The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.60/No.23           June 10, 1996 
 
 
MOVE Leaders Sue Philadelphia  

BY NANCY COLE

PHILADELPHIA - Eleven years after the city assault that claimed 11 lives in the MOVE house on Osage Avenue, Ramona Africa - one of only two to survive the inferno - testified for the first time about the events of that day. On May 13, 1985, police dropped a bomb on the house and allowed the ensuing fire to destroy it and 60 other houses in the Black community.

Five hundred cops descended on the home, supposedly in response to neighbors' complaints and to the presence of a rooftop bunker. The city-appointed MOVE commission concluded in 1985 that the police fired 10,000 rounds, in addition to dropping the bomb. Trapped in the house by police gunfire, only Ramona Africa and 13- year-old Birdie Africa were able to escape.

No one was ever formally charged or tried, with the exception of Ramona Africa, who was convicted of riot and conspiracy for the 1985 disaster and spent seven years in prison. The current trial, now completing its second month, takes up three lawsuits seeking punitive and compensatory damages. One is by Ramona Africa, one by family members of the late MOVE founder John Africa, and the third by the owner of the MOVE house, whose son was killed in the assault. The defendants in the case are the City of Philadelphia, former fire commissioner William Richmond and former police commissioner Gregore Sambor.

On the stand, Ramona Africa relived the day's events after explaining MOVE's unpopular actions - which included blaring loudspeakers in the neighborhood - as attempts to draw attention to the injustice of the 30-100-year sentences meted out to nine MOVE members after a 1978 confrontation in which a police officer was killed.

The defense strategy of the city and its former officials centers around portraying MOVE as dangerous and bizarrely unpopular with neighbors. The city also aims to portray those bringing the lawsuits as greedy and only interested in money they are seeking.

Under cross examination, Ramona Africa was asked many times if MOVE obtained city permits to build the bunker on the roof in an effort to portray the group as lawless. Police Chief Sambor's attorney, John Morris, even demanded confirmation from Africa that MOVE's diet included raw eggs and raw chicken. Africa explained the bunker and other fortification of the house were defensive and denied that the MOVE house was the armed camp it is presented as being. She charges that city officials murdered the 11 members of her group.

The trial comes in the context of a massive police scandal here, where almost weekly disclosures point to a pattern of official lies and frame-ups. Some 116 criminal convictions have been overturned since the 39th Police District scandal erupted last year.

Nancy Cole is the Socialist Workers Party candidate for Pennsylvania Attorney General. She is a member of International Association of Machinists Local 1776.  
 
 
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