Debbie Africa is one of a group called the MOVE 9, survivors of the August 8th, 1978 police attack on MOVE in Philadelphia. From that day to less than a week ago, Debbie has been in a cell serving out an outrageous 30 to 100 year prison sentence, one of seven surviving MOVE members, and like other MOVE members, she served 10 years over her minimum term before release on parole.
Upon her release, in comments published by The Guardian of London, she remarked on to MOVE sisters who were not granted parole: Janine and Janet Africa. Debbie said, “Having to leave them was hard. I was torn up inside because, of course, I want to come home, but I want them to come with me. I was in shock when it didn’t happen that way.”
When Debbie was first arrested, she was eight months pregnant, and in September, 1978, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Michael Africa Jr. Fed by her sisters who smuggled food from the mess hall, she spent three days with her son before it was discovered she gave birth, when the two were immediately separated. Mike Jr. tells of the first night living with his mother. He knocked on her bedroom door, and when she told him to come in, she was standing there barefoot. He looked down at her feet and realized it was the first time in his life that he had seen his mother’s feet.
His friend Benny told him that two-year-old babies and infants knew more about their mothers than he, a man almost 40 years old. But the story is – Debbie Africa, after 40 years behind bars, is free. May freedom come swiftly for the rest of the MOVE survivors of August 8th, 1978. From in prison nation, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
