Tuesday, May 13, 2025

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM MAY 13TH?

words by charles brooks

Mother's Day is just not the same for this working-class community in Philadelphia, where 6221 Osage Avenue sits. The people remember May 13th, 1985. 

The people remember the tragedy of May 13th, 1985, ensuring its place as one of those days that will never be forgotten. May 13th occupies a strong hold on our collective memory because it’s not just another typical reminder of another typical routine episode of police terror and state violence.  

Forty years ago, Philadelphia’s political leadership, Mayor Wilson Goode, Police commissioner Gregore Sambor, Fire Commissioner William Richmond and managing director Leo Brooks collaborated in their decision to orchestrate a destructive military style attack, targeting a group of Black revolutionaries. 

They made a politically calculated decision to not only unleash 500 police officers to fire 10,000 rounds of ammunition, disperse teargas, and forcefully pump thousands of gallons of water into the home where MOVE members lived but to drop powerful C4 explosives there as well. A decision that cost the lives of 11 Black people including 5 children, where over sixty homes were destroyed and over 250 people were now unhoused. A decision to allow the fire to spread as firefighters were relegated to mere spectators, taking no action as they watched the fires burn one house after another.  

The Mother's Day attack was actually the result of recurring episodes of police terror exercised against MOVE, who engaged in a political life and political activities staunchly opposed by both the Mayor and the police. For several years before Mother's Day 1985, there were a series of confrontations between MOVE and the police that led to the August 1978 shooting in Powelton Village. 

The charging of nine MOVE members with the death of one police officer at Powelton, triggered their transformation from Black revolutionaries to the MOVE-9, political prisoners.  All were sentenced 30 years to life; Merle and Phil Africa passed away in prison. The remaining seven collectively served over 280 years in prison before their release; Debbie Sims Africa (over 39 years), Mike Africa Sr,  (40+), Janine Phillips Africa (40+), Janet Holloway Africa,  (40+), Eddie Goodman Africa (41), Delbert Orr Africa, (41+), and Chuck Sims Africa, the last to be released after serving over 41 years.

The contradictions continue. 

Despite two investigations of the Mother's Day attack, no indictments were handed down. No prison time. None. 

Except for Ramona Africa.  She was the only adult survivor from the Mother's Day attack along with her younger brother, Birdie Africa. But it was Ramona who was arrested, charged, and convicted before serving seven years in prison as a political prisoner.  

The Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission, also known as the MOVE Commission, was created less than two weeks after the attack. They investigated, and held televised public hearings before issuing their report, where they stated in part: "…The Mayor abdicated his responsibilities as a leader when, after midday, he permitted a clearly failed operation to continue which posed great risk to life and property. The report outlined 38 suggestions or recommendations for future improvements. 

A year later in 1986, a grand jury was convened to determine whether criminal charges should be levied against any of Philadelphia’s leaders. Two years later in 1988, the grand jury found no evidence of anyone acting with “criminal intent, recklessness or negligence under Pennsylvania law, and therefore no criminal charges could be brought.”

Year after year, for 35 years there would be no apology forthcoming. None. Not from the mayor’s office, the Police Department, Fire Department, or Philadelphia’s City Council. This finally came to an end in November 2020 with the Philadelphia City Council's hollow recognition of May 13th as “annual day of observation, reflection and recommitment.”

But just a few months later in early 2021, new revelations emerged shedding light on what happened to the forensic remains after the MOVE bombing. 

Anthropological collections maintained by the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University contained the forensic remains of one or two MOVE members. The remains were used as a case study in their research and study of forensic anthropology, as well as in their online course, “Real Bones: Adventures in Forensic Anthropology”

The controversial revelations not only raised serious questions and concerns but provided a window to the long history of medical experimentation and exploitation on Black people beyond the likes of Henrietta Lacks and the notorious Tuskegee Experiment. 

The May 13th assault is often seen through a lens that’s particularly focused on the sordid history of policing in Philadelphia - typical of policing in Black working-class communities throughout the nation.  Focused on the manner in which law and order is practiced in Black communities, particularly in their reaction to the pursuit of Black liberation via revolutionary activities.  Through a lens wide enough to observe the menacing intrusion of state surveillance that often resulted in the harassment and political imprisonment of not just men, but women, as well. 

The significance of May 13 continues to grow and resonate with working class Black folk people because they can see the contradictions on public display, the current political conditions shaping their political lives, their political reality.  

