After the mishandling of MOVE remains, families aren’t sure what’s buried in their loved one’s graves

“We were particularly struck that the five child victims of the MOVE bombing were buried in unmarked graves,” investigators looking into the handling of remains of the MOVE bombing victims wrote.

A view of the markers placed on the graves of three children killed in the MOVE bombing at the Eden Cemetery in Collingdale, Pa. The graves have been unmarked for decades until the recent installations of temporary markers.

Aubrey Whelan

Philadelphia Inquirer 

Nov 15, 2022

The plastic sign is small, about the size of an index card, easy to miss among the gravestones in Collingdale’s Eden Cemetery.

“In Loving Memory,” it reads, followed by three names — Phil, Tomaso, and Delisha Africa — and the day they died: May 13, 1985.

The day that Philadelphia police dropped a bomb on the heavily fortified home headquarters of MOVE, a Black liberation group with a back-to-nature message that for years clashed with Philadelphia police. This sparked a fire that razed entire city blocks and killed 11 people inside, including five children — Phil, Tomaso, Delisha, and two sisters, Katricia and Zanetta Dotson.

For years, their shared graves had no marker at all.

Last year, a team of independent investigators began probing Philadelphia’s handling of the remains of the bombing victims. The investigators concluded that the victims’ remains were mishandled and in some cases never returned to families.

“We were particularly struck that the five child victims of the MOVE bombing were buried in unmarked graves,” investigators from the law firms Dechert and Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads wrote in their report. They suggested Eden and the city work with families to install a more formal memorial.

It was a simple recommendation. The cemetery took the interim step of adding small, temporary signs with the children’s names above their plots in the historic Collingdale burial ground.

No further progress has been made in the months since the report recommended memorializing the MOVE bombing’s youngest victims.

Two of the children’s relatives, and attorneys representing MOVE members, called the factors involved as tangled as the legacy of the police brutality that took their loved ones’ lives. The violence they suffered returned to the public eye in 2021 after a revelation that the Medical Examiner’s Office had failed for decades to properly account for the bodies of those who died.

The issues are ongoing, families say: Investigators still have been unable to find any records detailing what remains had been released to families from the Medical Examiner’s Office in 1985 and 1986, according to the report. Now, loved ones are left wondering what was buried in their relatives’ plots.

“We don’t know what remains are there,” said Janine Africa, whose son was believed to be buried in the unmarked grave, in a phone interview last Thursday. “The conversation has changed so many times. So we just hold on to our beliefs; we’re not letting them pull us back and forth and all around with this.”

‘We weren’t consulted about anything’

Janine Africa said she had no say in the funeral arrangements for her son, Phil, who was 11 years old when police blew up his Osage Avenue home.

Janine was in prison at the time, along with eight other members of MOVE. She was convicted of third-degree murder in the death of police office James Ramp, killed in a shootout in 1978 at a MOVE house in West Philadelphia. All nine have maintained their innocence.

After the 1985 bombing of the MOVE headquarters, Janine Africa and several other then-imprisoned MOVE mothers weren’t able to plan funerals or burials, or even hear many details about what had happened with their children’s remains.

“We weren’t consulted about anything,” she said.

A MOVE lawyer, Gerald Ford Africa, handled burials for Phil and fellow children Tomaso and Delisha Africa. Although he was in contact with Janine and other mothers, he wouldn’t discuss certain matters with them, for fear their communications in prison were being monitored, Janine said.

Phil, Tomaso, and Delisha were buried in a single plot in Eden in 1986. At the time, Gerald Ford Africa told reporters that the MOVE organization had no money to claim the bodies of the three children and that their burials had been delayed by a city investigation into the bombing.

Remains of Katricia and Zanetta Dotson, two sisters also killed in the bombing and buried at Eden, are in a plot elsewhere in the cemetery, under a large tree, covered by a thick carpet of fallen leaves.

Even a temporary marker for their grave wasn’t visible when a reporter from The Inquirer visited last week.

‘The mental anguish is unbearable’

The children’s grave sat unmarked for years. Gerald Ford Africa, the owner of Phil, Tomaso, and Delisha’s plot, could have given permission for a grave marker, according to cemetery officials. But he died in about 2017, Janine Africa said.

Janine was released from prison in 2019. Two years later, she learned that the city Medical Examiner’s Office had kept the remains of MOVE victims for nearly four decades — bones and tissues, forgotten in a box and never released to families.

The remains were found in 2017, and nearly destroyed — then-city Health Commissioner Thomas Farley ordered them cremated, without notifying victims’ families.

In 2021, Farley revealed his decision to Mayor Jim Kenney and other high-ranking city officials and resigned.

Days later, the box was rediscovered in cold storage: A staffer in the Medical Examiner’s Office had disobeyed the cremation order.

