September 11, 2010

  • MOVE & WACO: PUBLIC EXECUTIONS

    1999

     

    As the Waco incident re-enters headline news, I am appalled by the blindly patriotic denials that many flag waving Americans dare to still boldly embrace. Like MOVE,  the Waco torching was a public execution. Like Ramona Africa, I hope the Branch Davidians litigate relentlessly, until they win their righteous legal suits against the FBI.

    This incident is a profound example of the fact that oppression is contagion. None of us are free until all of us are free. Those fascists who murder black persons because of their skin and dreadlocks, will also murder white persons because of their religion and personal property. Those who come for us today, will return for you tomorrow.

    In 1985, Philadelphia police bombed the home of dreadlocked revolutionary rebels known as MOVE. That attack led to the state sanctioned torching of 61 homes and left 250 people homeless. 11 African people were murdered, including 5 children. In 1996, warrior Ramona Africa, the only adult survivor of this public execution, won $500,000 for pain and suffering. The family of MOVE founder John Africa, who was murdered in the execution, won $1,000,000. Other plaintiffs won smaller tokens.

    Yet, this legal victory was never motivated by cash. As Ramona stated after the verdict was announced, “Money don’t have nothing to do with this! This is about taking a stand for all people so that their government knows that the people ain’t gonna have them bombing people and burning people alive!”

    If what Ramona stated had been regarded as truth in 1985, perhaps Waco may not have happened in 1993. In some small way, that second execution may have played an accidental role in the legacy of MOVE. Now, millions of Americans are beginning to finally understand the fascist evil of martial law and how it threatens all of our lives across all boundaries of race and class.

    Rabid racism was the reason for the terrorist attack upon MOVE and droves of their neighbors. The city of Philadelphia harassed MOVE members heinously. These ongoing abuses went on far longer than the siege at WACO. MOVE members were beaten, incarcerated, murdered, tortured, and harassed by Philadelphia police at two residences since 1974.

    Even today, 14 years, and counting, after the public executions, 8 of 9 innocent MOVE members remain in prison; even after the legal victory has established that they were framed for the murder of a police officer, killed in the fray of friendly fire during the ambush and torching of their rebel peers. Merle Africa died while she was caged. Janine Africa, Janet Africa, Debbie Africa, Delbert Africa, Mike Africa, Edward Africa, Phil Africa, and Chuck Africa remain innocent as they are still being held captive inside the belly of the beast of the state of Philadelphia!

    Rabid racism is also glaringly evident in the fact that trigger happy agents of martial law shot to kill and fire bombed MOVE members in mere minutes! On May 13, 1985, within 30 minutes after policemen arrived on the scene, MOVE members were torched . Federal killers waited several days before they filled the WACO compound with gas and then blasted bullets into flames.

    State sanctioned murder is still murder. Gang banger drive-by massacres are still  ambushes, even when the gangs are the ATF or the FBI. Freedom is a constant struggle. Power corrupts constantly. The Branch Davidians should have been free to collect guns and to practice their own religion. The FBI murdered these peaceful persons on their own private property. For that execution, the FBI should pay millions.

    FREE THE MOVE 8 NOW!!!!

     

    POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!

     

    ______________________________________________________________________

     

    “MOVE” - A DOCUMENTARY BY COHORT MEDIA

     

    {This is dedicated to The MOVE 9: Janine Phillips Africa, Merle Austin Africa, Debbie Sims Africa, Janet Holloway Africa, Charles Sims Africa, Edward Goodman Africa, William Phillips Africa, Delbert Orr Africa, and Michael Davis Africa....ON THE MOVE!!!...} 
     

     

    “AS LONG AS WE ARE ALIVE, WE WILL NEVER ABANDON OUR INNOCENT BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN JAIL. AND, THEY KNOW WE WILL NEVER ABANDON THEM. AND, THIS CITY WILL ALWAYS HAVE A PROBLEM UNTIL EVERY LAST ONE OF OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IS HOME...” 
                                         -MOVE