Harriet Washington makes this point to think about in her book Medical Apartheid, “It reveals how Blacks have historically been prey to grave-robbing as well as unauthorized autopsies and dissections. Moving into the twentieth century, it shows how the pseudoscience of eugenics and social Darwinism was used to justify experimental exploitation and shoddy medical treatment of Blacks.”

Additional information

West Philadelphia Collaborative History - MOVE

Philadelphia & MOVE - LibGuides at Community College of Philadelphia





Thursday, April 3, 2025

House rejects GOP amendments, gives final approval to bill creating Reparations Commission

 By William J. Ford 

Maryland would become fourth state with a commission; it would study ‘appropriate benefits’ for those affected by ‘historical inequality’

It’s done.

The House of Delegates gave final approval Wednesday evening to a bill that would create a Maryland Reparations Commission, sending the measure to the governor for his signature.

Friday, March 28, 2025

Measure that amends Florida’s compensation law for the wrongfully incarcerated passes Senate

 By Mitch Perry

A bill that would make it much easier for individuals wrongfully incarcerated to receive compensation has cleared the Florida Senate, and needs just one final vote in the House before going to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk.

Basic Reforms to New York’s Legal Code Are At Risk as Democrats Lurch Rightward

 By Schuyler Mitchell

A push to claw back a process-oriented change in New York’s criminal legal code shows just how readily Democrats will capitulate to carceral demands in 2025.

Thursday, March 27, 2025

Here Are the Texted War Plans That Hegseth Said 'Nobody Was Texting' on Signal

 By Jon Queally

In response to U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth claiming on live television earlier this week that "nobody was texting war plans," The Atlantic magazine on Wednesday morning published the "war plans" that were, in fact, shared on the private sector messaging app Signal by top members of President Donald Trump's national security team, including Hegseth and national security advisor Mike Waltz.

Wednesday, March 26, 2025

“I will wear my persona non grata as a badge of dignity”, said South African ambassador expelled by the US

 By Pavin Kulkarni

We must enter into trade negotiations with the USA because our economy and our people need them. But we must never trade our sovereignty, lest we be told that China and Cuba cannot be our friends,” said veteran diplomat Ebrahim Rasool on his return to South Africa.

Cheering crowds thronged outside the Cape Town International Airport on Sunday, March 23, to welcome the South African ambassador expelled from the US after being subjected to repeated attacks for his stance in solidarity with Palestine.  “Ebrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician who hates America,” US State Secretary Marco Rubio accused in a X post on March 15.

Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Trump’s school choice push adds to momentum in statehouses

 By Robbie Sequeira

Federal moves might provide additional money for universal vouchers and scholarships.

More than a dozen states in the past two years have launched or expanded programs that allow families to use taxpayer dollars to send their students to private schools. Now, President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress want to supercharge those efforts.

Youngkin vetoes minimum wage hike, prescription affordability board bills

By Charlotte Rene Woods and Nathaniel Cline


Monday was Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s deadline to take action on the roughly 900 bills that Virginia’s legislature approved to send his way. Monday afternoon saw over 300 signatures and a handful of vetoes, while he had until 11:59 p.m. for his other signatures, amendments and vetoes to be posted on Virginia’s Legislative Information System.

Friday, March 21, 2025

Mahmoud Khalil still detained in notorious Louisiana detention center as case is moved to New Jersey

By Bobbi-Jean Misick 

After former Columbia University student and permanent U.S. resident Mahmoud Khalil was detained by federal immigration officials over his involvement in student-led protests last year — a move that shocked advocates for free speech and immigrants’ rights around the country — he was taken to Jena, a small town of 4,000 in north-central Louisiana and home to one of the country’s largest and most notorious immigration detention centers. 

Sunday, March 16, 2025

THEY DESERVE A SECOND LOOK

 words by charles brooks

UPDATE as of 3/16/25: The bill was ultimately advanced in the House for a final vote, which is expected to occur in the coming days before moving to the Senate

There’s an opportunity in 2025 for Maryland state lawmakers to address the state’s mass incarceration and sentencing policies with the Maryland Second Look Act.  


The proposed measure creates a pathway for men and women who served twenty plus years in prison to petition the court to have a judge review their sentence for possible reduction. The proposed measure is sponsored by State Senator Charles E. Sydnor, III, and House Delegate Cheryl E. Pasteur.  The proposal requires a comprehensive evaluation process to prove to the court they no longer pose a threat to society. The rigorous process allows the judge to measure their capacity to change, and as a result the proposed legislation cannot be viewed as a, “get out of jail free card”.