Washington: MOVE: A Double Standard of Justice? MOVE: A Double Standard of Justice? By Linn Washington*

An insignificant protest against the caging of animals views. "On the contrary, it is averred that the group at the Philadelphia Zoo in 1972 by a band of boisterous, known as MOVE are individuals who want to conduct profanity-spewing radicals known as MOVE marked the themselves outside the law without any respect for proper inauspicious beginning of a series of violent clashes be- and legal authority."2 tween this increasingly lawless sect and brutal Philadel- MOVE's complaints against discriminatory practices phia police officers. The confrontations culminated in a by Philadelphia's police and judicial authorities coincide shoot-out between MOVE members and police on May with charges of racism levelled by local Black leaders 13, 1985, in which a police helicopter dropped a bomb on against city officials since colonial times. One historian a heavily fortified row house occupied by MOVE. The noted that Black Philadelphians have experienced "con- bomb sparked a firestorm which killed 11 MOVE mem- stant discrimination" in the application of the laws. bers and gutted 61 homes, leaving 250 people homeless. Whites who attacked Blacks usually "went unpunished; Although only three MOVE members were named in po- but if a Negro offended, the authorities smote him heav- lice arrest warrants, the dead included five children ily." 3 However, MOVE's anarchistic, anti-social behavior whose ages ranged from 7 to 14 years old. The series of mitigates its claim of being a blameless victim. MOVE's conflicts between police and MOVE ultimately claimed a propensity for physical assaults and disregard for the dozen lives and consumed close to $50 million in city rights of its neighbors are as abhorrent as the police bru- expenditures. tality it loudly denounces. A driving force behind the violent confrontations was This article will explore the history of the confronta- MOVE's belief that it was consistently victimized by a tions between MOVE and Philadelphia City officials in racist double standard of justice which quickly penalized the decade between 1975 and 1985, emphasizing the gov- them for any infraction but failed to punish law enforce- ernment's double standard of justice, particularly re- ment personnel for acts of illegal brutality. According to flected in the results of the local grand jury investigation MOVE, the police, public officials and judicial authorities into the 1985 shoot-out. were co-conspirators in the campaign to suppress the or- I. A revolutionary ideology is not ganization's political and religious rights. "This is sup- merely negative - it is not a mere posed to be a Court room of justice," said Conrad Hamp- conceptual refutation of a dying social ton Africa, one of the MOVE members incinerated in the order, but a positive creative theory, 1985 confrontation, during a 1976 trial for assault of po- the guiding light of the emerging social or- lice officers. "Who is going to speak of all the injustices der .. . that was poured down on the Organization ...masochis- Kwame Nkrumah' tic sheriffs and police officers beat me ...slammed my face against concrete walls. When are these maniacs, these criminals going to be on trial?"' MOVE was created by Vincent Leaphart, a handy- MOVE's unsuccessful $26 million federal lawsuit man and third grade dropout whose affection for dogs filed against city officials in 1976 graphically demon- earned him the nickname of "Vince the Dogman." strates the distance between the positions of MOVE and Leaphart, who later took the name John Africa5, has Philadelphia officials. The complaint contended that MOVE was subjected to "systematic harassment" for its 2. MOVE v. City of Philadelphia, Civil Action No. 76- expression of constitutionally protected political and so- 1483. cial views. The city's answer asserted MOVE 3. Edward R. Turner, THE NEGRO IN PENNSYLVANIA: was not in- 1639-1861, 145 (1st ed. 1911, reprinted 1970). See also, A. terested in expressing legitimate political and social Leon Higginbotham, Jr., IN THE MATTER OF COLOR: RACE & THE AMERICAN LEGAL PROCESS - THE COLONIAL PERIOD, 269 * Linn Washington is a reporter for the Philadelphia Daily and 310 (1978). News and has covered MOVE since 1975. 4. Kwame Nkrumah, AxIOMS OF KWAME NKRUMAH 1.Commonwealth v. Africa, 466 Pa. 603, 353 A.2d 855, (1967). 859 (1976). 5. All MOVE members adopt the last name "Africa."

