Forty years ago today, on May 13, 1985, the United States government bombed a residential neighborhood in West Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Police Department, with full authorization from city officials, dropped a satchel bomb—military-grade explosives—onto the home of the Black liberation group MOVE. The bombing killed 11 people, including five children: Tree Africa, Netta Africa, Little Phil Africa, Delisha Africa, and Tomasa Africa. The adults who were murdered were John Africa, Rhonda Africa, Frank Africa, Raymond Africa, Conrad Africa, and Theresa Africa.
Why isn’t this taught in history books nation wide, and why, by all probability, are you just now hearing about it for the first time? Let’s Address This.
An American Legacy of Atrocity
Perhaps just as atrocious, the MOVE bombing wasn’t even the first time the U.S. Government bombed its own citizens. Instead, it marked the second time in U.S. history that the government bombed its own citizens. The first was the 1921 Tulsa Massacre, where white mobs, backed by law enforcement, annihilated the prosperous Black neighborhood of Greenwood, killing up to 300 Black people. Both times, it was Black Americans who were bombed. Both times, it was the state that sanctioned the carnage. Both times, the state turned a blind eye to its agents who instigated violence.
In Philadelphia, the bomb ignited a massive fire that destroyed 61 homes and left 250 people homeless. But perhaps the greatest horror was this: the Philadelphia Police Department ordered firefighters to “let the fire burn.” For 90 minutes, the flames raged uninhibited. The fire they started, then nurtured, continued to take innocent life as city officials watched and laughed. And when Black civilians tried to escape the fire, Philadelphia police opened fire on them.
Zero Accountability—Except One Person
It may not surprise you, therefore, to learn that no one was ever prosecuted. Not one city official. Not one police officer. Not the pilot who flew the helicopter. Not the police chief who gave the order. In fact, the only person who faced any consequences whatsoever was Ramona Africa—the one surviving adult member of MOVE. Africa exercised her 5th Amendment right to refuse to testify in court, was charged with riot and conspiracy, convicted on both counts, and spent seven years in prison. You read that correctly, the only person who faced accountability for being bombed, was a Black woman who was bombed as her family and loved ones were burned and killed before her very eyes.
The message was chillingly clear: Black life, Black children, Black families—were are expendable.
The bombing was a gross violation of constitutional and human rights. The MOVE members were not tried in a court of law. They were not given due process. Instead, they were executed by a militarized police force, and their neighborhood was reduced to ashes in an act of state terrorism. The right to life, to be free from unlawful search and seizure, to a fair trial—all shredded in the fire and buried under the rubble.
40 Years Later — No Meaningful Progress
Indeed to this day, human remains of MOVE bombing victims continue to be used in universities and put on display in museums, as if they are props. The dehumanization of Black Americans continues, the lack of accountability screams at deafening decibels, and the injustices that enabled the bombing go unmitigated—all but ensuring future similar injustice. And whether you’re Black or not, this affects you directly.
This is particularly relevant today as we see the Trump regime attempt to deny immigrants due process of law, disappear Black and brown people from the streets, and lock them in prisons hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles away, including in other countries. And yet, today, the same white supremacy that justified the MOVE bombing continues to metastasize in our systems. The Trump regime’s attempts to erase Black history—from banning AP African American Studies to removing mention of slavery and civil rights from textbooks—is not about education. It is about erasure. It is about justifying past atrocities so they can recreate present and future atrocities. It is about ensuring the next MOVE bombing doesn’t spark outrage—but apathy.
Remember MOVE
Understand this fact: the MOVE bombing was not a mistake. It was a calculated act of domestic warfare against Black resistance, against Black humanity, by the government. It is not ancient history. It is contemporary reality. And it is censored from history books by the very people who see no problem with such atrocities being committed in the future. Therefore, unless we learn from this injustice, it will be repeated—just as MOVE was repeated after no one faced accountability for committing the Tulsa Race Massacre.
Forty years later, the fire of anti-Black hate still burns—because the flames of white supremacy continue to dominate state and national policy. History shows, if we do not stand up now, we may not get the chance to stand at all. Let us never forget the MOVE bombing. Justice demands accountability. And our collective humanity depends on it.