     

    “MOVE WORKS TO STOP INDUSTRY FROM POISONING THE AIR, THE 
    WATER, THE SOIL, AND PUT AN END TO THE ENSLAVEMENT OF LIFE -     
    PEOPLE, ANIMALS, ANY FORM OF LIFE. THE PURPOSE OF JOHN     
    AFRICA’S REVOLUTION IS TO SHOW PEOPLE HOW CORRUPT, ROTTEN,     
    CRIMINALLY ENSLAVING THIS SYSTEM IS, SHOW PEOPLE, THROUGH     
    JOHN AFRICA’S TEACHING, THE TRUTH, THAT THIS SYSTEM     
    IS THE CAUSE OF ALL THEIR PROBLEMS (ALCOHOLISM, DRUG     
    ADDICTION, UNEMPLOYMENT, WIFE ABUSE, CHILD PORNOGRAPHY,     
    EVERY PROBLEM IN THE WORLD). AND, TO SET THE EXAMPLE OF     
    REVOLUTION FOR PEOPLE TO FOLLOW WHEN THEY REALIZE HOW     
    THEY’VE BEEN OPPRESSED, REPRESSED, DUPED, TRICKED BY THIS     
    SYSTEM, THIS GOVERNMENT AND SEE THE NEED TO RID THEMSELVES     
    OF THIS CANCEROUS SYSTEM AS MOVE DOES.”      

                                          -MOVE

     

     

    The public execution of the Branch Davidians at Waco Texas was not the first such 
    government led slaughter. Similar state sanctioned torture and murder of MOVE 
    members in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania began in 1974. This harassment and abuse 
    culminated on May 13, 1985, in the bombing and torching of 60 homes. This police 
    attack at 6221 Osage Avenue, in the Cobbs Creek section of West Philadelphia, 
    made the Waco fires pale by comparison.

    An entire neighborhood was hatefully transformed into ashes by rabidly racist 
    police officers in the “City of Brotherly Love”. Cohort Media directors Benjamin 
    Garry and Ryan McKenna have created a superb documentary that now fully 
    captures this shockingly violent and fascist moment in American history. You must 
    see this film!

    This documentary is a superb analysis of an event that is omitted from far too many 
    textbooks and databases. This film traces the history of MOVE and its legacy as the 
    city of Philadelphia declared war upon its organization and its home. The clever 
    combination of still photos and live footage graphically reveal the past, present, and 
    future of MOVE’s rebellion. We view and experience the shock and rage of every 
    tale shared by a host of MOVE members and journalists. We re-live the execution 
    of infant Life Africa, whose tiny skull was crushed on March 28, 1976, when a police 
    officer suddenly stomped and beat his mother, Janine Africa, as she cradled Life in 
    her arms.

    Just as in Waco, police officers executed many children and infants. They also 
    brutally murdered, beat, stomped, and shot male and female MOVE members, in 
    broad daylight. Many members were shot in their backs. Legendary journalist 
    Mumia Abu Jamal was a staunch defender of MOVE. He exposed the brutal 
    atrocities inflicted by Philadelphia’s sadistic police force as they harassed MOVE 
    members for years. Mumia’s framing, for the murder of a young cop who was 
    planning to expose his corrupt peers, was fueled by Mumia’s loyalty to MOVE’s 
    dreadlocked rebel warriors.

    In this superb film, many of the still photos appear as actual rolls of camera film. This brilliant artistic touch deepens the visual imagery of these literal portraits of a bloody and racist 
    history. A history that has been sinisterly revised and arrogantly omitted, until now.

    This film details the poison of revisionist history as it definitively records the truth 
    of each legendary and shocking incident between MOVE and the police. It proves 
    what really happened when one group was callously marked for death and an entire 
    neighborhood was cavalierly deemed a collective casualty of war. This film 
    documents what has been hidden from public history.

