the law when it came to using deadly force because they thought that nobody on the police force was going to be disciplined. If you shoot someone unnecessarily and they die, it wasn’t going to be a problem. I’ve witnessed cases where unnecessary shootings were rewarded, so that the officers who did it were promoted.

KR: Well, you had something like that in Louisville last year, where an unarmed man was shot by police officers. The police chief, later that year had an awards banquet where he gave, among others – not just these two – but among other officers, he gave these officers medals, and the mayor turned around and fired the police chief for that, and then immediately after that, the rank-and-file police in Louisville started protesting, and they called it a “slowdown” where they stopped making as many arrests. The strange thing about it was that the number of arrests went down but the crime did not go up!

Mr. C: That proved the point that they were wrong from the beginning.

KR: And the community said “You’re not going to protect us!” And they said “Well, the slowdowns that we’re making in our arrests are, we’re not doing the kind of proactive policing that we were doing before.” So now it seems that the cliché has gone from “zero-tolerance” to “proactive policing” where if you’re reaching for your wallet, you may be reaching for a gun, let’s shoot you 19 times.

Mr. A: [Amadou] Diallo.

KR: Yeah, and Patrick Dorismond also. “You won’t tell me where the marijuana is?” Bang!

Mr. C: We had a guy around here, Dante Dawson, he was shot; remember that time, right when he’s sitting in his car. Very extreme – I mean, it’s not extreme by police standards, but it’s extreme by our standards because he was unarmed. He was asleep in his car, and when they approached him and he didn’t respond the way they ordered him to, although he was unarmed, then they opened fire on him.

KR: One of the things I read in some of these books is, actually, there was a difference between the regular police, who were the ones who have been accused of brutality, and George Fencl’s group, and they were considered a much more professional unit.

Mr. C: They were just an undercover unit. I worked undercover before. They’ll take, maybe, whoever they think might be good for undercover. They may take sharpshooters or something like that, put them in undercover, like narcotics or any kind of vices. They were like a vice squad. Gambling, prostitution, whatever. Fencl was the captain of an undercover unit, and they operated in a certain way. He got a lot of notoriety and a lot of acclaim for his results. Just an undercover operation that might have gotten a lot of publicity, but his people were taken from the general population of the police force. They weren’t like specially groomed for that. They just, maybe, had specific talents that could be utilized in something like that.

KR: So, was it maybe by virtue of the kinds of assignments they had or do you think it might have been by virtue of the kind of atmosphere they were working in that they didn’t get the same reputation as the regular police?

Mr. C: It was just because … the regular police weren’t on undercover, so they didn’t do, say maybe the large scale busts that Fencl’s group might do. They weren’t doing it on a regular basis like Fencl’s people. …

KR: But Philadelphia had gotten a pretty strong reputation for excessive force …

Mr. C: Brutality. Say for example, Rizzo, when I think he was commissioner, we had a situation where the schoolchildren felt like they were not being educated properly and they were protesting in front of the school administration building on Ben Frank Rizzo 1Franklin Parkway in center city. So Rizzo ordered the police to go in there with horses – it was the type of thing reminiscent of the protest marches in the South when they had the dogs and the horses and everything; I don’t think they had the water hoses but I think they had dogs and I know they had horses, and what they did was they beat up on school kids. So they treated the school kids, they didn’t treat them like they were school kids, they treated them like they were criminals. So I think that was one of the first instances of how bad our city police force could be when they would not understand how to handle school age children, when they would handle them the way they would handle hardened criminals. Rizzo had a reputation from when he was just a regular police officer as being a macho type of person. And so when he became police commissioner he just carried his reputation on and expanded it throughout the whole police force. And then you had those who had that mentality on the police force, adopted Rizzo’s tactics of brutality, especially when they knew that they weren’t going to be penalized. You had a whole lot of times when a guy had been arrested – he was stopped and they gave him a ticket, and maybe he was disorderly and so they arrested him. Then, a couple of hours later, he would be found hung in his cell. It was like more than a couple of occasions that that happened. They had a case where, down by the police administration building, a guy was arrested for stealing a car. And when they went to take him out of the police wagon to take him into the police administration building, he ran. Still handcuffed behind his back. So the police ran up on him, shot him in the head and killed him.

KR: We’ve had a number of cases like that in Maryland too. Archie Elliott III, handcuffed behind his back, strapped in the front seat of a police cruiser, and all of a sudden the two police officers claim that they saw him pointing a gun out of the window of the car. Now, how do you do that if you’re handcuffed behind your back, strapped in the front seat? You’ve got no gun because you’ve already been searched. You’re wearing a pair of cutoff shorts, some sneakers and no shirt. You’ve been searched and no gun has been found and yet somehow, you came up with a gun, pointed it out the window of the police cruiser with your hands cuffed behind your back. They shot him 12 times, through the door of the police cruiser and killed him. [Of course, by 2016 there have been countless more atrocities on Baltimore alone, most recently the murders of Tyrone West in 2014 and Freddie Gray in 2015, as well as police murders of unarmed Afrikan-American men and women across the country, and certainly many more will come to light as the year goes on – Editor.] 

Mr. C: That’s the type of thing that was happening. With the case that I just mentioned, it was found that the young fella owned the car. It was his car. He was just afraid. He was intimidated by the police. And rightfully so, because of what happened to him. He knew that this is how it was. So he didn’t want to be in the building with these police, not knowing what they were going to do to him, and tried to make a getaway. But the fact that they had to shoot him, with his hands handcuffed behind his back, tells you something. So that was the atmosphere during the Rizzo years.

KR: And in the middle of all of this, up pops MOVE.

Mr. C: Right. So MOVE didn’t care about Rizzo or none of his police, and they were back-to-nature, but they were also anti-government. And I think the main thing with MOVE, I think everybody, for the neighbors here, I think we all agreed that they had a right to their own opinion and a right to their own way of life, but we didn’t think they had a right to involve us in their plight, although they said it’s all of our plight, but we felt that we had a right to fight the official oppression the way we chose. We didn’t think it was right to force us to have to do it the way that John Africa dictated, because we didn’t all subscribe to John Africa. I don’t think there were any neighbors who subscribe to John Africa’s philosophy. They may have agreed with his identification of problems, but maybe his way of addressing it we didn’t agree with. I don’t think any of us would have brought our children into a place that we were having a standoff with the police in. So, we would say well, maybe we’ll take our kids somewhere else, leave them with somebody we would trust, family or whoever, rather than put them in harm’s way. I’ve heard the MOVE people say, “Well, we didn’t want them in the system, and if we didn’t have them with us they were going to be in the system and we’d feel like they were dead anyway.” We wouldn’t have taken that type of outlook on it. We would have said “Well, at least they’ll be alive to live another day,” and maybe they can figure a way to deal with the oppression rather than putting them in harm’s way and not giving them a decent chance to continue their lives. After all, they were children. They should have the right, we felt, to grow up and make their own decisions, once they were mature enough.

KR: You’re referring to their decision to keep everyone together in that house on Osage Avenue, even though they knew the assault was coming?

Mr. B: See, they used us as a shield, the neighbors as a shield, and the children as a shield. Before that confrontation, right before it, they set all the kids outside, on the steps, so I guess they more or less thought like, with the kids out there, the police would not try to initiate a confrontation…

KR: They probably figured that this government was far too civilized to bomb a house with children inside.

Mr. C: Right. They believed something that they preached against. They preached that the government was violent and they preached that you couldn’t trust them, but then they wound up trusting. They put their kids’ life on the line in trust of the same system that they said they didn’t trust. They contradicted themselves in that aspect.

