News
The MOVE organization was started in the 1972 by John Africa and included members from different religions, race and gender but all were cemented by the belief that nothing is more important than life. The members of MOVE staged demonstrations at institutions they felt exploited life on earth, including circuses and zoos, chemical plants that were polluting our water, and homes for the elderly where residents were not being treated with respect. The police didn't appreciate the protests and reacted with brutality and bombings many times over. This brutality came to a head twice in MOVE's forty year history -- once in August of 1978 and again in May of 1985. Both times homes and lives were lost in the fight. In 1978, police officer James Ramp was killed. Nine members of the MOVE organization were convicted of the murder and, over thirty years later are still in jail. In 1985, the police came to the new MOVE house under the guise of following up on complaints by neighbors. The police tried to remove the MOVE members from the house. When the MOVE family refused to leave, the police bombed the house, killing 11 people.Twenty-five years later Ramona, the sole survivor from that blast, is still heading the movement to fight oppression, to not stand down in the face of danger, to not be bought by the highest bidder. Fred Riley, also a member of the MOVE family warns, however, that the stronger you stand in defiance of oppression, the more the hostility and brutality will increase. Regardless of this fact, Ramona Africa says that people need to "love themselves enough to fight."MOVE can be contacted at (215) 387-4107 or by email at onamovellja@aol.comIt is the self within ourselves that we have to sacrifice. It is our own heart that has to be torn out of the false being and offered to the light.Interview conducted March 2010.