youth4mumia The MOVE 9

FREE

THE

MOVE 9

"The fact that something is legal under the system's laws, doesn't make it right. Slavery was legal. Killing Native Americans and stealing their land was all done legally. JOHN AFRICA taught us that what is right applies equally, across the board. If something is right, it's right for all of life, with no separations."

- MOVE

check out the photo essay by Hans Bennett
covering the demo to Free the MOVE 9 on August 10, 2002
http://www.dc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=27322&group=webcast

Who Are The MOVE 9?

The MOVE 9 are innocent men and women who have been in prison since 1978, following a massive police assault on MOVE headquarters in Powelton Village, Philadelphia (seven years before the government dropped a bomb on MOVE, killing 11 people including 5 children).

MOVE's belief is in life. MOVE members follow the teachings of their founder, JOHN AFRICA. MOVE members have an uncompromising commitment to their belief. It is that commitment which makes them a strong, unified family despite years of hardship.

The August 8, 1978 assault on MOVE was a major military operation enacted by the Philadelphia Police Department under the direction of then-mayor Frank Rizzo. The assault followed years of police brutality against MOVE; Rizzo's reputation for racism and abuse of citizens is well documented.

During the assault, heavy equipment was used to tear down barricades surrounding the house, and police moved in while SWAT teams staked out every possible exit. MOVE members retreated to the basement, where they withstood fire hoses and water deluge guns. As the basement flooded, they held children and dogs above the rising water.

Suddenly shots rang out and bullets immediately filled the air as police throughout the area opened fire. Officer James Ramp was struck and killed by a single bullet.

MOVE adults came out of the house carrying their children through clouds of tear gas and were immediately taken into custody. MOVE never fired any shots and no MOVE members were arrested with any weapons. All were viciously beaten. TV cameras filmed police brutally beating Delbert Africa (Three of the four police were brought to trial and acquitted despite irrefutable photographic evidence). The city bulldozed and leveled the house immediately that day, thereby destroying evidence.

The MOVE 9 were sentenced to 30-100 years EACH allegedly for the death of Officer James Ramp. Autopsy reports show clearly that the bullet that hit Ramp traveled in a downward direction; MOVE members were in the basement of their house below the street making it ballistically impossible for them to have fired the shot.

In reality, the MOVE 9 were sentenced because they were MOVE members. The murder charges were preposterous. Twelve adults were arrested; among them were two MOVE sympathizers who disavowed MOVE and were released. At a preliminary hearing, the judge told one, "There has been no evidence that you are a MOVE member" and let her go free. (Consuewella Dotson refused to disavow MOVE; she was tried separately and sentenced to 10-20 years. She was paroled in 1994 following steady public pressure.)

Following the trial in 1980, Judge Malmed said, "I tried them as a family, and I sentenced them as a family." When he appeared on a radio talk show the next day, a caller asked "Who shot James Ramp?" to which Malmed replied, "I have no idea." That caller was Mumia Abu-Jamal, one of the few media people to accurately report on MOVE. Mumia was shot and beaten by police and framed on charges of murder in the death of a police officer on December 9, 1981. On death row since 1982, he maintains his innocence, and fights for his life and freedom for ALL MOVE prisoners.

It's been nearly twenty-five years since the August 8, 1978 confrontation. MOVE members remain strong and committed in their belief, LIFE, and the teachings of MOVE founder, JOHN AFRICA, despite the hardship of being separated from their sisters, brothers, spouses, and children. Recently, the MOVE 9's Post-Conviction Relief Act (PCRA) appeal was denied by Pennsylvania Common Pleas Court Judge Ricardo Jackson. An appeal from Jackson's decision to the Superior Court was also denied. An appeal has been filed in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. As in Mumia's case, it will take massive public pressure to win their release.