Janine Africa said she was horrified, but unsurprised. “It just follows the pattern that they have always done with us. They showed they have no love for this organization or our children,” she said. “The bomb in 1985 says it all.”

Cemetery officials said in an email that the families can contact Eden if they’d like to place a marker on their graves now. But Janine Africa is now not even sure she wants a permanent marker installed above her son’s grave, because it might not be his.

Lionell Dotson was 8 when his sisters, Katricia and Zanetta, died. He would like to mark their grave. It was unclear who owned his sisters’ plot, and the report was the first time he learned that their graves were unmarked, he said.

Portions of his sisters’ remains were among those stored at the Medical Examiner’s Office. Anthropologists at the University of Pennsylvania who were called on to identify MOVE victims’ remains also kept a portion of Katricia Dotson’s remains for decades, even using them as a teaching aid in online classes.

Last week, Dotson sued both the city and Penn in the matter.

Earlier this year, the city returned remains of both Katricia and Zanetta to him, a small comfort. Now, he says, he hopes to memorialize his sisters in Eden as well.

But like Janine Africa, he’s unsure what’s buried at his sisters’ grave site.

“Who is saying that anything is in those coffins at all?” he said in a phone interview. “The mental anguish and distress is unbearable.”

Disenchanted Move members have quit the Black liberation group

Three top figures say the organisation became a cult and allege girls were pressured into child marriage

Ed Pilkington in Philadelphia
The Guardian
September 25 2021

Three of the most prominent members of Move, one of the oldest Black liberation groups in the US, have grown so disenchanted with the alleged abuses and cult-like behavior of the leadership that they have broken ties with the organization.

In a three-hour interview with the Guardian, Mike and Debbie Davis and their son Mike Africa Jr spoke publicly for the first time about their long-held concerns about the group’s direction. They said they had grown increasingly disturbed by the way children had been treated within Move in the 1980s and 90s, with some kids kept out of school and girls as young as 12 allegedly cajoled into child marriages.

They also objected to the way that Move members who fell sick with cancer were instructed to forgo medication on grounds that their illness was “all in the mind”.

Mike Davis, 65, issued a statement to the Guardian in which he said he had “completely disassociated from the Move organization”. He added that the decision was one that had been “decades in the making”.

Asked by the Guardian whether she had decided to leave the Move organization, Debbie Davis, 64, replied: “Yes, it’s been coming a long time.”

Mike and Debbie Davis were part of the Move 9, the members who were imprisoned for decades and became the public face of the organization. They served 40 years for the shooting death of a police officer during the 1978 siege of Move’s Philadelphia headquarters before they were paroled in 2018.

Their son, Mike Africa Jr, 43, has also been a leading public figure in Move. He was born in a cell days after his mother’s arrest, and it was not until he was 40 years old that he was reunited with his parents out of prison.

Mike Africa Jr told the Guardian that he too had broken ties with the leadership of Move, though he stressed that he still adhered to core values such as the fight against racial discrimination and combatting environmental degradation. “Most people in Move are good people, but they were led into other things by bad people,” he said.

The malaise of the group should be seen as a cautionary tale, Mike Africa Jr added. “You can be an activist, but it’s important to be consistent in your values – you can’t fight for what’s right externally while doing the opposite internally.”

The departure of three top Move members poses the most serious threat yet to the organization, which was founded in 1972 in Philadelphia. Its founder, Vincent Leaphart, changed his name to John Africa and encouraged all Move members to take the last name Africa in homage to their African roots.

In its almost 50 years of existence Move has regularly generated national headlines. The 1978 siege was one of the most dramatic events of the 1970s Black liberation struggle.

In 1985, the Philadelphia police force shocked the country when it dropped a bomb on to the roof of the Move headquarters, igniting a fire that killed 11 people, including five children. Earlier this year further shock waves erupted when it was disclosed that the bones of some of the children who died in the inferno had been kept without permission by Pennsylvania and Princeton Universities and used as “case studies” in anthropology classes.

John Africa was among the victims of the 1985 bombing. About three years after his death, control of the group passed to John Africa’s wife, Alberta Africa, and her deputy Sue Africa, and the pair have been in charge ever since.

The first defections from Move began earlier this summer when 13 former members and supporters, including Mike and Debbie Davis’s daughter Whit Sims, declared they had quit.

The 13 have set up a website, Leaving Move, in which they allege that there has been a pattern of children as young as 12 being pressured into sexual relations going back decades. They also allege that they and others in the movement were subjected to intimidation and manipulation.

We listened to all this bullshit. We didn’t have a chance to develop and before we knew it, we were stuck

Mike Davis

The website, first reported by Billy Penn and the Philadelphia Inquirer, alleges that several teenage girls were pushed into marriage and pregnancy by Move leaders. Some were as young as 14, and one was 12 when she became pregnant.