KR: The wild thing about it is, when [official police] patience does run out [and they Move Nine Delbertchoose to attack] it seems to run out to the extreme. … And even here, you had the situation where they waited and they waited and they waited, Frank Rizzo barricaded them up for a year, tried to starve them out before he assaulted them back in 1978, but it was like, whenever the decision was made that, okay, we’re out of patience, we’re going to make a move, it’s always extreme violence and results in death. Here it was eleven people; in [the ATF assault on the Branch Davidians and David Koresh in] Waco, Texas it was 74; Ruby Ridge, Idaho – Randy Weaver was a racist, he admitted it, he was a White separatist, though it may be different from being a White supremacist – but they killed his 14-year-old son, killed his dog first, and they shot his wife in the face, when she was holding her infant in her arms. … She was shot from a distance of 200 yards.

Mr. B: We still don’t know what the circumstances might have been, the reason why. Like me, I spent 33 years in the military. We always plan our strategy, what we’re going to do and when we’re going to do it. So you sit down, you make your plans, you get your objectives and everything. And you keep doing it, and then you get to that point where you’re not getting any results. The final moment is coming, and you make your move. And I think this is to say that the city and everything with MOVE, Waco or whatever, after a while patience runs out and you’ll have no more sympathy.

KR: Well, looking at the Weaver situation, from what I’ve read so far, Weaver was acquitted on all the charges except one minor one leading up to the incident, and basically, he was also acquitted of all charges regarding the actions he took during the standoff. So they actually pretty much determined that he was shooting back in self-defense. In Waco, now there was a question as to whether or not the weapons that they had in Waco were really illegal weapons or not, there is some degree of question about the child abuse allegations that had been filed, so a lot of the charges that were leading up to a lot of these confrontations, upon further review, are being either revealed or being considered to possibly have been relatively minor and it makes you say “Well, why did we go through all of this stuff in the first place?” Randy Weaver is in an isolated cabin!

Mr. C: He wasn’t a threat to anybody, and that’s why he won his case – I don’t know if it was so many millions of dollars or so, but he won his case. But the same thing happened with Ramona. She was acquitted [of almost all of the charges against her], she represented herself in her case when she went to jail for inciting a riot. But every other charge they had against her was thrown out because they couldn’t substantiate it. And, the original arrest warrants that they had on the people were never substantiated as far as their validity. So, it was questionable whether Ed Rendell, the former mayor who was the DA at that time, had the proper evidence for Lynne Abraham who is the DA now and was a judge then …

KR: And she wants to see Mumia Abu-Jamal dead. There’s all kinds of connections here!

Political Connections and Cover-Ups?

Mr. C: You see, everybody who was connected with the MOVE case and with Mumia’s case, everybody with maybe the exception of the judge, everybody made progress in their careers. Like the DA who actually held that grand jury there, Ron Castille, he became a judge.

KR: He actually wound up being one of the people who decided that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court would not hear Mumia Abu-Jamal’s appeal, which a lot of people thought was very strange, when you have someone who was trying to convict him back in the 1980’s and now he’s sitting on the Supreme Court saying “We’re not going to review his case!” That’s like Sabo reviewing the appeal of his own conduct!

Mr. C: And that also happened [when] some of us from this block went to the Justice Department to get them to reopen the MOVE case.

Did the people die in the fire or were they shot?

KR: To reopen it?

Mr. C: Yeah, reopen the case, because it was found that there is a forensic pathologist who sent in a report to the MOVE grand jury that the deaths of those 11 people were homicides. There was another pathologist who was brought in to identify the sex and ages of the bodies. He also agreed that the deaths were homicides because they found bullets in several of the MOVE people. Also, they found that at least two heads were missing. From John Africa, I think Conrad Africa’s heads were missing. And saw marks on their necks. [In the] Temple University archives … we saw some of the pictures of the bodies that were fully clothed but were supposed to have burned up in the fire. But they were actually fully clothed. So that led us to believe that they were outside of the house when they were killed.

KR: Do you think they were killed by …?

Mr. C: The only people back there were police.

KR: Because Ramona did say when they tried to leave out of the back of the house they were shot at.

Mr. C: And so did the young boy. Birdie Africa said the same thing.

KR: Of course he turned on MOVE shortly after he got out.

Mr. C: He turned on MOVE but he never changed his story as to what happened that day. So he still says that – and he maybe had a personal problem with MOVE because he was a young man under the influence – but his testimony never changed and it still hasn’t changed today. [“Birdie Africa” would later change his name back to his given name, Michael Ward, and raise a family before dying on a cruise in 2014 – Editor.]

KR: That’s interesting because I don’t even know that the newspaper articles even talk about his testimony that you were just saying.

Mr. C: Well, they discounted his testimony because they said that he was too young.

KR: And he said they were fired upon?

Mr. C: He said they were fired upon. He even recounted what it sounded like. Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat, like a machine gun, automatic weapons fire. So they both corroborated each other. But what happened was, when the grand jury was convened, and this particular doctor who was sent here to Philadelphia to monitor, to evaluate the Medical Examiner’s office here – the Medical Examiner’s office lost their accreditation at that time because they didn’t handle the autopsies properly – this doctor submitted his information to the DA’s office and they conveniently did not use that information. … The grand jury never heard his report that said that they were homicides. And the only mention of homicide that the grand jury heard was a little excerpt from the doctor who was brought in to tell the sex and ages of the bodies. So, his primary reason for being there was to determine sex and ages. So his focus was not on whether it was homicide or not, but he did put in his report that the deaths were homicides.

KR: Oh, he stuck it in there?

Mr. C: He put it in there, and they said there was no corroboration but they withheld information that [there] was. So it was strange that they withheld this – we didn’t find out about the withheld homicide information until after statute of limitations had run out, which in federal, it’s a five year statute of limitations. Now local it’s not, but federal civil rights violations is five years. So anyway, we went down there and everything, but what we got out of it – they turned us down – but we found out that Richard Thornburgh, who was the attorney general at that time, he had been governor, so when you mention about conflict of interest with Castille maybe, or his motivations being suspect, we had the same situation because the bomb was dropped by a helicopter that was property of the state, and the state governor was Richard Thornburgh. Then he went right to become attorney general, so quite naturally, the people who investigated the civil rights violations here were under his thumb, so he investigated himself!

Mr. A: We were blocked at every turn!

Mr. C: He investigated himself, and like I was talking to one of his assistants in Washington, and he said, really, they got away, he said, with the evidence that came out, it doesn’t matter. He said even if somebody comes out and admit that they did it, statute of limitations has run, so they’re not going to do anything because statute of limitations allowed them to beat it. So the reports were withheld until after that. We went on the fifth anniversary and we didn’t find out until after the fifth anniversary that this information existed. So here you actually have proof of homicide but you know what? No politician, no big-time civil rights advocate, including Johnnie Cochran – because I was in touch with Johnnie Cochran’s office and they were afraid to deal with it, and they passed it off they couldn’t do this, that and the other, so many reasons, but the end result was they couldn’t do it – because this is a situation where, if you are able to put a charge on somebody, you’re talking about a charge of murder. And when you’re talking about a charge of murder, you’re talking about linking these big politicians, not only them, but you’re talking about linking the President of the United States, because the C-4 was released by the FBI, which was the active ingredient in the bomb. And the attorney general at that time was Ed Meese. And he publicly said – I saw it on TV, he said to MOVE Bombing 1985g Helicopter Bomb DropWilson Goode – “Job well done” after everything had happened. Now, I have enough sense to know that the attorney general doesn’t authorize the release of a military bomb to a local police department unless they have a strategy that the President approves of, because he could get fired like that [snaps his fingers] doing something dumb like that. So, I do know from being on the police force, and which I know any of you all who have been in the service [also know], the chain of command is held in strict adherence, and a lot can happen to anybody who violates the chain of command. So anybody who tackles this case would be bringing out the responsibility for these murders by all these big political figures, all the way up to the President. So nobody, at all, ever, no law firm – I talked to a lot of law firms, I talked to a lot of big-time law people in the city and outside the city, and none of them had the courage. I talked to the ACLU and I talked to a lot of people. …

KR: The ACLU wouldn’t touch it?

