Wukie
Dr. Brad Zuberi
Sociology
4 November 2010
The Osage Avenue Bombing
In 1985, on Mothers Day, a mass of state and city police raided on a quiet block,
Osage Avenue, which was a predominant African American community in the heart of
Philadelphia. By the next day, sixty-one homes were destroyed and eleven people
were killed, all of which were members of the communication organization, MOVE, led
by John Africa. The MOVE organization was a black organization that lived in the
Powelton Village section of West Philadelphia which adopted a back-to-nature lifestyle.
Police stormed a boarded up house which was home base for MOVE and proceeded to
end the organization.
The MOVE organization set up loud speakers on top of the house and preached
their messages, which many of the local residents were opposed because they used
extreme profanity that could be heard all over the neighborhood. In 1978, the state and
city police ordered the organization to evacuate the house and relocate. But they did not
meet the terms with the orders, and a raid occurred. The police nine arrested members
of the MOVE organization and they were found guilty of third-degree murder for Officer
James Ramps death.
Years later, the Move organization relocated Osage Avenue. There, they began
to set up another home base by acting as they did before; boarded up another house for
and set up loud speakers, preaching their message to the public. But this time, they not
only preached their views of life but also insisted that their brothers were freed from
jail. The police acted on the situation again on May 13, 1985. They raided the house
projecting tear gas and shot at the house for hours. Eventually the police then dropped
C-4 explosives on top of the house, to destroy the members. They not only ended the
MOVE, but also caught 65 other houses on fire and severely damaged. Ramona Africa
and her child Birdie Africa were the only two to survive, with 11 others died in the fire
and many homes were lost. The police had to act on the situation, but they could have
definitely preceded this in a different wayaction, instead of causing so much harm.