The only surviving adult MOVE member, Ramona Africa, refused to testify in court and was charged and convicted on charges of riot and conspiracy; she served seven years in prison.
Jesus Christ! No criminal charges against police so let’s imprison the sole surviving victim!
(She did get a handsome settlement years later, so there’s that but holy hell man)
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The police obtained arrest warrants in 1985 charging four MOVE occupants with crimes including parole violations, contempt of court, illegal possession of firearms, and making terroristic threats. Mayor Wilson Goode and police commissioner Gregore J. Sambor classified MOVE as a terrorist organization. Police evacuated residents of the area from the neighborhood prior to their action. Residents were told that they would be able to return to their homes after a 24-hour period.
There was an armed standoff with police, who threw tear gas canisters at the building. The MOVE members fired at them, and a gunfight with semi-automatic and automatic firearms ensued for 90 minutes… At 2 p.m., Sambor ordered that the compound be bombed.
From a Pennsylvania State Police helicopter, Philadelphia Police Department proceeded to drop two 1.5-pound bombs (which the police referred to as “entry devices”) made of Tovex, a dynamite substitute, combined with two pounds of FBI-supplied C-4, targeting a fortified, bunker-like cubicle on the roof of the house. The bombs exploded after 45 seconds, igniting the fuel of a gasoline-powered generator and setting the house on fire, which was left to burn. Officials later stated that this was to let the fire burn through the roof and destroy the “bunker”, so police could then drop tear gas into the house and flush out the occupants.
30 minutes later, firefighters moved in to control the fire but there was gunfire and the firefighters and police were ordered back as the fire spread to neighboring houses down the street.
The only two MOVE survivors, Birdie Africa, who was 13 at the time, and Ramona Africa, both escaped the house. Police initially said that two men had also run out of the house at the same time and fired at them and that police had returned fire. Ramona Africa said that police fired at those trying to escape. Police said that MOVE members moved in and out of the house shooting at the police. The fire department later declared the fire under control at 11:47 p.m.
Seems reasonable
Bombing a house in the middle of a residential area seems “reasonable”?
A judge and jury found the police department used unnecessary excessive violence and violated constitutional protections against unlawful searches.
That’s definitely sarcastic.
We got some messed up people on this site already we can never be too sure.
I hope so, yes.
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What is an anti tank machine gun?
A big gun with big bullets that shoots really fast. Fuck if I know the model, but the police had and used it in this event.
anti-tank machine gun
What?
Yeah the city police had and used it. Crazy, right?
I’m constantly told the 2nd amendment exists for the express purpose of shooting cops. Are you saying the 2nd amendment is in the wrong here and that police should have access to weapons denied to ordinary people?
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If that’s all true, then that adult and child from the cult who lived are lucky they lived after their cult had the gall to shoot at firefighters.
EDIT: added words
You’re assuming that both of them, including the 13-year old, fired at the firefighters?
No but I am assuming the two of them were a part of the larger MOVE group referred to as “they”, especially given they both had the last name Africa which was adopted by all of the cult’s members. It’s a miracle anybody made it out of the compound after hours of gunfighting and fires that engulfed 2 blocks.
You should not assume children are part of any group or movement. This wasn’t a good vs bad event, as reality seldom is. Shitty people on both ends resulted in a tragedy.
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Thanks pal, I agree with you once you reformatted yourself for clarity. Ty for finally being clear!
Aight, I’ll go edit the original to mirror this.
Boy of you think 13-year-olds can’t shoot you haven’t seen shit
Boy of you think 4-year-olds can’t shoot you haven’t seen shit
/s
You believe that part?
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Yeah I responded before you changed it, so stfu.
Nah the word if was there from the start, so stfu.
The fuck it was
Actually, here is an easy way to tell, your comment in response was over 2 hours later than the last time an edit was made to my comment. So the if absolutely was always there, just hover over the little pencil icon.
I’m sure there is a way to verify it on Lemmy.
Holy shit, I’d never heard about this.
Let the Fire Burn is a really good documentary on this event.
Let the Fire Burn
Added to my list of stuff to watch. Thanks!
I remember this craziness. Was insane and of course, it was all considered ok.
I remember this craziness.
I remember that craziness because as a young adult, I was working nearby and saw the smoke clouds.
…and of course, it was all considered ok.
I’m unaware of anyone at all those days who considered it ‘all okay.’ On the contrary, it put a kind of national spotlight on Philly police’ brutality going back to the Rizzo days, and doubtless contributed to Rizzo never being mayor again. And I think even amongst the folks who believed the bombing was justified, a large segment had to admit that it obviously went very, very wrong.
All that said-- yeah, as a nation I’m not sure we learned a damn thing out of all that. The police certainly didn’t appear to.
In the SE USA where I was about to graduate from high school, in the local news it was presented as “inner city terrorists handled with appropriated force”
I’m not surprised there was a deal of confusion about it. It was a complicated affair that doesn’t have much analogue in contemporary history AFAIK.
It wasn’t until I went to university in the fall of that same year in a large metropolitan city with a diverse collection of dazzling urbanites that I was exposed to other points of view.
Militarization of the police has been a wild fucking ride over the last 40 years.
Acorn drops and some pimple-faced teenager with a badge goes on a shooting rampage. Then we’re told he needs better training, so we spend another couple million dollars bringing in IDF officers to train local cops on effective use of Skunk spray
by “wild fucking ride” i assume you mean criminal matter, since that’s the only reasonable expectation for bullshit like this - that it’s illegal
fix your shit, america
How do you police the police?
I dunno… Coast Guard?
Technically, they bombed a home. But it was a row home and they were too stupid to think about what happens when you set fire to a home connected to a bunch of others
and then they refused to let firefighters in
Sure. Like I said, just being technical
Imagine being firebombed because you’re a shit neighbor (this is what I understood after a glance on the wiki page about MOVE, the two times the police went after them, it began as complaints from neighbors)
There was an armed standoff with police,[8] who lobbed tear gas canisters at the building. The MOVE members fired at them in return, and a 90-minute gunfight ensued, in which one officer was bruised in the back by gunfire.[38] Police used more than ten thousand rounds of ammunition before Commissioner Sambor ordered that the compound be bombed
Fucking hell, 10k rounds? How?
You know, if you guys are just gonna label everyone who wants freedom terrorists, you’ve got a fucking problem there in the land of the ree
Don’t forget to call the opposing groups of said terrorists “freedom fighters” (1986 newspaper)
Also Lemmy far-left people: It literally couldn’t get any worse than Biden not decriminalizing weed as fast as I wanted him to. I don’t see how letting Trump come to power would even make a difference.
Because decriminalising weed takes 50 people working non stop for 4 years.
It actually does take a lot more than one person.
- Pardoning federal prisoners, Biden can do all on his own, and already did. (Didn’t do all that much because more people are in state prison for state charges. But, if you’re one of those people who’s now out of prison, it’s pretty significant I think.)
- Rescheduling marijuana takes agreement from the DEA, who aren’t exactly weed-radicals, and the value of doing it is a little limited in the first place. He requested to reschedule it years ago and they’ve been dragging their feet on it for whatever reason up until very very recently.
- A bill for decriminalization is where the real significant change can come. There were a couple of them that came along, of which probably the most serious effort was a bill for full legalization. It passed the house, but there was a little bit of Democratic opposition when it reached the senate, and of course all the Republicans voted against it, so it failed. So, quite literally, 50 people would have been needed in order to pass it, but we couldn’t get the 50 together, which is why it’s still federally illegal.