Mr. C: The ACLU said they didn’t have the manpower to put on the case for the type of time they would need. So, it’s a murder case here, 11 murders that were swept under the rug, there’s evidence. I even talked to the district attorney on a radio program, Lynne Abraham. And I posed the question about this withholding of evidence to her, and that the evidence existed that there was homicide by this forensic pathologist, and what she did, she assassinated this guy’s character. She said “Well, I wouldn’t believe anything he said because I think he was removed from his position as a medical examiner” in such-and-such a place which was over in Jersey, “and I think he’s such-and-such” so she was saying he was not credible.

KR: She didn’t hire him, he was an independent pathologist?

Mr. C: He was independent, but when I talked with him, he said first of all, he never was removed from any position he ever has held, and he said second of all, she has and was currently using him as an expert witness for the prosecution while she was DA. So if she felt he was not credible, how could she use him for her side? So it was one of those things where some of these people will blatantly lie because if she had accepted that what I said was accurate, that it was homicide, then she would have to explain what transpired. So to avoid that, she just called him a big nothing, you know. So there’s a lot to this case here that has not hit, and the thing about the evidence of homicide, and that the medical examiner didn’t use the proper procedures and all of that, so they could not find the accurate reason why the deaths occurred and they attributed all the deaths to accident, because the fire caused them to die, and the fire was meant to do one thing but, inadvertently, another thing happened.

KR: Meant to blow a hole through the fortified roof and instead burned down the houses.

Mr. C: The bomb meant to blow a hole. The fire meant to drive them out. But instead they’re saying, they stayed in there. They tried to come out, they ran back in, and they just all perished right inside the building.

KR: Whereas instead, they actually ran out and they were shot?

Mr. C: And there was a TV news conference with the mayor, Wilson Goode at that time, and the police commissioner, Sambor at that time, where Sambor actually said that “the MOVE people ran out the house, they were running toward the parkway which is at the corner, they got halfway between the MOVE house and the parkway we’re involved in a gun battle with them right now.” And he said, “I don’t know if anybody was killed so far, but right now we’re involved with a gun battle.” So then he came back later in the same news conference and said, “Uh, excuse me, the alleged gun battle” – and he had just said it was a gun battle – “the alleged gun battle did not occur, and there never was a gun battle between MOVE and the police department.” So now you have him coming up with that. Where did he get this information from in the first place? Then you find out that you have people who were in the house, supposedly found dead in the house, fully clothed, but the house burned down to the ground, the whole three blocks is burned down, and they were inside the house but they were fully clothed. Not even a singe on their clothing.

Mr. A: Tell him where they found all the bodies.

Mr. C: Well they claim they found all the bodies within the MOVE house boundaries, property lines of the MOVE house, but human nature is going to tell people that nobody is going to run into an inferno.

KR: Only a horse runs into a burning barn.

Mr. C: And we’re not horses! So you actually had proof of homicide, based on circumstantial evidence, and the testimony of forensic pathologists, more than once so they can corroborate, all this information was withheld from the grand jury, and no one wanted to reopen the case to bring out, to allow the facts and the other information to come out. So right now it still stands as accidental deaths.

“We will kill you down to a little baby”

Mr. C: Right here they notified the hospitals that they had, like when they took out Birdie Africa and Ramona Africa, sent them to the hospital, they notified them to be ready, they were going to send some more people to the hospital. But then, they said all the people were dead. See what I mean? So the other people never materialized in the first place. So this is symptomatic of the entire country, this type of police operation, and I think what it amounted to was, I think the whole thrust is that the government is trying to scare anybody who may disagree with the government, who wants to protest, scare them to the extent to say “We will kill you down to a little baby.”

KR: And they make an example out of a group like MOVE who, because of the in-your-face, extremely radical way that they communicated their point, they’d be able to turn off a lot of people simply by virtue of their methods….

Mr. C: Well that’s what happened. That’s what happened something like with Hitler and Germany. Some of the well-to-do Jews, my understanding is that they OK’d some of the means and methods of Hitler that were put on the so-called lower-class Jews, and never realizing that it could happen to them, and then when Hitler said, “Okay, instead of just those Jews, now all Jews …” But same thing with MOVE. When it happened here, a lot of people felt like, “Well, they were like, terrible people because of the way they acted,” so a lot of people didn’t have a lot of sympathy for MOVE. But as time unfolded, as time went on and other atrocities unfolded, they found that the police – see, at that time, so much had happened in Powelton Village, but by and large, a lot of people who maybe weren’t grass-roots people, still felt like the police, if they ever did anything to you, it was because you were wrong. So in later years, after the MOVE thing happened, you started having other atrocities happening, here in Philadelphia and around the country, so it evolved to the point that people now recognize that the police are not always right, and they’re not always fair.

KR: Maybe MOVE had a point with a couple of those incidents.

Mr. C: Maybe MOVE was more right than wrong, because a lot of people today feel like no matter what MOVE’s method of protest was, they weren’t killing anybody. They inflicted imposition on us, the neighborhood, residents, but they weren’t killing anybody, so they didn’t deserve to be killed for their actions. Maybe they deserved to go to jail for six months or something like that, or 90 days or something like that, okay? But they didn’t deserve to be gunned down, a bomb dropped on them, we residents didn’t deserve to have them to burn the whole area out.

KR: Sixty-one houses?

MOVE Bombing 1985cMr. A: Using the flames as a tactical weapon.

KR: And they let it burn for a while.

Mr. A: Absolutely! They let it burn. They used it as a tactical weapon.

Mr. C: They said that there was a bunker on top of the front of the house, and since the bomb didn’t blow the bunker off the roof, they wanted to let the fire burn enough to burn the bunker off.

KR: As skilled as these guys are at imploding a large building without touching any of the properties on either side of it, you’d think they’d be able to exercise something like that with a little more precision.

Mr. C: Right. See, that was their story but we don’t believe that was their goal. Their goal was extermination.

Mr. A: Their intention was to do exactly what they did. That’s what their intention was.

KR: But why would they want the whole neighborhood gone?

Mr. C: Because then the evidence gets lost in the shuffle.

Mr. A: Why? Why? Because we’re Black folk. This isn’t the first time they’ve used the bomb on us. They did it once before in Philadelphia!

Mr. B: But not only that, they knew that John Africa was in there and the majority of the MOVE people were there. So therefore they figured if they could exterminate them and let the fire burn, get rid of MOVE, that would be it. But it failed on them.

KR: Pam Africa was not in there!

Mr. B: Right. Not only that, Ramona and Birdie escaped. But they figured, knowing that he was in there, he was the root of it. If they killed the head…

KR: Of course, they martyred him. Now, was there any sense among the neighbors, as the conflict was going on – because one impression I got after reading about Powelton Village and reading about everything that went before, was that, in many ways, the things that MOVE was doing and the way they were acting was more because of all the stuff that had happened before, whereas earlier on they might have been a little bit purer in their political focus, but as time went on and as their people got beat and as their babies died and as people got thrown in jail for a hundred years, that after a while maybe it affected them psychologically, to the point where now they’re just fixated on their own political prisoners?

Mr. C: Well, they were fixated on their strategy when they were down in Powelton Village, but they became fixated on getting those people who were arrested in Powelton Village out of jail. That’s why they did what they did here on Osage Avenue. They were on a mission from Day One. Because I had talked with them when they were down in Powelton Village. We knew some of them; the mother of one of the members and the sister of the founder lived on the block. So some of us had talked with them and they were on a real mission, but here their primary focus was on getting their people out of jail. And they told us, “We’re going to use you, because if we go out into the wilderness, nobody’s going to listen to us.”

KR: I remember reading that quote. They said “No one’s going to listen to us, so….”

Mr. B: They didn’t have the protection.

Mr. C: So they just believed in something they really said they didn’t believe in, and that was the compassion of the city, the government.

KR: It almost sounds like the difference between the rhetoric and whether they really thought they would do it. They threw the rhetoric out there that these people are snakes, they’re cancerous, they don’t care what they have to do to whom, and yet they still gave them some small credit for being civilized enough to not kill them all.