Some of the former members have also spoken to a podcast, Murder at Ryan’s Run, which explored the 2002 death of Alberta Africa’s former husband, John Gilbride. His homicide remains unsolved.

Whit Sims married when she was 16 and had a child the following year. Debbie Davis told the Guardian that she herself had been party to the pressure that had been placed on her daughter.

She said that Alberta Africa, Move’s leader, had wanted Whit married and encouraged Debbie to talk to her daughter. “Alberta said to me that Whit is getting older, she’s built, she’s really pretty, I don’t want the responsibility to be on us if anything happened.”

Debbie said she went on to have that talk with Whit. “I got scared for my daughter. I felt very uncomfortable with the conversation, but I did carry it out,” she said.

She added that she now feels deep regret and shame. “I should have fought more, told Whit that if you don’t want to do this, don’t do it.”

Debbie Davis said that the main reason she was speaking out now and announcing her separation from Move was to support her daughter. “I wouldn’t be doing this were it not for my daughter. I am speaking out now to support her and her healing.”

In his statement, Mike Davis said he supported his daughter’s “right to heal, to choose her own path, as I do for anyone, especially those who are being oppressed and subjugated as they were in Move”.

Of all the three Davis family members, Mike Sr has harbored doubts about Move the longest. He said he was contemplating getting out of the organization even before the 1978 siege which sent him to prison for the next 40 years.

“I was worried about how things would turn out, but I chose to stay in because my family was there and I didn’t think I could leave and take them with me,” he said. Whit was two years old at the time of the siege.

Mike Sr said that he has been racked with regret that he didn’t quit before it was too late. “I regret I didn’t push harder. I was weak. I put most responsibility upon myself for not leaving when I should have.”

The Guardian reached out to Alberta Africa and Sue Africa, and asked them about the allegations that girls were pressed into marriage as young as 12, along with all the other allegations of abuse and misconduct raised by the Davis family. They did not immediately respond.

Over his many years in prison, Mike Sr said he had regular disagreements with the leadership of Move. He objected to the efforts to keep children out of school, which left several Move kids unable to read and write.

“I said it’s ridiculous to have kids out there who would not be able to get home if they were separated from the adults because they couldn’t read road signs. How could they take care of themselves?”

Mike Sr insisted that his own son went to school. He also educated himself while in prison, completing three degrees.

When members did protest against the leadership’s policies, they often faced retribution, the Davis family said. A third member of the Move 9, Debbie’s brother Chuck Sims, was expelled from the group by Alberta Africa in 2011 while he was still imprisoned.

The expulsion, which has never before been reported, was meted out as punishment after Sims questioned the leaders’ judgment. Sims, who was the last of the Move 9 to be released last year after almost 42 years behind bars, had been a member of the group since the age of 12.

Several of the Move 9 were diagnosed with cancer. Phil Africa and Merle Africa both died in prison from the disease, and Delbert Africa died months after he was let out on parole.

In each case, the Davis family alleged, the Move leadership told the members to reject medical treatment, saying that they could heal themselves through right thinking.

Mike Africa Jr said that he personally witnessed the leadership discouraging Move members from seeking medical treatment: “They said: ‘This is just mental, nothing’s wrong with them. As long as they think right they’ll be fine.’”

Debbie Davis recalled how she advised Merle Africa to get checked out in the prison hospital. “She said, ‘Oh no, I don’t want to be disloyal.’ I said, ‘Merle, you’re not being disloyal.’”

The Davises said they were also dismayed by the behavior of the leadership towards the campaign to free the Move 9, which attracted nationwide and international attention. The leaders consistently refused to help the prisoners by providing them with legal counsel.

Mike Africa Jr, who spearheaded the campaign to free his parents and the other Move 9 members, said he battled for years against the leaders’ intransigence. “I could never get any support from the leadership to get the Move 9 out. Every time we raised the need for legal counsel it was, ‘No, we don’t believe in that, that’s not Move belief.’”

In the end, Mike Africa Jr said, he concluded that the leaders “didn’t actually want the Move 9 to come home”.

The Davises all said they had come to the conclusion that Move under John Africa and then Alberta and Sue Africa was imbued with qualities of a cult. Debbie and Mike Sr said that “there were elements that fit the definition of a cult”.

Mike Africa Jr went further, saying that all the classic elements of a cult were present in Move, including the way John Africa was revered. “He was put on a pedestal in an unhealthy way. I think it was very unhealthy to praise someone so much they lose sight of themselves.”

Mike Africa Jr, who has laid out his reflections in a podcast called My Life in Move: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, added that he still believed that much of what John Africa taught about racial discrimination, the environment and healthy eating was true. “But absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

The challenge now, he said, was to face up to the mistakes of the past in order to move on. “We have experienced a lot of harm and devastating trauma and it is far past time to move on to the healing process.”

