Protest to demand 'Free the MOVE 9!'

Since 1978 the MOVE 9—innocent Black men and women—have been in prison following a massive police assault on their headquarters in the Powelton Village section of Philadelphia, seven years before the state dropped a bomb on another MOVE house, killing 11 people including 5 children.

Police bomb MOVE house in Philadelphia, 1985.

In August 2008, the MOVE 9 will complete their minimum sentence of 30 years and become eligible for parole. On Aug. 11, supporters will conduct a car caravan throughout Philadelphia neighborhoods launching a campaign to inform people of their status and gathering support to pressure the parole board to release the MOVE 9.

In a current climate of increasing incidents of police brutality, support for the MOVE 9, who were targeted for their outspoken opposition to rampant police brutality during the 1970s in Philadelphia under Frank Rizzo’s notorious tenure as police commissioner, is critical. Rizzo’s regime was a virtual police state, marked by the infamous August 1970 raid on the Philadelphia offices of the Black Panther Party.

In the early 1970s, the MOVE organization began holding demonstrations to focus attention on police abuse. As a result the police began a concerted campaign of harassment against MOVE, breaking up demonstrations, and arresting and physically assaulting MOVE members, including two pregnant women, causing both to miscarry.

In March of 1976, police brutally attacked several MOVE members who had recently been released from jail, causing the death of a three-week-old child that one member was carrying. No charges were filed against the officers involved in the child’s death.

Using the phony excuse of code violations, the city unsuccessfully attempted to enter MOVE’s Powelton Village home with health inspectors and other city officials, leading to a public display of armed MOVE members protecting their property.

Rizzo, who had been elected mayor of Philadelphia in 1972, ordered a six-week-long blockade of the immediate neighborhood to prevent food and supplies from reaching MOVE with the aim of forcing members out of the house.

When the blockade failed, over 600 members of the Philadelphia police surrounded the house and attempted to force MOVE out on August 8, 1978. During the attack, police officer James Ramp was killed by a single gunshot, which the media reported as ‘friendly fire’ from officers shooting at the MOVE house. Ramp, stationed toward the front of the assault, was shot in the back of the neck by a bullet traveling downward.

Although they were in the basement of their house, six feet below ground, nine MOVE family members were charged with Ramp’s murder and received 30- to 100-year sentences. Any evidence that could have supported their defense was destroyed by Philadelphia police following orders from Rizzo to bulldoze the house, leveling it within hours of the assault. Noted Philadelphia journalist Linn Washington described it as “the fastest destruction of a crime-scene site in history”.

Merle Africa died in prison under mysterious circumstances in March 1998. The other MOVE 9 members, Chuck, Debbie, Delbert, Eddie, Janet, Janine, Mike and Phil Africa, will be interviewed by the parole board in a few months.