Racial Politricks

Mr. C: I think that was attributed to the fact that we had a Black mayor. See, because this was our first Black mayor, and I think they really felt that a Black mayor would not allow it to happen. And they didn’t consider that maybe this Black mayor might be constrained by other government, and as we found out, the federal government was involved. So, maybe if they had analyzed it that way, then they wouldn’t have put so much trust in this Black mayor.

KR: Was there any sense here, among the neighbors in general, that MOVE, through their in-your-face actions, was showing up Wilson Goode? I know, for instance, in Baltimore City, I know that there were a number of people who were so much behind Kurt Schmoke, not necessarily because of his record, but because of the fact that he was the first elected Black mayor of Baltimore City, and they didn’t want to see him embarrassed. Was there any sentiment along the lines of, These folk up here are basically making a fool out of the first and maybe the only Black mayor in Philadelphia’s history?

Mr. B: No, I wouldn’t say that. I think what it was, Goode would show more sympathy because they were Black. But, here’s the thing also. If you remember, the police and the fire department, their contract was screwed up, and Goode did not give them what they were looking for in a contract, and it was brought out that the police department and the fire department – especially the police department – had a gripe with Goode. And so therefore, in order to show Goode up, to get even with him, this was Sambor – he was the police commissioner, and to me, he was one of the biggest racists around.

KR: So Sambor, if anyone, was the main person who was trying to show Goode up, to make him look like a fool.

Mr. B: So, this was to disgrace the mayor.

KR: Now, there was one other thing that I had read, that when Wilson Goode was the city manager…

Mr. C: Managing director.

KR: Yes, when he was the managing director. He had implemented a whole lot of things. He’d had a Crisis Intervention Network … supposedly in part as a result of the 1978 confrontation, so he puts this entire network of agencies that are supposed to deal with these kinds of situations, he puts that in place, but then as mayor, he doesn’t use it here.

Mr. C: Well my understanding is, I don’t know what he put in place…

MOVE Bombing 1985aKR: I even heard they de-funded it! I heard Bennie Swans was frustrated because they were getting ready to de-fund the whole thing because they thought they were too activistic in ‘78.

Mr. C: Well, I don’t know what Wilson Goode did as far as initiating crisis intervention or funding it or what have you, but I do know some of the people who were in that crisis intervention and who I saw out here, but at a certain point they were told to discontinue negotiations.

KR: Yeah, they were told to go away.

Mr. C: Right. So, in effect, the use of trained crisis negotiators was taken away. So they had no professional negotiators to attempt a resolution with MOVE after a certain point. Like, in the last days before they had this attack on MOVE, you had some political types to come out.

KR: I’m surprised they didn’t call up Walter Palmer on the Bat-Phone right away, because from what I’ve read, in Powelton Village, he came the closest to actually solving everything. They’d actually come up with an agreement on May 5, 1978. They had an agreement that had MOVE vacating the house, that had them finding another place to live, but supposedly a number of things happened. I think the farm had something to do with it, I think Delbert Africa was concerned that they were either going to be used as slave laborers on the farm or else the farm was surrounded on three sides by a marsh and it was a setup, to get them out of the public eye, to get them away from witnesses, so they could be exterminated. Which was the reason why Geronimo [jiJaga] Pratt, in 1970, fought off the police in L.A. for four hours because he said, “We’re not giving up until the press and the general public are here to see it, because if we surrender you’re going to do the same thing to us that you did to Fred Hampton, which is execute us. So there seemed to be at least some precedent – whether or not MOVE’s concern was rational I don’t know – there seemed to be some precedent for saying “We don’t want to be put in a position where we’re going to be isolated, there’ll be nobody there to see what happens to us.”

Mr. C: That could be also, and probably was, but their strategy said that they should be here because, in order to be heard, they had to be in an urban environment, because if they’re voicing their complaints and they’re out in the wilderness nobody’s going to hear them.

KR: If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, does it make a sound?

Mr. C: Here, they just disrupted our lives, which they told us that was their method, to make us mad enough to go to City Hall, and make City Hall mad enough to come out and try to resolve it. So, I think they had to have it in this type of environment in order to get the result that they wanted. But it just goes to show you that the government found another way to beat a murder rap, so they didn’t care if it was on TV, in an urban environment, right in a little row house block, surrounded by people. They didn’t care. They were still going to commit murder. But the way that they go about beating a case is controlling the evidence.

KR: Just like they bulldozed the Powelton Village house the day after the assault.

Common Oppression, but No Common Philosophy

Mr. B: There’s something. To have a confrontation with the city because you have members in jail and you want them out. You have your confrontation, and where are those members now?

KR: They’re still in jail. They did not succeed.

Mr. A: The best laid plans of mice and men.

Mr. B: They had a bad strategy. In other words, we are members of the same community as MOVE, so we share the same oppression that they share. They had their way to deal with it, we had our way to deal with it, they were different ways. But, no way is good when I’ve got to hurt somebody that I’m on the same side with to get to the person who I’m against. Why should I go against my own brother to try to get to somebody over this? That’s what they, in fact, did to us. They stepped on us to get to the city.

KR: Do you think a coalition could have been made…

Mr. C: No. Us and them?

KR: From the beginning, if, maybe, some of the things that had been done hadn’t been done?

Mr. C: No. Because they were fixated with John Africa’s strategy. And so we could never have compromised a direction … and come to agreement on a strategy that we could agree to because it was either their way or no way. You see what I mean? So, we didn’t have a choice because we couldn’t subscribe to what they were going to do, and they didn’t have a choice because they couldn’t subscribe to what we were going to do.

KR: So, it’s almost like a “lose-lose” situation, then?

Mr. C: Well, that’s what happened.

Mr. B: Like I said, it was a bad strategy, eleven lives lost, and the members are still in jail.

Mr. D: What I still can’t understand, is why they kept the kids in the house.

Mr. C: Because they felt like Wilson Goode had compassion and authority.

KR: Some people would say it was the same reason that Dr. King had children in the marches in Birmingham, Alabama. There were children in those marches. There were men, women and children who were marching peacefully through the streets, and they were getting hosed, and they were getting attacked by dogs.

Mr. A: And MOVE didn’t learn anything from that, because it didn’t work then and it wasn’t going to work for them. They got more than what they really bargained for. They never imagined, they never imagined. …

Was MOVE as “Dangerous” as the Hype?

KR: I’ve heard claims that MOVE’s weapons were inoperative. Was there anything behind that?

Mr. C: Well, they only had a couple of weapons in the first place. I think they had a revolver, a shotgun and a rifle or something like that. They only had two or three. And I don’t know if they were inoperable or not, but it was never proven – and this is what the whole thing was based on, the attack was based on this – the attack was based on that MOVE people shot at the police, and that the police retaliated.

KR: In Chicago, they tried to say the same thing about Fred Hampton. Never any evidence that bullets came out of Fred Hampton’s house.

Mr. B: I don’t know who fired first. My wife and I were sitting right there at 63rd and Spruce when the first rounds were fired, then the “pinging” and bullets flying across the parkway, and it scared me so, I’m sitting right there, I’m trying to start the car to get out of the way, the door flies open, I’m about to fall out of the car, you know what I mean? And the cops are running, and one thing that was happening…one police officer was down, they dragged him down Pine Street, they threw him into an emergency vehicle. We never heard anything else about it.

Mr. C: And see, they also brought somebody out of the park down here. And nobody ever heard anything about it. A lot of strange things that happened with this whole thing, because at one time it was thought that the MOVE people had dug and tied into the sewer system.

KR: And they supposedly planted explosives [a rumor that was never supported by any evidence] in the neighborhood too. Did anybody really buy into that?

Mr. C: Well, we weren’t sure. Because we know that they had gas cans up on the roof. And we know they were in a state of mind where we couldn’t be sure what they would do or what they wouldn’t do. So we felt like it was a possibility because we felt like, maybe, if the police came in and they got to a certain point where they might detonate something around here–we didn’t know–it was hard for us to know what they would do.