Debbie and Mike Sr in particular said they carry bitter regrets over what happened to them and to their children. Mike Sr said he was 18 when he joined the organization “and by 22 we were doing 100 years in jail. We listened to all this bullshit. That’s my biggest regret. We didn’t have a chance to develop and before we knew it, we were stuck.”

Debbie Davis said that for years she had been committed wholeheartedly to Move beliefs. “In turn, I’ve hurt myself and hurt a lot of people, including those I love. In the name of loyalty I pushed aside even my own instincts. I’m ashamed of it, I’m embarrassed by it, and I’m going to try and heal it.”



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/25/mike-debbie-davis-disenchanted-move-members-quit

CultNEWS101 Articles: 9/30/2021

Church of Scientology, Russia, Religious Freedom, Legal, MOVE, Obituary, Guru Gwen Shamblin, Documentary

Reuters: Russia moves to ban 'undesirable' Church of Scientology groups

"Russia declared two organisations linked to the Church of Scientology "undesirable" on Friday, paving the way for the group to be formally banned.

The Prosecutor General's Office said the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises International and the Church of Spiritual Technology, which are both based in California, were "a threat to the security of the Russian Federation".

Russia has banned more than a dozen foreign groups under legislation against undesirable organisations, adopted in 2015. Under the law, groups are typically first labelled undesirable and then formally banned by the Justice Ministry.

Russian authorities have moved against the Church of Scientology in the past. In 2016, the Supreme Court ordered the closure of the group's Moscow branch. The Justice Ministry has also declared some of the group's literature extremist."

Inquirer: Charles Sims Africa dies; was last member of MOVE freed on parole in 1978 death of officer

"Charles Sims Africa, the last member of MOVE freed on parole after serving 41 years in prison for the 1978 shootout that killed Philadelphia Police Officer James Ramp, died on Sept. 20, family members said.

Africa, who was 61, had been battling cancer when he died early Monday morning, said Mike Africa Jr. on his podcast discussing the life of "Chuck" Africa with Mike's parents, Debbie Africa, Chuck's sister, and Mike Sr., a friend of Chuck's since childhood.

"I've never ever seen or met anybody that was just so strong-willed and so determined to just be a fighter. And he fought every step of the way … since he came home last February," Debbie Africa said on the podcast.

Chuck Africa was released from the State Correctional Institution Fayette, south of Pittsburgh, on Feb. 7, 2020.

Several weeks earlier, Delbert Africa was the second to last of the nine to be freed on parole. Two died while serving their sentences. Delbert Africa died in June 2020.

Brad Thomson, Chuck Africa's lawyer at the time he was released, said on Twitter: "Chuck had a heart and a fighting spirit that was unparalleled. He loved animals, boxing, and literature -- which we'd talk about often. RIP Chuck. You will be deeply missed."

Chuck Africa was one of nine MOVE members convicted of third-degree murder for the death of Ramp and seven counts of attempted murder following an Aug. 8, 1978, shootout with police at the radical group's compound — a three-story Victorian twin at 33rd and Pearl Streets in Powelton Village."

People: New Trailer for HBO Max Docuseries The Way Down Explores 'Cult' of Late Diet Guru Gwen Shamblin

Chrissy Teigen helped executive produce the upcoming docuseries, which premieres on HBO Max Sept. 30.

" ... HBO Max is digging into the life of the late Gwen Shamblin Lara, who founded a wildly popular Christian diet program and later, the Remnant Fellowship Church in Tennessee.

The Way Down: God, Greed and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin, a new five-part series debuting on the streamer this month, follows Shamblin Lara's rise to fame as an influential religious leader who convinced her followers that God had given her "the key to permanent weight control," which she reveals in the trailer is "a matter of the heart."

"After rising to fame with her Weigh Down Workshop, a Christian-based diet program that preached slenderness as next to godliness, Gwen Shamblin Lara founded the Tennessee-based church," the series' official synopsis reads, per HBO. 'Despite a carefully curated image, Lara and the church soon fielded accusations of emotional, psychological, and physical abuse, and exploitation for their alleged cult-like practices.'"

HBO Max: The Way Down: God, Greed and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin

"HBO Max has released the trailer for The Way Down: God, Greed and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin, an original docuseries which premieres its first part on the platform next week. The five-part series will unveil the story of the late Gwen Shamblin Lara, a woman who made a whole bunch of people believe God gave her a secret formula to help people lose weight – and then made a highly successful career out of it."

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Charles Sims Africa dies; was last member of MOVE freed on parole in 1978 death of officer

Africa was one of nine MOVE members convicted of third-degree murder in the 1978 death of Philadelphia Police Officer James Ramp.