    In this film, we witness the inability of oppressors to ever stop a revolution. MOVE 
    members are still political prisoners and global rebel heroes. They will never be 
    defeated because they will never give up their rebel missions.

    This film takes us deep into the red hot soul of MOVE’s organization as it 
    simultaneously reveals the ice cold hearts of Philadelphia’s city officials. 
    Corruption, oppression, and hatred cross all boundaries of race and class. Power 
    corrupts absolutely. Absolute power breeds hatred. Wilson Goode was the black 
    mayor of Philadelphia when officers bombed MOVE.

    Had MOVE’s warriors been less Afrikan or less nappy, perhaps a neighborhood 
    mediation office may have intervened. That may have resolved all municipal and 
    residential conflicts. Instead, the city of Philadelphia dropped a bomb and torched 
    60 homes. None of the black residents were ever fully compensated for their 
    financial losses. Many of them owned their homes. This film examines their 
    eradication.

    This film clearly exposes the fact that Philadelphia’s police officers never attempted 
    any mediation. They came to the scene of this execution openly armed for war. In 
    addition to the bomb they dropped, officers came armed with 1000 rounds of 
    ammunition, M-60 machine guns, M-16 sniper rifles, and silencers. Silent guns do 
    not fire warnings. They only shoot to kill.

    The 60 row houses torched reached temperatures of 2000 degrees. Officers shot at 
    every MOVE member who dared to flee the burning house. During this melee, cops 
    shot a fellow officer. Then, they brazenly framed 9 MOVE members for that 
    murder. 8 members of The MOVE 9 are still incarcerated for the death of a police 
    officer felled by a single bullet. 9 MOVE members were jailed for one bullet from 
    one gun that shot “friendly fire”. This could only happen in the American “just-us” 
    system! Tragically, Merle Africa died in prison. 8 members of MOVE are still 
    incarcerated political prisoners!!!

    Even if one MOVE member had shot a police officer, why were 9 members 
    sentenced to 100 years each??? A dear Rastafarian friend of mine always laments 
    about “politricks in a wicked shitsym...”. This film proves that wicked politics led 
    to the systematic harassment, torture, beatings, murder, bombing, and framing of 
    MOVE members.

    In a just legal system, 9 people would never be prosecuted for a crime that no single 
    one of them has been proven to have committed!!! No just trial can ever be 
    conducted when no single piece of evidence is submitted!!! There is no justice in 
    Amerikkka’s elitist and racist “just-us” system. And, where there is no justice, there will never  be  any peace.

    The very same lying brutal cops who slaughtered and framed MOVE members, and 
    framed and caged Mumia Abu Jamal, destroyed evidence vital to the cases of the 
    MOVE 9. Crooked cops even blatantly destroyed the crime scene and  boldly 
    leveled the MOVE home they torched, even before defense attorneys could gather 
    any shred of evidence.

    This film exposes the contagion of oppression. It is a wake up call to those who 
    believe in the fantasy of selective oppression. Like those neighbors who thought the 
    police would burn only one home or abuse only nappy headed residents when they 
    arrived at the home of MOVE members. Like those who foolishly believe that a 
    selected president like George W. Bush/King Shrub can contain the terror that he 
    has brazenly unleashed upon international oil owners, poor persons, and 
    homosexuals globally...

    We are living in times when suicidally blind patriotism is being touted as loyalty or 
    character. Every fool who believes that America  is a democracy must see this film. 
    It will burn their rose colored glasses into the same kind of ashes that police officers 
    left at MOVE’s home....

    Every seeker of truths must see this film. Only the truth will free our collective 
    minds and souls. See this film today!!! ON A MOVE!!!! 

     

    To contact the rebel directors at Cohort Media, email: 
    cohortmedia@yahoo.com

     

    Read these books for additional information on MOVE:

    Ona Move 
    by 
    Chuck Dees

    25 Years on The Move 
    c/o Post Office Box 19709 
    Philadelphia, PA 19143 

     

    Burning Down the House: Move and the Tragedy of Philadelphia

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