Mr. A: They moved a lot of dirt out of there. It was kind of deep. It was interesting watching them build the bunkers on the houses, and watching the police sit up there and watch them build the bunkers. …

Mr. C: Well I hope you got something for your report.

The MOVE Nine after the 1978 assault.

The MOVE Nine after the 1978 assault.

KR: I expected it to be a very positive and eye-opening thing for me, because, basically, the impression that was given by what I’ve read and what I’ve seen was that Powelton Village was an integrated community where they didn’t like Frank Rizzo, so they were kind of supportive of MOVE. Osage Avenue was a Black community they were supportive of Wilson Goode and they didn’t like the fact that Wilson Goode was being made a fool of by MOVE so Osage Avenue was nowhere near as tolerant of what was going on with MOVE as Powelton Village was. And I’m coming to see that that’s really a ridiculously simplistic analysis of the whole situation. I mean, there’s a whole lot more going on there than who the mayor was and what the racial makeup of the community was. It would seem to me, more than anything else, it was more the fact that by the time MOVE got here, their whole attitude had been ratcheted up several times. I mean, however freaked out they were in Powelton Village, I’m thinking that, if I’m freaked out in Powelton Village and the official response is to assault my house, convict nine people of shooting one bullet into one police officer [James Ramp] when they don’t even know what gun it came from, they don’t know what direction it came from, they don’t know if it was friendly fire or not….

Mr. C: But see, the thing is, they do know. They know the bullet came from behind…

KR: They know that?

Mr. C: That was a fact proved by the medical examiner.

KR: They know that the wound in the front of his neck was an exit wound?

Mr. C: Right.

KR: Did they know he was rushing the house at the time?

Mr. C: Well, I don’t know, I don’t know that. But I do know that the trajectory was inconsistent with where MOVE was located, so MOVE couldn’t have fired it.

KR: Okay. I’ve heard that contention, but only from MOVE. First time I’ve heard it from somebody other than MOVE.

Mr. C: Well that was a known fact, and that’s why MOVE was protesting so vehemently about it, because they said “There’s no way we could have killed him. We didn’t even fire any weapons.”

KR: And then nine people get nailed for one bullet.

Mr. C: But the law is that if you participate in an act that causes a death then you’re as guilty as the shooter.

KR: As a matter of fact, they were saying that in the case of the MOVE Nine, they were saying that the third degree murder conviction that they got nailed with was a compromise verdict and they could easily have been convicted of first degree. But, third degree murder as a compromise verdict and they’ve been in jail for how long?

Mr. A: A hundred and nine years they got!

KR: They’ve been in jail since 1978, Merle Africa has since died of ovarian cancer. So Merle Africa’s was a death sentence, because she died two years ago. [Of course, by now we have also lost Phil Africa, as of January 2015 – Editor.]

At this point, I said my final good-byes to my gracious hosts and spent a few minutes reflecting on the story that had unfolded here and the unexpectedly thoughtful perspectives they shared with me.  Today, sixteen years after our discussion and thirty-one years after the MOVE bombing, I remain thankful that these gentlemen allowed me to visit their once war-torn community and talk with them about this critical issue in their homes.  It was my hope, with this interview, to gain a better understanding of how the “average person” might have seen what was perhaps the most misunderstood military-style attack on a civilian population in modern American history.  I went in expecting to hear the opinions of “good citizens” who were fiercely critical of MOVE and their philosophy, and who would have little sympathy for their political struggle.  What I came away with instead was the knowledge that, while the “average person” may not understand the philosophies and methods of those who we refer to as “revolutionaries”, they do agree, at least on a basic level, with the idea of oppression and that, somehow, such repression must be resisted.  Perhaps that is a place to start.

Remembering Phil Africa

 

MOVE Phil Collage 1REMEMBERING PHIL AFRICA
Saturday, January 31, 2015, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Kingsessing Recreation Center, Philadelphia, PA

Mama Ramona Africa, the sole adult survivor of the May 13, 1985 bombing of the MOVE Organization’s house on Osage Avenue in West Philadelphia, addressed the hundreds of friends and supporters in the audience who had come from across the country to the Kingsessing Recreation Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to pay respects to MOVE Nine Member and New Ancestor Phil Africa on this cold Saturday afternoon, January 31, 2015.

“A lot of people have come up to MOVE People and asked us how we’re doing, are we okay.  Of course we grieve the loss of our brother.  John Africa [MOVE’s late founder, who died in the May 13, 1985 bombing of MOVE’s Osage Avenue house – Editor] has taught us that we are living beings, we’re alive, we have feelings.  So, we can be hurt, our feelings can be hurt.  But one thing is for sure, we can be hurt but we won’t be stopped.  And that’s what’s important.

“Phil touched the lives of so many people, and we got so many responses, so many statements, that we just can’t read them all. … But meanwhile, what we’re going to do is let you know how people, all across the globe, feel about Phil Africa.”

Mike Africa was born in prison, the son of Mike Africa Sr. and Debbie Africa of the MOVE Nine.  He has spoken about growing up the son of two Political Prisoners and how that legacy has guided his steps as he has grown to become a father himself.  He and Sis. Rain Africa, one of the Next Generation of the Youth of the MOVE Organization known as the “Seeds of the Seeds”, along with a Brother from Friends of MOVE New York, served as the emcees for the event.

I entered the hall to the sound of the tribute to Phil Africa from the world’s most famous Political Prisoner, Veteran of the Black Panther Party and longtime MOVE supporter, Mumia Abu-Jamal:

BRO. PHIL AFRICA (1956-2015), MOVE MEMBER
[col. writ. 1/10/15] © ’15 Mumia Abu-Jamal

He was born William Phillips, on Jan. 1, 1956, but few people called him by that name.

Most people knew him as Phil, and after joining the revolutionary naturalist MOVE organization in the early 1970s, most called him Phil Africa.

He was part of the confrontation of Aug. 8, 1978, in Philadelphia, where nearly a

Mumia Abu-Jamal

Mumia Abu-Jamal

dozen MOVE members were charged in connection with that conflict, in which a cop likely died from friendly fire – but MOVE members were charged.

Among them, Phil Africa. Phil was among 9 MOVE men and women charged with murder, and convicted in a hotly disputed trial, of third degree murder. So disputed, in fact, that several days after the trial, Judge Edwin Malmed would admit, in a locally broadcast interview, that he “Hadn’t the faintest idea” (his very words) …who killed the cop.

The 9 MOVE members were sentenced to 30 to 100 years: the longest in Pennsylvania history since third-degree became law in PA. Judge Malmed reportedly acknowledged the illegality of such a sentence, telling those sentenced that it may be reversed on appeal, but, for now, it would hold them. It appears Malmed believed the State Appellate courts were fairer than even they believed.

But not to people named Africa it seems.

For today, 37 years after the events of August, 1978, the fact that 7 remaining men and women are still in prison is nothing short of a scandal.

The MOVE men and women should’ve been free, at least 7 years ago, when they reached their minimums.

But this is Pennsylvania, where madness passes as normality.

Phil lost a son back in the mid –‘70s, when police trampled his child, Life Africa.

On May 13, 1985, when the police bombed a MOVE home, another son, Little Phil, was among the 11 people shot and burned to death.

Phil was an extremely talented artist and painter. He was a man with a gift of lightness, a witty sense of humor, and an ever-present smile.

Phil Africa, MOVE member, will be long loved and remembered by his wife, Janine Africa, by his brothers and sisters in MOVE, and by many, many prisoners across the state, whom he counseled over the years.

Phil lived through 59 cycles of planet earth, before being returned to his Mother.

From Prison Nation, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Mike Africa read the following statement from MOVE Nine Political Prisoner Debbie Africa just after I entered the hall. 

