From 1984: MOVE showing contempt for its Black neighbors

This story was originally published on May 22, 1984

The repulsively radical MOVE organization should be declared persona non grata in the black community.

MOVE’s black neighbors in West Philadelphia have asked the group to tone down its electronically amplified rhetoric, and clean up its filth.

MOVE’s response? John Africa, their founder, does not teach them to “be concerned about other people’s rights.”

If John Africa’s so-called revolution does not include respect for the black community, then John Africa’s followers do not deserve the black community’s support.

What MOVE is doing in the 6200 block of Osage Street and the 1600 block of S. 56th Street is not revolutionary - it’s revolting.

The black community rallied to MOVE’s side during its bitter 1977-78 confrontation with former Mayor Frank Rizzo. Yet the support extended to MOVE resulted not from a love for MOVE’s loathsome lifestyle but from a justifiable hatred of Rizzo’s racist policies.

Perhaps it was the “power” of John Africa which saved MOVE members from the hail of police bullets during the fatal 1978 shootout at MOVE’s headquarters on N. 33rd St. in Powelton Village. But the pressure and negotiations which broke Rizzo’s starvation blockade, and freed five jailed MOVE members in May of 1978 was the result of sophisticated hard work and sacrifices by many blacks.

MOVE trashed that unprecedented victory over Rizzo with an anarchistic stand which led to the Aug. 8 shootout.

MOVE now says it is at war with the city/system to gain release of 14 imprisoned members. Nine of the 14 are serving 30 years to life for the death of police officer James Ramp in the 1978 shootout.

Sure, MOVE has been subjected to shameful police brutality and judicial shortcuts (a MOVE baby was allegedly trampled to death when police assaulted MOVE members during an incident on March 28, 1976).

But MOVE must bear some responsibility for these attacks because its members choose to act like gorillas and not guerillas.

The nine MOVErs doing life had their day in court. In fact they had 19 weeks in court, the city’s longest and costliest trial.

The MOVErs did not display revolutionary resourcefulness when they chose to disrupt court proceedings instead of playing their possible legal trump card. Legally, the city weakened its murder case against the nine when it grossly destroyed evidence by tearing down the MOVE compound a few hours after the shootout. The case bogged down on MOVE’s behavior.

John Africa’s own courtroom behavior starkly contrasts with the antics of his faithful followers.

When John (Vincent Leaphart) Africa was tried in federal court in 1981, he did not curse the judge. A respectful John Africa rationally demolished the feds’ weak bomb conspiracy case against him, and walked out of court a free man.

If MOVE wants to make war on the city, don’t use the black community as a battlefield.

MOVE chased black families out of 307-309 N. 33rd Street in 1973. MOVE then turned those properties into its headquarters, an urban pigfarm-like environment which had to be endured by neighbors.

MOVE is overdue in reciprocating with the accountablity it constantly demands of others. Dismantle the public address system, take those slates off the windows, quit feeding raw meat to stray dogs, and pay the $1,253.16 in back taxes city records say MOVE owes on 1630 S. 56th Street.

Yo MOVE, no mas, no more! There is nothing revolutionary about unleashing rats on your neighbors.

This story was originally published on May 22, 1984.