MOVE bombing 40 years later: For many, Philadelphia hasn't done enough to rectify "unconscionable" act
Tuesday marks 40 years since the MOVE bombing in Philadelphia. On May 13, 1985, Philadelphia police dropped a bomb on a rowhome in Cobbs Creek. The resulting fire was allowed to burn and spread to dozens of other homes, killing 11 people, including five children.
The decision to drop the bomb came after years of escalating conflict between neighbors and MOVE, a Black liberation group. It's one of the darkest days in Philadelphia's history.
"I don't like coming here," Mike Africa said. "It's eerie, it gets my nerves all rattled. I don't like coming here."
Mike Africa is a popular guy, greeting Osage Avenue neighbors he's known his whole life. But away from the smiles and hugs, Africa is tense.
Forty years ago today, this city block was a smoldering wasteland. Africa's friends and family were here. Eleven of them died.
"To be honest with you, and I don't know if it's possible, I don't know if I have processed it," Africa said. "I see the children's faces in other people. I know it can't be true. I hear their voices at night, I remember them. There's a big part of me that lives in disbelief."
To so many, May 13, 1985, is one of the darkest days in Philadelphia's history.
"It's still eerie," Pete Kane said. "You know, when I see Osage Avenue, it all comes back."
Kane was a local CBS News photographer. He took cover inside an evacuated row home and remained there until he was nearly out of videotape.
"I went through the bullets, I went through the tear gas, I went through the fire," Kane said. "It's still a nightmare."
The situation came to a head after years of controversy between MOVE, the Black liberation, back-to-nature group, and Cobbs Creek neighbors.
On May 13, 1985, the city ordered MOVE out of their compound on Osage Avenue, an order that was ignored. The neighborhood was evacuated.
The confrontation reached a boiling point. Police and MOVE members traded gunfire: Some 10,000 rounds were fired in 90 minutes.
By that afternoon, with former Mayor Wilson Goode's authorization, the police commissioner ordered the bombing of the compound at 6221 Osage Avenue. The fire was then permitted to burn and spread.
"I didn't expect to go through a firebombing, 61 homes burned to the ground, 11 dead, six of them kids," Kane said.
"When everyone was trying to get out, they retreated to the basement," Africa said. "Tried to get out the back. They were being shot at from the front. This is where it happened."
The disastrous events of that day, with 11 dead, several dozen homes leveled and hundreds now homeless, would lead to investigations, reviews, recommendations and lawsuits.
The city was faulted for its described negligent handling of the matter. The MOVE Commission report described the decision to bomb the home as "unconscionable."
"I regret that it happened on my watch," Goode said.
Goode spoke with CBS News Philadelphia by phone last week. He said his administration used poor judgment in executing a tactical plan to remove MOVE members from 6221 Osage Avenue.
Goode said he was told to stay away from the scene because of information that there was a threat to his life. He instead managed the chaos from his office miles away at City Hall.
"I think that the dropping of the device was bad, but I think that the worst part of it was letting the fire burn when they knew that there were children in the house," Goode said.
Africa is working to memorialize those who died. He says a historical marker at 63rd Street and Osage Avenue, installed several years ago, doesn't appropriately capture the trauma, pain and grief.
"There should be a historical marker that says the names and ages of the people that died here," he said.
"For all intents and purposes, the city has closed this chapter," said Linn Washington, a Temple University professor and award-winning journalist.
Washington, like others, says the confrontation between MOVE and the city didn't happen overnight. Despite city council resolutions memorializing the day, he says the city has fumbled its response.
It was a long-running feud that the MOVE Commission concluded the city had ignored.
"When issues come up, we have to address them," Washington said. "They're not going to go away. We really need to deal with the systemic inequities. Their lives were totally turned upside down from that outrageous decision to let the fire burn."
No one was ever criminally charged in connection with the events of May 13, 1985.
Africa said he is alive today because his grandmother removed him from 6221 Osage Avenue shortly before the gun battle erupted with police.
"There's a lot of people who still feel bitter about what happened, bitter against MOVE and bitter against the city, and it makes it hard for people to talk about," he said. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to fully accept what happened."
Africa wants Philadelphia schools to include information in their curriculum about what happened on Osage Avenue in 1985. A spokesperson for the Philadelphia School District did not return a request for comment.
A spokesperson for Democratic Mayor Cherelle Parker declined to comment.