Remembering Phil
The one thing that always stands out in my mind when I think about Phil is his urgency to be family to all of us in MOVE and those outside of MOVE that love MOVE.  No matter what he was doing, if you needed his attention, he was there.  Phil always had an ear for anybody who needed to talk.  Phil always had a hope for anybody who needed a strong arm.  There was no time that was not the correct time to talk to Phil.  No matter what, he would drop what he was doing and make you his priority.  Long Live John Africa.  Phil was always ready to feed people MOVE’s Law, no matter who or what you are.  Black, White, Puerto Rican, French or German, always ready to encourage people with MOVE belief whether the garbage man, lawyer, clergy, or cops.  He always understood what his purpose was.  What his purpose is.  Everybody knows him.  People even name their sons after him.  He’s the big brother that anybody would want to have.  Phil never passed up an opportunity to talk our Move Nine Debbiebelief to people, and boy did he talk.  I believe that’s another reason we got along so good.  We shared that characteristic, talking.  Janine said, while in prison, Phil earned the respect of many, many inmates and staff alike.  Phil earned respect of prison guards because of his sincere commitment to be right.  Phil commanded the appreciation even from people who weren’t receptive to MOVE’s principles.  They had no choice but to acknowledge that example of loyalty to John Africa.  Phil took a lot of the younger kids in prison under his wing.  Working hard to keep them out of trouble, and steer them in the right direction, away from gang violence, drugs and nonsense.  They loved Phil at Dallas and called him Father Phil.  Phil never misused their trust to ego-trip or lord it over them or others.  Phil always remained humble, to model MOVE’s principle and always acknowledging of the source of his strength and courage: John Africa.  Phil even had time for the older generation in Dallas, making them feel comfortable and young by playing on the Dallas Senior Ball Team with them.  Everybody who came in contact with Phil loved him, as he left a vibration of courage and determination stamped on the hearts of all who loved him.  That vibration will live forever in us, as Phil will live forever, for Phil is with Mama and Mama will always be.  Ona Move!  Long live the Power that pulls all things together.  Long Live John Africa.

Suzanne Ross, New York Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, made reference to one of Phil’s paintings, a lion with the caption “Real Power”, which she dubbed a self-portrait.  She never met Phil personally, but she exchanged many letters with him and he sent paintings to her.  “Phil knew that the deranged police and correctional officers, as much harm as they did, did not represent real power.  Phil’s revolutionary love and power was the kind of power we appreciate and support.  When I think of Phil’s passing I think in ultimate, extreme terms.  Good versus evil, love versus vengeance, revolution versus reaction.  Phil and MOVE represent [this] in all the positive ways and the System in all the opposite.  When my granddaughter, who is twelve years old, heard Phil had passed, she burst into tears and she said, ‘He never even belonged there in the first place!’  And the outrage of someone who never belonged there in the first place, and then ‘mysteriously dies’, is very hard, in just the simplest concept of justice, to accept.”

Ann Lamb, New York City Jericho Movement, shared her pain and her love with the crowd.  “It is really, really devastating [to have heard] that Phil had passed the night before, because there is no excuse for it, there is no reason for it to have happened, and it is really, really painful to stand up here and talk. … I never actually met Phil, but we corresponded for many years, and he did send me many of his paintings … and I extend from the Jericho Movement to the entire MOVE Family our sincerest love for what you are going through right now, and we will continue to support you, and all US-held Political Prisoners, until everyone is home, and everyone is free.  Because there is no alternative.”

Baba Karim, a longtime supporter and ally of MOVE, read a letter from Delbert Africa, another member of the MOVE Nine who was famously, and brutally, beaten by Philadelphia police as he was being arrested at the end of the 1978 police assault.  He began with the reading of the letter:

Delbert Africa being beaten by Philadelphia police, August 8, 1978.

Delbert Africa being beaten by Philadelphia police, August 8, 1978.

Ona MOVE!  Long Live John Africa’s Revolution!  Long Stand Phil Africa’s revolutionary example. … I’m in a state of shock, but handling those troubles as I know Phil would.  Working hard, keeping mind and body busy, so as not to [brood on] a lot of questions.  That way can only lead to depression, ultimately stopping work.  And that’s what the demon wants, to stop those working to revolute this foul system. … Yeah, it’s rough right about now, but Mama ain’t gonna put up no barriers in our way towards freedom.  It’s this damn System that took Phil away from us too soon, way too soon.  I can feel the void, you know.  I try to keep all the good times in mind, so as not to get too sad.  You do the same, Old Soldier. … I can handle whatever they come up with as long as I hold tight to MOVE Law. … With a warm revolutionary hug, and a sharp salute of solidarity, Ona MOVE Karim, Stay strong.  Delbert Africa.  Long Live John Africa Forever!

Baba Karim spoke of his experience meeting MOVE in prison and being impressed that none of the MOVE members were ever depressed, despite the fact that “everybody knows that MOVE didn’t kill that cop”, there were “nine MOVE members [who] were innocent in jail, they’re innocent!  They didn’t do nothing but try to protect their family, defend themselves against the brutal-ass police force headed by [police commissioner and future mayor Frank] Rizzo.”  About Phil specifically, “his dedication, his commitment, his honesty, his sincerity, being lighthearted all the time, is an example that we can all learn from.”

Paulette Dauteuil, National Jericho Movement, shared greetings from former Political Prisoner Larry Butler and current Political Prisoner Tom Manning.  She then added her own comments: “It is an example that we on the outside need to take.  As Safiya [Bukhari, former Political Prisoner, Veteran of the Black Panther Party and Founder of the Jericho Movement who became an Ancestor in 2003] said, we have to pick up this work to free our Prisoners. … There should be a thousand people sitting in this room for Phil.  [There were several hundred as it was – Editor.]  It’s great that we’re all here, but with the work we do, we need to embrace and organize more people.  So please, if nothing else, take Phil’s philosophy, and talk to people, and help people understand the lives of our Political Prisoners are at stake every day they are [inside those walls].”

Do Right Ministries supports prisoners in several Pennsylvania prisons.  Elder Lee G. Farrell sent a message of solidarity that was relayed by Mike Africa.  Elder Farrell had met Phil and Delbert while visiting his nephew Gabriel Pitman at SCI Dallas, where Phil and Delbert were being held.  He shared letters with Phil over the years and buried some of them under a tree in South Sudan to “spread his DNA in the Motherland.”  Mike Africa then read a poem Elder Farrell had sent him from Gabriel Pitman:

Bro. Phil, True Revolutionary
Mama called, and I answered.
Don’t y’all grieve for me.
As I lived life, so too I embrace death.
Free, able to see deep within, far beyond and far behind
These bars of steel and brick that bind
Lies Mama’s essence.
Just look around.  Can you see?  Can you feel the blessings of her presence?
If not, my sympathies are for you.
‘Cause truly you use her goodness for bad.
Living life in fear of losing things you never had,
And never will.
As your freedom, justice and equality
Are premised on all the people you’ve killed.
Liberty for all, it’s just an illusion.
That’s why, as I lived life, so too I’m choosing to die.
Free, in Revolution!  Yes, the whole damn system is guilty as hell.
Through our lives, this is proved.
So while the system dies, in fear of its self-made hell,
We’ll live life free, faithfully, forever.
Ona MOVE!
January 10, 2015 to Infinity
For Rebel Phil, for Sista Merle, and the whole MOVE Family,
Your light shines on forever.
A Messenger, 2015, a.k.a. Gabriel R. Pitman.
Long Live Phil Africa!

Kevin Gilroy, representing the Partisan Defense Committee, made a statement in support of MOVE, recounting the history of MOVE’s longtime conflict with the Philadelphia police that culminated in the 1978 police assault on the MOVE House in Powelton Village that led to the MOVE Nine’s imprisonment and the subsequent 1985 bombing of the Osage Avenue MOVE House that killed six adults and five children.

Sis. Taina Asili, New York-based vocalist and longtime supporter of MOVE, sang a beautiful and moving song she had dedicated to MOVE, Mumia and Political Prisoners, including Phil Africa, titled “Prison Break”.  Videos of her performances of “Prison Break” can be seen on YouTube, as well as on the full video of this event at MOVE’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/picturethestruggle.