Robert Moran

Philadelphia Inquirer 

September 24, 2021

Charles Sims Africa, the last member of MOVE freed on parole after serving 41 years in prison for the 1978 shootout that killed Philadelphia Police Officer James Ramp, died on Sept. 20, family members said.

Africa, who was 61, had been battling cancer when he died early Monday morning, said Mike Africa Jr. on his podcast discussing the life of “Chuck” Africa with Mike’s parents, Debbie Africa, Chuck’s sister, and Mike Sr., a friend of Chuck’s since childhood.

“I’ve never ever seen or met anybody that was just so strong-willed and so determined to just be a fighter. And he fought every step of the way … since he came home last February,” Debbie Africa said on the podcast.

Chuck Africa was released from the State Correctional Institution Fayette, south of Pittsburgh, on Feb. 7, 2020.

Several weeks earlier, Delbert Africa was the second to last of the nine to be freed on parole. Two died while serving their sentences. Delbert Africa died in June 2020.

Brad Thomson, Chuck Africa’s lawyer at the time he was released, said on Twitter: “Chuck had a heart and a fighting spirit that was unparalleled. He loved animals, boxing, and literature -- which we’d talk about often. RIP Chuck. You will be deeply missed.”

Chuck Africa was one of nine MOVE members convicted of third-degree murder for the death of Ramp and seven counts of attempted murder following an Aug. 8, 1978, shootout with police at the radical group’s compound — a three-story Victorian twin at 33rd and Pearl Streets in Powelton Village.

Ramp, 52, a husband and father of a teenage boy, was crouching forward to peer around a pole when he was struck in the chest by a bullet.

The 19-week trial in 1980 of the nine MOVE members was at the time the longest and most expensive in Pennsylvania history.

MOVE members acted as their own lawyers for the first several weeks. The group members claimed they fired no shots that day. A defense attorney later suggested that police had shot Ramp by mistake and planted the rifle that turned out to be a ballistic match for the weapon that killed Ramp and wounded two other officers. Police said they recovered 11 rifles and handguns and 2,000 rounds of ammunition from the house.

The remaining free members of the group relocated to the 6200 block of Osage Avenue. MOVE continued to antagonize neighbors and clash with the city, setting the stage for the disastrous May 13, 1985, confrontation in which the city dropped a bomb on the group’s house. The ensuing conflagration destroyed more than 60 homes and killed 11 people, including MOVE founder John Africa and five children.

Published Sept. 24, 2021

Robert Moran

https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-move-charles-sims-africa-dead-james-ramp-20210924.html

CultNEWS101 Articles: 8/10/2021 (Covid and Religion, MOVE, John Africa)

Covid and Religion, MOVE, John Africa

East Idaho News: Where do major US religions stand on the COVID-19 vaccination?

A recent report from the Public Religion Research Institute says 53% of Americans agree with the statement: "Because getting vaccinated against COVID-19 helps protect everyone, it is a way to live out the religious principle of loving my neighbors."

Some religious leaders have cited their faith as a reason to promote vaccination, like doctrinal mandates to love others or to stay as healthy as possible. Others have cited their faith as a reason to allow others to make the medical decisions themselves without getting involved. Some have even cited their faith as a reason to discourage vaccination.

So what exactly are official religious beliefs surrounding immunization? Which religions and faith traditions are doctrinally opposed to vaccination? And do these beliefs also apply to the COVID-19 vaccine?

Prominent religious leaders like the pope, the dalai lama, the archbishop of Canterbury, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, the leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and many others have been vaccinated, often documenting it publicly.

Billy Penn: Former MOVE members are speaking out about abusive behavior within the organization

" ... At the beginning of July, three former MOVE members who say they were raised within the Black liberation group renounced it, and released a public statement calling it "a cult."

"They tell you anybody other than MOVE is out to get you," Whit Sims, formerly known as Whit Africa, told Billy Penn about the leaders of the group. "[They'll tell you] they'll rape your kids, they'll kill your kids … So you're scared to do anything. So they stripped you of all your independence."

Sims is part of a trio of former MOVE children who allege witnessing and experiencing widespread abusive behavior within the organization. They cite coercive sexual relationships, child marriages, death threats, financial crimes, and several forms of psychological control.

Their statement comes a few months after outcry erupted over desecration and mishandling of remains of MOVE members killed in the city-led 1985 bombing of the group's West Philadelphia headquarters.

The former members' allegations and stories are being documented on a new blog titled "Leaving MOVE," and an associated podcast called "Murder At Ryan's Run."

Since the allegations were released, another four former MOVE members have since come forward in support, according to an updated statement.

Sims said she is the daughter of Debbie Africa and Mike Africa Sr. Both parents were sent to prison in the 1970s as part of the MOVE 9, and were released on parole in 2018. Sims is also the brother of Mike Africa Jr., who has become one of the prominent voices of MOVE over the past year.

