Debbie Sims Africa of the MOVE 9 paroled
June 18, 2018 5:47 AM   Subscribe

Debbie Sims Africa was released on parole Saturday after 40 years in prison. She was one of the MOVE 9, nine men and women who were arrested in 1978 during a police raid on the building occupied by the Philadelphia Black liberation group MOVE.

All nine were charged with murder after one of the police died. (MOVE supporters maintain that he was killed by police fire.) Sims Africa was pregnant at the time of her arrest and gave birth in jail to her son Mike Africa, whom she is now able to see for the first time outside of prison.

She is the first of the MOVE 9 to be released. Two others have died behind bars, while the remaining six (including her husband, Mike Davis Africa, Sr.) remain in prison.

Years after the arrest of the MOVE 9, on May 13, 1985, the police dropped a bomb on another MOVE house in Philadelphia, killing 11 people (including five children). (previous 30th anniversary post, 25th anniversary post, 20th anniversary post)
posted by enn (9 comments total) 21 users marked this as a favorite
 
I live here in Philly, although I am not native to here. On more than one occasion, in discussing the state of community-police relations with others, I have brought up that Philly police literally bombed a house (really more of the whole block, tho) and educated people are all like, wait what? Lots of white people don't know about this and when told have a hard time believing it. Philly seriously needs to reckon with its history of police violence and fix its shit pronto. The legacy of Frank Rizzo is strong. I am hopeful that recently elected progressive DA Larry Krasner makes some big changes.

I am so glad that Debbie is free and able to spend time with her son. I am sad that it took this long.
posted by lazaruslong at 5:57 AM on June 18, 2018 [21 favorites]


non-ironic: FREE MUMIA!!!

I first heard about the MOVE bombing in peace punk zines like WorldWar3 in the early 90s, and it blew my tiny little suburban mind and it's a huge part of who I am today.

THEY TRIED TO BURY US. THEY DIDN'T KNOW WE WERE SEEDS.
posted by loquacious at 6:26 AM on June 18, 2018 [6 favorites]


Strongly recommend the Let the Fire Burn, a masterful documentary about MOVE made entirely from testimony and archival footage.
posted by Ndwright at 6:34 AM on June 18, 2018 [10 favorites]


I was in elementary school at the time of the bombing and can remember being very confused by how it was being discussed.

Even if the Move 9 were guilty (which is not clear to me), they have paid a sufficiently high price by now and should be free.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:44 AM on June 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


Another Philadelphian here. By all contemporary accounts, there was no love for MOVE among their neighbors, whether on 33rd Street, where the shootout that lead to Debbie Africa's arrest happened, or their occupation of Osage Ave. Blasting out loud political announcements at all hours via bullhorn, and other annoyances are not going to endear anyone to their neighbors.

That said, the circumstances of Ramp's death do not seem to implicate MOVE, the Osage Avenue bombing was beyond excessive, and letting the neighborhood burn was utter negligence on the part of the City of Philadelphia.
posted by SansPoint at 7:02 AM on June 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


letting the neighborhood burn was utter negligence on the part of the City of Philadelphia.

I think the City of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Police's actions rise beyond negligence here, and go well into criminal. Nobody from the city was criminally charged with dropping a bomb that killed 11 people (including 5 children), destroyed 65 homes, and made over 250 people homeless.
posted by entropone at 7:07 AM on June 18, 2018 [25 favorites]


entropone: Agreed.
posted by SansPoint at 7:20 AM on June 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


I don't know if it's still showing up on the Guardian link from the Osage Avenue bombing 30th anniversary "previously" but here's the ~4min documentary they made (direct .mp4, direct .webm) including bits of an interview with Ramona Africa, the sole MOVE survivor.

The OP article says,
That incident continues to have the distinction of being the only aerial bombing by police carried out on US soil.
but there's also the Battle of Blair Mountain at the beginning of the 1920s between mine workers, mining company "contractors", law enforcement, and the U.S. Army, which involved aerial bombardment. The newly-formed Army Air Force was there and at least conducted aerial surveillance but the bombing was disclaimed as having been carried out by commercial aircraft at the arrangement of the company. None of the accounts I've come across in casual searching online mentions anyone being prosecuted for carrying out bombings on U.S. targets.
posted by XMLicious at 7:40 AM on June 18, 2018 [7 favorites]


There's also the Tulsa race riot of 1921.
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:55 AM on June 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


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