Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

MOVE Members Up Before The Parole Board

on a move! | 20.03.2008 13:14 | Animal Liberation | Repression | Social Struggles | Birmingham

MOVE is an organization formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia, in 1972 by John Africa. MOVE was described by CNN as "a loose-knit, mostly black group whose members all adopted the surname Africa, advocated a 'back-to-nature' lifestyle and preached against technology."

Their actions brought close scrutiny from the Philadelphia police. The event that escalated MOVE tensions occurred in March 1976, when MOVE and Philadelphia police skirmished, leaving a number of individuals on both sides injured. One of these was Life Africa, an infant that was killed in the attacks. This death was so heinous that it brought John Africa to move to a more Black-Panther-esque type of armed resistance; that "MOVE would counter with violence if attacked." The downward spiral of action culminated in two events: MOVE's outside patrolling of their house with weapons and the later 1978 shoot-out, which led to the death of Officer James Ramp, and several woundings. While the forensics expert at the later MOVE Commission would absolve MOVE from any murder charges as the bullet was fired into the back of the officers head, away from the house.

The group came to international attention after an attempt in 1985 by the Philadelphia Police Department to enforce outstanding arrest warrants for four members resulted in the police firing 10,000 rounds of ammunition into the house and dropping a bomb containing C-4 and Tovex from a helicopter onto MOVE's residence. Eleven members died in the ensuing fire, including founder John Africa and five children. The 11 were killed after the decision to let the bunker burn, shooting at anyone that tried to leave the house. This fire ignited a massive blaze which eventually consumed almost an entire city block and left 240 people homeless.

Seven MOVE members who have been behind bars since 1978 for their part in the shoot-out that killed the Philadelphia Police Officer are up for parole in April - amid a swell of opposition from police and prosecutors. The seven were among nine MOVE members convicted in a 19-week trial in 1980 that, at the time, was the longest and most expensive in Pennsylvania history. An eighth defendant will be eligible for parole next year and a ninth died in prison. All nine were found guilty of third-degree murder in the shooting of Ramp, and the attempted murders of the others shot and injured that day.

Offenders are usually interviewed for parole consideration three months before they reach their minimum sentence. Parole can be granted at any time between the minimum and the maximum sentence. They were sentenced from 30 to 100 years.

Members of the group have long railed against the conviction of the nine, saying that prosecutors were never able to prove who fired the fatal shot. There was a lack of evidence presented during the trial, especially about the three female defendants, who were in the basement trying to protect children during the confrontation.


To contact and express support for their release, write or call:

Pennsylvania Board Of Probation and Parole
1101 South Front Street
Suite 5100
Harrisburg, PA 17104-2517
USA

Call 717-787-5699


MOVE say "We suggest that people start to call and write to the parole board in support of our release in February/March since our parole hearing will be in early April. We ask that when possible people send us a copy of the letters they write, so that we can take them to the parole hearing with us as a show of people who want us back home where we belong.

Thanking everyone in advance. Ona Move!"

Move members up for parole:

Janine Phillips Africa #006309
Debbie Sims Africa #006307
Janet Holloway Africa #006308
SCI-Cambridge Springs
451 Fullerton Ave.
Cambridge Springs, PA. 16403-1238
USA


Michael Davis Africa #AM-4973
Charles Sims Africa #AM-4975
SCI-Grasterford
PO Box 244
Grasterford, PA 19426-0244
USA

Edward Goodman Africa #AM-4974
SCI-Mahanoy
301 Morea Road
Frackville, PA 17932-0001
USA

William Phillips Africa #AM-4984
Delbert Orr Africa #AM-4985
SCI-Dallas
1000 Follies Road
Dallas, PA 18612-0286
USA

All of those listed above have served 30 years of an unjust 100 year sentence!

We also suggest that folks contact our folks out there to see if they have anything that people can do to be of help in this situation. They can be contacted at:

The Move Organization
PO Box 19709
Phila, PA 19143
610-499-0979
USA





+++

Below is a standard letter for you to send to the parole board:

+++


Pennsylvania Board Of Probation and Parole
1101 South Front Street
Suite 5100
Harrisburg, PA 17104-2517
USA

Dear Pennsylvania Board Of Probation and Parole,

Several people that are members of an organization called MOVE are up before the Parole board in April and I wanted to write you a letter in support of and to urge you to seriously consider them being granted parole. All people I have listed below have served 30 years of an unjust 100 year sentence.

I have read that "seven MOVE members, who have been behind bars since 1978 for their part in the shoot-out that killed a Philadelphia Police Officer, are up for parole in April - amid a swell of opposition from police and prosecutors". I also know that prosecutors were never able to prove who fired the fatal shot and there was a lack of evidence presented during the trial, especially about the three female defendants, who were in the basement trying to protect children during the confrontation.

I hope the parole board will agree with me that 30 years is long enough and these people should be returned to their families:

Janine Phillips Africa #006309
Debbie Sims Africa #006307
Janet Holloway Africa #006308
SCI-Cambridge Springs
451 Fullerton Ave.
Cambridge Springs, PA. 16403-1238
USA

Michael Davis Africa #AM-4973
Charles Sims Africa #AM-4975
SCI-Grasterford
PO Box 244
Grasterford, PA 19426-0244
USA

Edward Goodman Africa #AM-4974
SCI-Mahanoy
301 Morea Road
Frackville, PA 17932-0001
USA

William Phillips Africa #AM-4984
Delbert Orr Africa #AM-4985
SCI-Dallas
1000 Follies Road
Dallas, PA 18612-0286
USA

Yours sincerely

on a move!
- Homepage: http://www.onamove.com/

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech