The MOVE Bombing:
Philadelphia Dropped a Bomb on Its Own Residents

MOVE was founded in 1972 by John Africa (born Vincent Leaphart) as a Black liberation organization with an anti-technology, back-to-nature philosophy. Members took the surname Africa. They were loud, confrontational, and deliberately transgressive — they composted openly, kept animals, used bullhorns to broadcast speeches at neighbors, and refused to comply with city ordinances. They were also Black, in a city with a notoriously brutal police department. In 1978, a police assault on their Powelton Village home killed one officer (shot by a police bullet in the crossfire, evidence suggests) and nine MOVE members were convicted of third-degree murder. They were sentenced to 30-100 years. In 1981, MOVE established a new headquarters on Osage Avenue in West Philadelphia, a middle-class Black neighborhood.

On May 13, 1985, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Gregore Sambor announced through a bullhorn: "Attention MOVE: This is America." Police then opened fire on the house with automatic weapons. After hours of standoff, a Pennsylvania State Police helicopter dropped a satchel containing Tovex (commercial explosive) and C-4 (military explosive) onto the roof. The bomb ignited a fire in the bunker on the roof. Sambor ordered firefighters to hold back for approximately 40 minutes — allowing the fire to spread through the attached rowhouses. By the time firefighters were allowed to fight the fire, it had destroyed 61 homes.

Ramona Africa, an adult MOVE member, escaped. Birdie Africa, a 13-year-old boy, escaped. Everyone else died — including Tomaso, Delisha, Netta, Little Phil, and Tree, children ranging from 7 to 13 years old. Mayor Wilson Goode — the city's first Black mayor, elected in 1983 — had authorized the operation. He said he had not known a bomb would be used. An investigation found he had. He was not charged. Sambor resigned. He was not charged. The officers who dropped the bomb were not charged. No one was ever criminally charged.