MOVE (Philadelphia, John Africa)

John Africa (born Vincent Leaphart in Philadelphia, 1931) founded MOVE around 1972 in the city's Powelton Village neighbourhood, initially as the "Christian Movement for Life." With social worker Donald Glassey, who transcribed and compiled the functionally illiterate Africa's teachings, Africa produced "The Guidelines" — a doctrine of strict vegetarianism, anti-technology and anti-corruption politics, and reverence for "all life equally." Members adopted the surname "Africa." A Philadelphia police officer later testified, in the 2013 documentary Let the Fire Burn, that MOVE members were arrested 193 times and faced 93 court cases between 1972 and 1978 amid the group's public protests and heavy police surveillance. On August 8, 1978, police attempting to evict MOVE from its Powelton Village house triggered an armed standoff and shootout in which Officer James Ramp was killed; nine members (the "MOVE 9") were convicted in his death, the house was demolished, and two of the nine, Merle Africa and Phil Africa, later died in Pennsylvania prisons before the last surviving members were released in February 2020. In July 1981, John Africa and a co-defendant, representing themselves, were acquitted of separate weapons and conspiracy charges after a six-day jury deliberation.

MOVE relocated to a house on Osage Avenue in Cobbs Creek, and on May 13, 1985, city officials — with the approval of Mayor Wilson Goode's administration — attempted to evict the group and execute arrest warrants, again triggering an armed standoff. Police dropped a device containing C-4 explosive from a helicopter onto the house's roof; the resulting fire was allowed to burn largely uncontrolled, destroying 61 neighbouring homes (some contemporary accounts say approximately 65) and killing eleven MOVE members, including John Africa and five children. Only two people survived: Ramona Africa, who was convicted and served the maximum seven-year sentence, and a child, Birdie Africa. The Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission's 1986 report found the police and fire departments grossly negligent and the bombing decision unconscionable, yet no city official or officer was ever criminally charged. This entry documents two distinct kinds of evidence: internal group control (John Africa's absolute doctrinal authority, the mandatory surname change, communal back-to-nature discipline, and children present during the 1978 and 1985 armed confrontations) and, separately, extraordinary state violence directed against the group — evidence of harm done to MOVE, not evidence of harm caused by it. In November 2020 the Philadelphia City Council formally apologised for the bombing, and in May 2025 it designated May 13 an annual "day of reflection and remembrance"; separately, university retention of unreturned victims' remains has remained a live controversy, with further remains believed to be Delisha Africa's located at the University of Pennsylvania as recently as November 2024.