Africa indicts 'system'

Ramona Africa told her version of MOVE's relationship with the City of Philadelphia to an audience of over 150 people in Houston Hall last night. Africa, a member of MOVE for 14 years, was in MOVE's Osage Avenue headquarters on May 13, 1985, when then-Mayor Wilson Goode ordered its bombing, destroying an entire city block and killing 16 people. Africa, the only adult MOVE member in the house who survived the incident, suggested that the government felt threatened by MOVE because the group "will not accept anything that isn't right." Africa quickly established that, in her mind, "MOVE's beliefs are not the issues -- the injustices MOVE suffered are." She defined these beliefs as "protecting life without prejudice" and added that people of various races are involved with MOVE. "[The] only requirement for being in MOVE is a sincere determination to do what's right," she said. Africa began her speech by stating that the issue of government-sponsored injustice is not one affecting MOVE alone, but rather one that affects all people. "No one is immune from the oppression that this system perpetuates," Africa warned. "It was MOVE this time, . . . it could be you next time." Alleging that the government promotes racial strife, Africa said the "government can't afford to have people coming together and realizing who the real enemy is." Africa said she based her claims on the injustice she personally witnessed. She said MOVE members imprisoned for the 1977 slaying of a police officer were innocent, and, even if they were guilty, they should not be in jail because the police were guilty of worse crimes. She added that legality does not necessarily denote correctness, asking, "Why should we respect a government that doesn't even respect its own rules?" Africa accused the police of extreme brutality in their dealings with MOVE members. "[The police sent] hundreds of cops armed with artillery they probably didn't use in Vietnam . . . to arrest four people for daring to protest the imprisonment of innocent people," she said, referring to the 1985 bombing. She said that government plays upon people's fear of chaos in order to maintain its position of power. "What do you have now but chaos?" Africa said. "It's a sad state of affairs any time a black man can give orders to kill black babies and say that he'd do it again." When asked by an audience member what she would replace government with, she replied that "we're not interested in replacing government with anything. When you eliminate what's wrong, you're left with what's right." Members of the audience cited a variety of reasons for attending last night's speech. "I grew up in Philadelphia, and I was in fifth grade when this happened," College freshman Julie Keleher said. "The City of Philadelphia had their version of what happened, and I wanted to hear what really happened." College senior William Daniels also recalled growing up in Reading, Pa. at the time of the event. "When it occurred, I was a little kid in elementary school, and I remember coming home and watching it on the news," he said. "I thought it was a very good speech. It kind of shed a little light on the whole MOVE incident for me." Other students were more critical of the speech. "I thought she really needed to get her facts straight," Wharton freshman Steve Kim said.

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