Mike Africa Jr. posted on Twitter in early July that he was "in the fight of his life" and described his family as "a cluster of chaos."

So far, MOVE leadership has not released an official statement regarding the podcast or blog, and has not returned Billy Penn's requests for comment."

True Crime: LEAVING MOVE: Murder at Ryan's Run

" ... For five years he is a true believer and unquestionably loyal until former MOVE member JOHN GILBRIDE is murdered in 2002 leaving Kevin rattled and wondering, WHO KILLED JOHN?"

Leaving MOVE: Reflections of a former MOVE Supporter (new blog)

"I became involved with MOVE in 1997, at the age of 14. In 2001 I moved to the Philadelphia area and became much more deeply involved with the group. I've decided to speak out now both to reconcile my own conscience and pave a path to others who might find themselves in similar circumstances."

NY Times: The New York Times: 35 Years After MOVE Bombing That Killed 11, Philadelphia Apologizes.

" ... In a statement, Mayor Jim Kenney of Philadelphia acknowledged the resolution's importance. "In an effort to learn from our past and do better by our residents in the future, this annual day of observation is a positive step in the healing process our city desperately needs," he said. "This year we saw the pain and trauma caused by the MOVE bombing are still alive in West Philadelphia, so I commend the Council for taking this step toward healing."

The mayor acknowledged missteps in the city's attempts to rebuild the neighborhood in the years immediately following the attack, but said a recent public-private partnership had succeeded in reconstructing homes in the affected area.

MOVE, a group described by members as "a back-to-nature movement" that would return the United States to Native Americans and do away with all government, was deemed an "authoritarian, violence-threatening cult" by city officials, who said that the group used threats, abuse and intimidation to terrify their neighbors and to bring about confrontation. At the time of the attack, the police were acting to clear the group out of a rowhouse at 6221 Osage Avenue in response to neighbors' complaints of filthy conditions in the house and nightlong amplified lectures from MOVE members.

At 6 a.m. on May 13, 1985, the Philadelphia police came under gunfire from people inside the home, which led to a daylong standoff. Throughout the day, the Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission later found, the police fired more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition in less than 90 minutes at the rowhouse, which was occupied by men, women and children. Calling the police officers' actions "clearly excessive and unreasonable," the commission's report acknowledged that the police were unable to fully suppress the gunfire coming from the home and that efforts to negotiate with the people inside had been haphazard and fruitless."

CultNEWS101 "MOVE" Collection.

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The Anti-MOVE/Mumia Blog

"This Site Is An Online Resource For Those Interested In Information About The Philadelphia Based Cult Known As MOVE And Convicted Cop-Killer Mumia Abu-Jamal. Tony Allen is currently working on a book that amongst other things, chronicles his involvement with MOVE as well as the 2002 murder of John Gilbride."

Tony Allen
Location: Exiled From Philly, North Carolina, United States

For nearly a decade I was an adherent of the religious/political cult known as MOVE. Thankfully, I was able to extricate myself from this dangerous sect and reclaim control of my life. The story of how I left MOVE was featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2004. Much of my current work has to do with the murder of John Gilbride in 2002. John was killed while in the midst of a highly contentious custody dispute with the leader of MOVE.

http://antimove.blogspot.com/2006/09/

ON A MOVE: WEBSITE OF THE MOVE ORGANIZATION

"The MOVE Organization is a family of strong, serious, deeply committed revolutionaries founded by a wise, perceptive, strategically-minded Black man named JOHN AFRICA. The principle of our belief is explained in a collection of writings we call “The Guidelines,” authored by JOHN AFRICA. To honor our beloved Founder, and acknowledge the wisdom and strength."

http://onamove.com/about/

CultNEWS101 "MOVE" Collection.

LEAVING MOVE: Murder at Ryan's Run

LEAVING MOVE: Murder at Ryan's Run

True Crime

Listen on Apple Podcasts

"Kevin got into the Philadelphia based group known as MOVE at at the age of 14 because he wanted to fight for equality and justice. For five years he is a true believer and unquestionably loyal until former MOVE member JOHN GILBRIDE is murdered in 2002 leaving Kevin rattled and wondering, WHO KILLED JOHN? It would take another 17 years before Kevin completely leaves MOVE and another year before he gets a phone call about this investigative podcast.

Read more about Kevin on his personal blog: https://leavingmove2021.blogspot.com/

CultNEWS101 "MOVE" Collection.

Leaving MOVE: Reflections of a former MOVE Supporter

Leaving MOVE: Reflections of a former MOVE Supporter

"I became involved with MOVE in 1997, at the age of 14. In 2001 I moved to the Philadelphia area and became much more deeply involved with the group. I've decided to speak out now both to reconcile my own conscience and pave a path to others who might find themselves in similar circumstances."