Sis. Basiymah Muhammad-Bey, Longtime MOVE Supporter and Former Assistant President-General, UNIA-ACL, brought “warm greetings of revolutionary struggle.”  She met Phil Africa at age 17 during the Powelton Village police siege when her mother insisted they bring water to the MOVE Family as the police were trying to starve them out.  “She made us have an assembly line where we organized cases of water and we brought it to the compound. … We are under attack … and we have to help each other pull ourselves up.  Some of us are a little tougher than others.  But from what we see going on right now … all of Ferguson, all of New York, all of the world rising against the injustices to our people, and we are left to still tumble harder to Free ‘Em All!  So in the midst of all the storm that’s going on, look at MOVE.  Long Live John Africa!  Still standing strong!  That means something to you when you’re in the field.  I [remember] watching them, and thought that something was mentally wrong with them.  Had no idea that something was mentally wrong with me!  And so I say to my teachers in my school, of course the training that I have received, from MOVE and many others, has allowed my revolutionary fight to be as strong as the [air] that I breathe!”

Zack Africa, MOVE Family Member, presented a Slide Show he produced in honor of Phil Africa.

Sue Africa, MOVE’s first Minister of Confrontation, made some extensive comments, which we excerpt here: “I’m going to start out today by reading a quote from a book titled Strategic Revolution from John Africa because Phil is a true revolutionary, still revoluting, generating and moving. … To quote John Africa:

John Africa

John Africa

MOVE is strong-willed, clear-visioned, one-minded, true in dedication.  MOVE don’t stagger, waver or stumble or fall short.  With the MOVE Organization, a step forward is a step gained, and a step lost for the System, because the MOVE Organization will not take a step back.  Our aim is revolution, our trust is Mama, our drive is consistency, our target is System, and we will not be stopped, for we have the courage of fight, the understanding of true law, and the power of God in both fists.

She went on: “Long Live John Africa!  Like we’ve heard all throughout today, Phil touched a lot of lives.  I have some letters and readings that the inmates at Dallas with Del and Phil wrote.”  She then read a few of those letters, including one from activists at the Bruderhof, one from a MOVE support group in France, words of support from friends with Save the Children in Minneapolis, Minnesota and some remarks from Baba Omar Sadiki, a supporter living in Morocco. 

She finally shared some remarks from fellow MOVE Nine Political Prisoner Eddie Africa:

Eddie Africa

Eddie Africa

Ona MOVE!  My brother Phil is a good man.  A father, a husband, a brother, a good soldier.  I sit here thinking of him and I’m smiling.  I can hear his voice, see his laugh, and it touches me in a good way.  The memories of our brother are countless and I think of them a lot. … At times I would call on his strength.  I would lean on him to get past a particular problem.  He would give me MOVE Law to make me strong.  And his smile showed his love.  We spent a lot of time together and I will hold that time together close to me. … He is not perfect, but he strives for it, as we all did.  His friends are many, prisoners and staff.  They gravitated to Phil.  Some of them not understanding why, as the stories told about us were supposed to turn folks against us.  But the lies that are told don’t match Phil and MOVE’s behavior, how we really are in person. … Phil was taught to revere family.  Life, wherever, whoever it was, without prejudicial characterizations.  Phil’s example is a good one, and instead of feeling down about him, I will use his life to strengthen mine.

Mama Alberta Africa, the wife of The Coordinator, MOVE Founder and Ancestor John Africa, spoke about Phil.  “Phil and I were extremely close.  He always took care and looked out for me. … I have a small quote here from Alphonso Africa.  It’s very small, just one line.  It’s from when he was on trial with The Coordinator.  And Alphonso said, ‘Now, as MOVE Members, we are secure in that we live, so shall we live.’  And I have a little something here from the writings of John Africa:

Everything that is dependable has always been here.  And everything that has always been here stays here.  Because it don’t fail.  You don’t see a thing outside your window that is within the Law of Life that hasn’t always been here.  The sky you see was here for your mother to see.  The sun in the sky was experienced by your grandmother as by you.  The grass that abounds the earth that you walk was witnessed and walked by your grandmother’s mother.  The water that is wet to your touch today was wet to the touch of your parents a zillion years ago and beyond, because the composition of water don’t fail.  The language of life is very plain.  Life plainly states to live, as death plainly states to die.  MOVE don’t have to be fearful of death.  MOVE will never know the suffering of death.  Because our belief is engaged in the principle of life.  All that life just outside your window, that is MOVE Law you’re looking at.  All of that life you see didn’t just happen to be here.  Life is here because life is alive.  MOVE believes in life.  And it ain’t life that disappears.  It is death that will not last in the Law of Life.

Mama Alberta concluded her remarks: “Life is the most powerful thing there is, and Phil Africa is connected to that force, a proven prophet of God, a MOVE Member.  All those involved in interfering with Phil Africa’s work, MOVE’s work, will not be able to will away the suffering they’ve got to do for violating MOVE.  Long Live John Africa.  Long Live MOVE.  Long Live Phil Africa.”

Mike Africa, who had been serving as one of the emcees for this event, took some time to share some remarks of his own.  “All this dates back to ’78 when they arrested Phil and they arrested the MOVE Nine, that started as a result of March 28, 1976, when the police came out there and they killed Phil Africa’s baby [Life Africa, who was knocked out of the arms of his mother, Janine Africa, and died when his head

The MOVE Nine after the 1978 assault.

The MOVE Nine after the 1978 assault.

hit the pavement – Editor].  People don’t know that.  Because the police tried to say that the baby didn’t exist because the baby didn’t have a Birth Certificate.  Phil Africa was in prison because of the work to protect our children.  To protect us.  And this is how the System repays people for trying to protect children!  It’s no different than when they killed Jesus Christ, when they were looking for Jesus Christ because they had heard that the Messiah was coming to bring peace.  It’s no different than when they killed Martin Luther King.  It’s no different than the killing of Malcolm X.  Because the System is not here to help us.  It is here to eliminate anybody [that opposes it].  And this family here, this MOVE Organization, is a family, and we’ll work together, and we’ll be close to each other and we will continue to fight this system as Phil Africa did.  Long Live John Africa.  Down with this rotten-ass System.”

There were a few musical performances from supporters of the organization.  Three strong young Brothers from MOVE had formed a group named Raw, and they performed “We Ain’t Crazy” for the appreciative crowd.

Baba I Abdul Jon spoke about his introduction to MOVE and the devotion he has felt toward them ever since: “I was following the MOVE Organization [since] 1976 when they came out with the arms [the famous “Guns on the Porch” incident when MOVE Members stood on the porch of their Powelton Village house with rifles in a show of defiance toward the brutality of the Philadelphia police – Editor].  I thought that was the most amazing, craziest thing I had ever seen in my life.  They were standing their ground with their weapons [saying that] no longer would they allow [police] to come in and beat on them. … It was Phil Africa’s child who was killed [in 1976].  Phil Africa had a child killed prior to August 8, 1978 and on May 13 [1985, the police bombing of the MOVE house on Osage Avenue that killed six adults and five children, among them another of Phil Africa’s children – Editor].  The MOVE Nine is making sacrifices. … If we have to spread some of this work out, people have to start standing up for themselves. … The MOVE Organization is standing up against this government in a manner and way in which nobody has ever done, and in a manner and a way that everybody needs to do.  One of the things that Phil told me is that it only takes a few people. … There’s no compromising with this System because they don’t have anything that they ever offer you.  They don’t have health, they don’t have wealth, they don’t have anything. … It’s just war and murder!”

The Commemoration of Phil Africa.

The Commemoration of Phil Africa’s life at the Kingsessing Recreation Center.


The Daughter of Delbert Africa spoke briefly and shared her feeling with the audience.  She spoke of her connection to Phil and the MOVE family even when she lived in a different world.  “I want you all to know that the movement continues.  It continues whether there’s rhetoric, whether there is marching, poster boards; life lives within.  It was taught and bred in me from the time I was born in Canada till today.  I have never denied my MOVE Family, nor have I denied my lineage, and I make sure that everyone is clear, I am here because of my father, because of what Uncle Phil taught me, because of my mother. … I want you to keep love in your heart. … I’m glad that he existed and he exists still within me.  Ona MOVE.”

