[4], In 1981, MOVE relocated to a row house at 6221 Osage Avenue in the Cobbs Creek area of West Philadelphia. It went up in unextinguished flames. A lot of families went to shelters or hotels. The jury had found that the city used excessive force and violated the members' constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure. Today, the houses are largely vacant. They were all huddled up together and they were all crying. Ramona Africa, lone adult survivor of bombing: We immediately tried to get our children, our animals, ourselves out of the burning building. The group combined revolutionary ideology, similar to that of the Black Panthers, with work for animal rights. [7] Mayor Wilson Goode and police commissioner Gregore J. Sambor classified MOVE as a terrorist organization. Diane J., a resident of the neighborhood: We went to my friend’s house, and later that day we saw the bombing on the news. I went out on the balcony and I could see the smoke billowing from across the city. They maintained a complicated relationship with Philadelphia residents; some sympathized with their mission, while others found their lifestyle to be disruptive. Michael Africa Jr., MOVE member and son of Debbie and Michael Africa Sr.: I was living with my grandmother at the time. Gerald Renfrow, a resident on the block (in 2019 interview with WHYY): My hope is that it will be, once again, a beautiful community. [19][20], In 2005, federal judge Clarence Charles Newcomer presided over a civil trial brought by residents seeking damages for having been displaced by the widespread destruction following the 1985 police bombing of MOVE. Sambor said he received the order, but the fire commissioner testified that he did not receive the order. There were a lot of people displaced during that time … people returned with hope. Diane J., a resident of the neighborhood: I went to hang out at the home of my friend’s in-laws that day. So we took the dog and left. Drop a bomb on a residential area? A worker transports the remains of a body found in the rubble. I’ll never forget it. A man flees for safety with a child while police assault the MOVE headquarters. We took stuff to stay overnight and left everything else in the house. We’re just all absorbing this expectation that black life and black bodies have very little value. MOVE members in front of their original headquarters in the Powelton Village area of Philadelphia. Gregore Sambor, then-Philadelphia police commissioner (in testimony): … I had recommended that the best way was to use an explosive entry device to blow a hole in the roof to insert gas in through the roof, and also to dislodge the bunker. I saw a bomb drop. For the next several years, the confrontation with MOVE would be remembered as an ordeal that transformed the fabric of the city. “The story is a parable of sorts; it’s a parable of how the unthinkable comes to happen,” said Jason Osder, the director of Let the Fire Burn, a documentary about the bombing.

William Brown III, chair of the Special Investigation MOVE Commission: We were told by the experts that when the fire first started, you could have put it out with a bucket of water. Unbelievable something like that could happen, that a government would do that to its own people. Mind you, this is when there was no fire at all... Michael Moses Ward, lone child survivor, also known as Birdie Africa (in testimony): We was in the cellar for a while … and tear gas started coming in and we got the blankets. I couldn’t believe it. Some quotes have been condensed for clarity. That night, the city of Philadelphia dropped a satchel bomb, a demolition device typically used in combat, laced with Tovex and C-4 explosives on the MOVE organization, who were living in a West Philadelphia rowhome known to be occupied by men, women, and children. Living communally in a house in West Philadelphia, members of MOVE all changed their surnames to Africa, shunned modern technology and materialism, and preached support of animal rights, revolution and a return to nature. [15], The MOVE Commission issued its report on March 6, 1986. Members continued to rack up violations from contempt of court to illegal possession of firearms, to the point where they were considered a terrorist organization by the mayor and police commissioner. They had things that were priceless. Despite investigations and formal apologies, neither the mayor, nor the police commissioner, nor anyone else from the city was criminally charged. Its creator, John Africa, born Vincent Leaphart, was a West Philadelphia native and Korean War veteran whose ideology combined black revolutionary ideas with environmental and animal rights, as well as a back-to-nature movement. Arnett Woodall, a resident and store owner in the neighborhood: We must rebuild and remember that day. The fire spread and eventually destroyed approximately sixty-five nearby houses. James Berghaier, retired Philadelphia police officer (in 2010 interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer): That’s the closest I’ve ever been to a large fire. Their neighbors continually complained to the city about trash around their rowhouse, confrontations with residents, and that MOVE members broadcast sometimes obscene political messages by bullhorn. The standoff started after the Philadelphia police evacuated nearby houses and attempted to serve eviction notices and execute arrest warrants.

We were all in the basement and the water was just pouring down on us for the longest time. The house was hit with high-pressure firehoses and tear gas, but MOVE did not surrender.

They were travelers. Ron Archer, a resident of the neighboring block: The stab to the heart was when the buyout happened, when the old people left. [13] Ramona Africa, one of the two MOVE survivors from the house, said that police fired at those trying to escape. And they was wet. We were devastated. Everything. Members lived communally and described themselves as a family, changing their last names to Africa out of reverence for their founder and for the continent. Diane J., a resident of the neighborhood: I didn’t know until later there were people still in the MOVE house. Investigators search the rubble for bodies. Lindsey Norward is a Brooklyn- and Philadelphia-based journalist who writes about history, culture, and media. Smoke billows from the spreading fire after the bombing.

Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission, March 6, 1986 At 5:28 p.m., a satchel bomb composed of FBI-supplied C4 and Tovex TR2, a dynamite substitute, on a …

Pretty quickly, it got smokier and smokier. For years, I’ve been trying to understand.