CultNEWS101 "MOVE" Collection.

Former MOVE members are speaking out about abusive behavior within the organization

MOVE VICTIM REMAINS: Their stories are being detailed on a new blog called “Leaving MOVE.”

On May 13, 2021, trumpet player Kenneth Taylor played as protesters marched in honor of the lives of 11 people who died when the city bombed MOVE's West Philly house in 1985 KIMBERLY PAYNTER / WHYY

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Malcolm Burnley

The Billy Penn newsletter

August 4, 2021

At the beginning of July, three former MOVE members who say they were raised within the Black liberation group renounced it, and released a public statement calling it “a cult.”

“They tell you anybody other than MOVE is out to get you,” Whit Sims, formerly known as Whit Africa, told Billy Penn about the leaders of the group. “[They’ll tell you] they’ll rape your kids, they’ll kill your kids … So you’re scared to do anything. So they stripped you of all your independence.”

Sims is part of a trio of former MOVE children who allege witnessing and experiencing widespread abusive behavior within the organization. They cite coercive sexual relationships, child marriages, death threats, financial crimes, and several forms of psychological control.

Their statement comes a few months after outcry erupted over desecration and mishandling of remains of MOVE members killed in the city-led 1985 bombing of the group’s West Philadelphia headquarters.

The former members’ allegations and stories are being documented on a new blog titled “Leaving MOVE,” and an associated podcast called “Murder At Ryan’s Run.”

Since the allegations were released, another four former MOVE members have since come forward in support, according to an updated statement.

Sims said she is the daughter of Debbie Africa and Mike Africa Sr. Both parents were sent to prison in the 1970s as part of the MOVE 9, and were released on parole in 2018. Sims is also the brother of Mike Africa Jr., who has become one of the prominent voices of MOVE over the past year.

Mike Africa Jr. posted on Twitter in early July that he was “in the fight of his life” and described his family as “a cluster of chaos.”

So far, MOVE leadership has not released an official statement regarding the podcast or blog, and has not returned Billy Penn’s requests for comment.

This spring, reporting revealed that different sets of remains from MOVE bombing victims were left sitting in boxes at Penn Museum, used as teaching props in an online course, and ordered destroyed by the city’s Medical Examiner’s Office without familial notification. The news sparked outcry around the nation, and led the city’s health commissioner to resign in disgrace.

A city review of Medical Examiner’s Office policies around victim remains is under way, and the University of Pennsylvania will soon receive results of an investigative report it commissioned about its handling of remains.

The scandals reopened old wounds related to race, policing, and biases in the media in Philadelphia, and led a lot of people to voice public support for MOVE, a big change from the decades of public criticism the group endured.

However, up to now it’s been very rare to hear anything negative from rank-and-file or bloodline members of the group.

“It’s a crazy thing, because it was pretty much [like] being born into slavery, not even knowing that you’re a slave,” said Josh Robbins, who identified himself in an interview as the son of MOVE members Mary and Mo Africa. “There’s a lot being revealed that’s true that people don’t want to be revealed.”

Here’s a look at what the former members are alleging, and what we know so far.

Who’s behind the blog and podcast?

Robbins, Sims, and June Stokes — who said she was formerly known as Pixie Africa, the daughter of current MOVE spokesperson Pam Africa — on July 2 released a group statement explaining their decision to leave the group and speak out.

“MOVE’s history is long and complex and it will take time to lay the groundwork for the realities of MOVE to be properly understood,” they wrote. “We recognize that many MOVE members will be uncomfortable with inner circle knowledge being revealed publicly. However, continuing to promote the romanticized past of MOVE creates the conditions that allow for the ongoing suffering of many.”

Also signing the group statement was Kevin Price, who is authoring the “Leaving MOVE” blog.

Price, who is white, said he spent 17 years as a dedicated MOVE supporter, and has known Robbins, Sims, and Stokes for the better part of two decades.

“[June Stokes] reached out to my wife a little over four and a half months ago,” Price said by phone. “She had left the group and wanted people to talk to and help work through the psychological process of understanding that she had been raised in a destructive cult.”

Stokes is currently in hiding with her kids, according to a press release announcing the podcast and blog. There’s also a GoFundMe set up in Stokes’ name.

She had been “trying to leave” for many years, per the release, but without public awareness of all the details of the situation, feared MOVE leadership would either “take her children from her or kill her (they have threatened to do so many times).”

The “Leaving MOVE” blog includes stories from former members and recounts Price’s own journey as an idealistic young man who devoted years of his life to an organization he later found to be hypocritical and exploitative.

“Understanding what I understand now, I don’t think MOVE has ever been a healthy organization,” Price said. “I think that the patterns that we’ve seen play out for nearly 50 years were baked in.”

What does current MOVE leadership say?