Fred, a local supporter, sang a brief song and then he recounted a conversation he once had with Phil.  “I remember trying to express the [pain] I felt from the darkness this System had imposed upon me.  And he stopped me and said, ‘Fred, look.  We all have done bad things.  But when you came to MOVE, and you embraced John Africa’s teachings on life, these things no longer mattered.  Under the System’s influence you had no choice but to be corrupt, and in the dark, because the System is sick and corrupt.  John Africa’s influence is the influence of innocence, truth.  Once you turned around, you started to leave that [corruption] behind, and as long as you stay, work, keep on generating, you only get cleaner, and you leave that darkness behind.’  I never met a man who brought so much light into the darkness.  I love you Phil.  Long Live Revolution.  Long Live John Africa Forever.”

He then read a statement from Kristen Reed, a longtime supporter of MOVE and Mumia who now lives in New Mexico:

The best word I’ve seen in the aftermath of this tragedy that describes Phil’s open and honest demeanor is love. … You knew he would always be there for you. … To try to make sense of such a loss is impossible.  The world has lost one of its strongest, brightest and warmest souls. … Rest in Power, my friend.  You are sorely missed.

Political Prisoner Sundiata Acoli, imprisoned since 1973 as a result of a Shootout with New Jersey police that left Zayid Shakur dead and led to the conviction of himself and Assata Shakur (who subsequently escaped and now lives in Cuba) in the death of police officer Werner Foerster, released a statement through Prison Radio:

I could not have met a better comrade. … Very intelligent, good confidence and courage, yet easygoing and not concerned with his own self-importance.  Or, in other words, a comrade’s comrade, who was too soon transferred to points unknown, but left indelible favorable impressions on me.  And while I’d like to use this occasion to commemorate both the MOVE 11 [who died in the 1985 Osage Avenue bombing – Editor] and the MOVE Nine … we commemorate the dead by remembering them, by honoring them, for as long as one person remembers their name, they yet live.  We commemorate them by remembering and honoring them all, and by coming together, working together with them, for we all know MOVE Political Prisoners want freedom, all Political Prisoners want freedom, and it’s time we brought our Political Prisoners home.  So let’s … get together and make it happen, for MOVE Political Prisoners and all Political Prisoners.  Free them all.  Bring them home.  I thank you.

Mama Pam Africa, President of the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal (ICFFMAJ), roused the audience with her usual revolutionary fire: “Phil’s life is an example of resistance, of true resistance.  And you find that in Phil, but you find that in every last MOVE Member. … Everybody talks about the greatness of Phil, and you could talk for hours and never even get to the tip of the iceberg. … When I met MOVE and Phil, I thought that I was coming to help MOVE.  When I saw the confrontation in 1978, ’77, and police had surrounded MOVE, I thought I was out there for me to help them.  But through these years it’s been MOVE Pam Africa 1MOVE helping me, and I want everybody else to understand the battle that the MOVE Organization is doing and waging against this government is for each and every last one of us.  Inside the prison, outside the prison, and when for years, all you hear MOVE speak about is life, about Mama, about the air, the water, the soil, and that is so important.  To fight for these things, the necessities of life, is something that we all must get involved in.  I remember one time, when our sisters were fighting about water the prison, and another Political Prisoner said ‘Y’all are talking about water?  I’m talking about freeing Political Prisoners.’  Well, if you can’t make the connection between water and Political Prisoners … you’re not making the connection at all, because you need water to survive. … My brother Phil died in that prison because he wasn’t supposed to be there.  He was healthy and strong when he went in. … And they write letters about the people that are now dying in prison on a regular basis. … We say ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot’ and ‘Black Lives Matter’; all lives matter! … The same information and love and understanding that people get on the street, is what you get from every last MOVE Member that’s in prison.  We can’t tell you enough what it means to fight for your air, your water and your soil.  That is revolution.  That is protecting yourself. … This system didn’t come after MOVE because MOVE cursed and MOVE demonstrated against Puppy Palace and things like that.  They came after MOVE because MOVE is waking people up about all life.  The Animal Rights Movement now – I learned about animal rights in 1977 when MOVE was battling toe-to-toe about animals that are in prisons, and people who see zoos as a place to go and take your family and think that the animals are doing fine.  Those are concentration camps, death camps, just like the ones that people recognize that people are in inside those prisons.  I’ll never forget, when I first encountered MOVE, they were demonstrating at Puppy Palace. … It’s MOVE who will make you understand about the necessity of life, and if you’re talking about freeing Political Prisoners, all prisoners, you’ve got to take it all the way across the board, or no one’s going to be free.  That’s what John Africa taught us. … The same monster, the same government … the same people that are doing all these things, are the same people that are doing it all the way across the board. … This fight is about each and every last person that’s in this room, and your children, your family. … And I know I appreciate what MOVE has done for me, and my children and what’s continuing to be done for me and my children. … These [people] thought when they dropped the bomb [in 1985], that would be the end of MOVE.  I’ll never forget Rizzo saying the same thing in 1978.  Now he’s gone, all the judges are gone, a lot of the cops are gone, and MOVE is stronger, and these people are getting weaker.  When you saw Occupy, that was their children coming up against them. … When you see ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot’, you see their children coming up after them because of the wrong that they do. … You want to do something for Phil?  Do what Phil has done, and what Merle has done. … Stand up, continue to resist, continue to fight. … Let’s get to Philadelphia on that day [May 13, the 30th anniversary of the MOVE bombing on Osage Avenue – Editor], so that we can shut it down.  And we want them to feel us coming. … Ona MOVE, Long Live John Africa, Long Live the Power that pulls all things together.  Ona MOVE!”

Bro. Russell Shoatz, son of Political Prisoner Russell “Maroon” Shoats, followed up Mama Pam’s comments by briefly recounting his own awakening to the importance of MOVE’s decades-long resistance.  “I’m that ignorant kid, I’m that person who didn’t know.  There are still people outside this room, who don’t know.  And Pam is 110% right.  We’re talking about ‘People’s Socialism’ and ‘Maroon the Implacable’, my dad’s new book.  But I remember the conversations about MOVE, about the Africas, that were in prison.  They aren’t crazy!!  Now, the crazy done come full circle now.  Now the crazy’s come so full circle that we’ve got a whole movement talking about People’s Socialism, but they were doing that a long, long, long time ago.  But nobody is pointing back and saying ‘do you remember when MOVE was getting locked up for defending animals and everybody was saying they were crazy?’  Now we’ve got a whole movement, trying to save the planet, White folks, Asian folks, Purple folks, Green folks.  But nobody is saying ‘here’s a whole family that was bombed’ [for taking a similar, uncompromising stand – Editor]. … It ain’t about nothing but freedom.  And these people exemplify freedom.  Behind the walls, and here.  In front of your face.  You want to see freedom?  You want to see life?  Look at MOVE.  You see life.  You see freedom.  Long Live John Africa.  Ona MOVE!”

To close out the event, the Seeds of Wisdom, the MOVE Organization’s original youth group who are now adolescents and young adults, gathered on the stage and recited, in unison, the following creed:

In MOVE Law we trust.
All things in order of life.
The Power of Truth is Final.
Long Live MOVE.
Long Live John Africa’s Revolution.
Long Live John Africa.
Long Live John Africa.
Long Live John Africa.
Ona MOVE!

On Wednesday, May 13, 2015 at 12:00 Noon, supporters and activists will gather again to commemorate the 30-Year Anniversary of The May 13 Massacre: The 1985 Bombing of the MOVE Organization by the City of Philadelphia.  The event will be held at First District Plaza, 3801 Market St., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  For more details, be sure to visit http://www.onamove.com or the MOVE Facebook page, www.facebook.com/picturethestruggle.