On a Move! This is Delbert Africa calling Dallas Prison in Pennsylvania. I’m speaking to the May 13th massacre of the MOVE family in 1985 in Philadelphia.
My statement is this:
It is 27 years after the murder of 11 MOVE revolutionaries, 5 of which were children, yet what does the city of Philadelphia have to show for it? The streets aren’t any safer, the gestapo-minded police haven’t stopped murdering and brutalizing folks in the streets, and the confused followers of this sick system’s way haven’t stopped their rape, robbery and murder of their own fellow oppressed victims of this foul system. So as a committed MOVE member, I want to point out to people, whoever is listening to this broadcast, that it is past time that this silence of the May 13th massacre of the MOVE people be eliminated. It need to be an outburst of protest about this. Years after the Waco massacre, after Kent State, Jackson State, and other government atrocities, you still hear people speak out about it, yet there’s nothing but silence about the May 13th 1985 murder of 11 MOVE members. The planners of this genocidal act have told the people of Philadelphia that the city would be better off once MOVE was gone. Those demons not only committed vicious murder, they’ve lied to the people because right now, today, there are more homeless in the streets, there are more sons and daughters in their prisons, it’s more narcotics being pushed in people’s veins, there’s more abandoned houses, increased taxes, more unemployed, more everything negative. They don’t have MOVE to blame for it now because MOVE is still present. 27 years later we’re still pushing the fact that we’re right in opposing this oppressive-ass system.
In 1985, Wilson Goode who was the Mayor, Leo Brooks who was the Managing Director, Ed Rendell who was the District Attorney, Gregory Sambor who was the Police Chief, and William Richmond who was the Fire Chief, they all conspired to murder 11 MOVE people, 5 of them children. And yet, MOVE 9, who were arrested in 1978, we spent the last 35 years in jail because of a so-called conspiracy that they didn’t have no proof of. But Wilson Goode and his band of conspirators didn’t spend one day in jail. This is what MOVE is calling for now, as a spokesman for the rest of the family I want to say I hope people just blast their names into infamy and tell the whole world that they’re tired of this cover-up of the oppression of MOVE people.
Every time we come up for parole, the Parole Board always wants to say that we show no remorse. They have no other excuses about why we haven’t been given parole except that we show no remorse. Each year we tell them, “We have no remorse over a crime we did not commit.” And yet it’s a proven fact that those people, Wilson Goode and his cohort, they murdered 11 MOVE people, innocent people. And it’s a proven fact that they unloaded 10,000 rounds of ammunition in the first hour of their attack on us, and yet not one of them is in jail for conspiracy. So we’re just hoping and praying that MOVE people get some relief from the people of the country by calling up the Parole Board in Pennsylvania, emailing them, all that, and letting them know that it’s time for them to stop jailing us for the crime we didn’t commit and yet the people who committed one of the most vicious atrocities in America – they still have not served one day in jail. And this is what it’s all about, people coming together, people making a statement and that is the only reason that they have kept us in jail this long since 1978 is because we refuse to bow our heads, because we refuse to stop putting out the truth. We keep on putting out the truth and we standing strong and this is the only reason we’re in jail right now. This is what we’re pushing for now, for people to come out May 13th and before and let the politicians know that this thing is not going to be silenced anymore. There should be all kinds of memorials, services and yet every May 13th the only people that come out, seemingly, are those that are connected to MOVE, supporters of truth, supporters of those who fight this oppressive system.
And before we get cut off, I’d like to send a shout out to Lynn Stewart and give her my best and hope she gets well and overcome that. I hope she gets this oppression up off of her. On a Move and I want to thank Prison Radio for giving a little voice out here. This is Delbert Africa calling from Dallas Prison in Pennsylvania. On a Move!