Pam Africa, the mother of Stokes and a leader within MOVE, did post on Facebook.

“I have read Pixie, Whit, Josh, and Maria’s statement and I have chosen not to sign it. This is not at all a reflection of my support for any of them,” Pam wrote. “Instead, I do not feel comfortable signing a document that includes things I did not personally experience or witness.”

She expressed skepticism toward the people who are producing the blog and podcast, calling them out as sensationalists.

“Further, I do not trust the individuals who are steering this revealing, and taking the story of my family into a world of people who do not care about us or are even hostile toward us, and sensationalizing it,” Pam wrote.

Why is ‘Ryan’s Run’ in the podcast title?

Former MOVE members and supporters have been recording “dozens of hours of testimony” for an investigative podcast Murder at Ryan’s Run, according to their press release.

The program is being hosted and reported by a television producer from Los Angeles, Beth McNamara, whose credits include the Peabody-winning documentary “Inventing Tomorrow” and reality television series American Idol.

McNamara declined to comment about the trajectory of the series.

Its title refers to the unsolved murder of John Gilbride, an ex-MOVE supporter who was shot and killed “execution style” in Maple Shade, N.J., in 2002. So far, it remains unclear what connection or information the ex-members of the group have to the unsolved crime.

The first full-length episode was released on July 12, and it centers on the story of 24-year-old Maria Hardy, formerly known as Maria Africa, who said she was pressured by leadership of MOVE to get married and pregnant by the age of 14, along with other pre-adolescent girls in the group, she says.

“A lot of the things that will be coming out that you see with children being denied education, around sex and sexuality, and a number of other things, were intentional and not accidental,” said Price, who’s writing the blog. “There’s a lot of MOVE’s history that I believe is a fabrication.”

How have MOVE supporters reacted?

Several activists who had expressed support for MOVE over the past few months, as news broke about the mishandled remains, have voiced solidarity with the former members coming forward with the new allegations.

Aishah Shahidah Simmons, a Black feminist lesbian writer and director of “NO! The Rape Documentary,” said in a Twitter thread it’s possible to do both.

“We must hold the tension of addressing the external violence against MOVE and the internal violence within MOVE,” Simmons wrote. “The survivors, born in MOVE, who’ve courageously come forward about the harm they experienced and witnessed, need support.”

West Philly community leader and school teacher Anthony Smith expressed the importance of not dismissing the allegations because they don’t fit a certain narrative.

“I have worked with some of the younger folks in MOVE, I’ve had members of MOVE as alumni and even in my very own social studies classes,” Smith posted on Facebook.

“I have a billion questions, and I’m sure many others do too. but for now our main concern is the safety of our folks. We cannot water down the violations in order to salvage MOVE as a name,” he continued. “I hope that the community supporting MOVE begins to demand some level of transparency from the people named in causing the harm.”

Why are the former members coming forward now?

Even before this spring’s revelations about mishandling victim remains at Penn and the Philly health department, the atrocity of the 1985 MOVE bombing garnered national attention in recent years.

Several related documentaries have been released, including 2013’s “Let The Fire Burn”; 2016’s “In Prison My Whole Life”; and last year’s “40 Years A Prisoner.” Some MOVE members have died, including Birdie Africa, the only child who survived the fire-engulfed house on Osage Avenue. On the 30th anniversary of the bombing, the city decided to erect a historical marker, which was installed two years later. On the 35th anniversary, City Council issued a formal apology.

And over the past year, concepts that seemed radical when first espoused by MOVE founder John Africa — like the idea that systemic racism is woven through American policing and society at large — have entered mainstream consciousness.

What occurred on Osage Avenue in 1985 remains a potent symbol of police misuse of force. There’s no forgetting that the city’s own government dropped a military-grade explosive on a residential block, killing 11 people, including five children, and burning down dozens of homes.

But the individuals speaking out on the blog and podcast say that especially with so much attention being paid to the remains of other children who were part of MOVE, their own story is important to reveal.

“They took my rights away from me. They violated me. I was manipulated. I was betrayed. And if I can stop this from happening to anybody, that’s what my goal is,” said Sims, daughter of Debbie and Mike Africa Sr.

Robbins, son of Mary and Mo Africa, said he and his compatriots hope people listen to their stories.

“I want people to pay attention to everything that’s going on. We’re telling the truth about our experiences,” said Robbins. “Without help, we’re as good as dead. MOVE has been lying for 50 years. We really need people’s love and support.”

“I want people to pay attention to everything that’s going on. We’re telling the truth about our experiences,” said Robbins. “Without help, we’re as good as dead. MOVE has been lying for 50 years. We really need people’s love and support.”

CultNEWS101 "MOVE" Collection.

https://billypenn.com/2021/08/04/move-philadelphia-abusive-behavior-child-marriage-leaving-members/