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been described as a charismatic, compassionate man who Rejection of the social order and its legal authority is in- had an uncanny calmative effect on young children and herent in the MOVE ideology. 3 Unlike some other politi- wild animals.' "There's a fine line between genius and cal and religious dissidents, they hold themselves above insanity and he crossed it," said MOVE's co-founder the legal penalties that are a consequence of pursuing Donald Glassey during a 1985 interview.7 Glassey was an their particular convictions. idealistic, white social worker and graduate student at "You impotent mother fucker . . ." MOVE member the University of Pennsylvania. The two men founded Delbert Africa said to Philadelphia Judge Joseph P. MOVE in early 1972. Braig during a May 17, 1976 trial for assaulting a police- Within six months Leaphart had begun to recruit men. "I'm not here because I broke your so-called LAW. members into the organization he initially called the My purpose in this courtroom [is] to point out the imbal- "Christian Movement For Life," then the "Community ance, inequality, injustice, and inconsistencies comin' out Action Movement," and finally MOVE. "The name of these courts of so-called LAW."" MOVE sees no con- MOVE is not an acronym and has no special meaning," tradiction in proclaiming Constitutional protections for stated a U.S. Commission on Civil Rights investigative its campaign to destroy 'the system' while vehemently re- memo prepared shortly after the 1985 confrontation. jecting any responsibility to be bound by the laws of the "MOVE's followers believe that technology is at the root land or to respect the rights of others - Black or white. of today's problems and that a more primitive approach "When MOVE first surfaced in the early seventies we to life - eating uncooked foods, spreading fecal matter were armed only with the truth. The system says that we and garbage in their yards, sheltering stray animals and are entitled to freedom of speech ...(but) every time we rats, keeping their children out of school, and the like - 8 opened our mouths we were beaten, bludgeoned, kicked, offers a remedy." MOVE has never had more than 150 stomped, babies killed . .. .Finally MOVE decided we members, most of whom were part-time members known weren't going to get beat anymore," said MOVE spokes- as supporters or sympathizers. Many of Leaphart's rela- woman Louise James Africa, a sister of MOVE founder tives became MOVE members. John Africa, during testimony before the Philadelphia MOVE is "absolutely opposed to all that is wrong" Special Investigation Commission (PSIC), a legally non- and is dedicated to the destruction of the American sys- binding blue ribbon citizens panel appointed by Philadel- tem, which it considers corrupt, decadent and racistly ex- phia's Mayor Wilson Goode 9 to investigate the May 13, ploitative in economic, political and social terms. This 1985 confrontation.'" Louise James Africa owned 6221 stance against 'the system' led to the governmental perse- Osage Avenue, the house bombed by police in the cution which MOVE alleged to involve "slander, conspir- confrontation. acy, intimidation, kidnap and incarceration, authorized A central element in the series of clashes between brutality, legal attempted murder and statutory at- 0 MOVE and police was the use of profanity by MOVE tempted extermination.' "MOVE is a revolutionary or- members. Police predicated their early arrests of sect ganization, a family of clean, God serious people dedi- members on the use of obscene language. MOVE con- cated to stopping man's imposition on life ... MOVE tended there was nothing profane in its use of curse tells the truth about this 'rotten, corrupt system . . ." words. According to John Africa's teachings the profan- stated MOVE member Alberta Africa." Alberta Africa ity was not in was released from prison in May 1988 after serving her the word but in the profane action behind the word. "There is something downright entire seven year sentence for riot charges. She had re- backward with peatedly rejected parole conditioned on her renouncing a society of people who get so upset about a word that cannot hurt," Louise Africa once noted.'" any affiliation with MOVE in exchange for early release. "While the cops threw a mouthful of motherfuckers at MOVE mem- According to a 1981 Third Circuit Court ruling, bers on May 13, 1985, it wasn't the words that killed "MOVE endorses no existing regime or lifestyle; it yields them ... it was the action put behind the word bomb."'" to none in its uncompromising condemnation of a society that it views as 'impure,' 'unoriginal,' and 'blemished.' ,'2 The teachings of John Africa were compiled into

13. Concurrence of PSIC Commissioner Charles W. Bow- ser, 59 TEMPLE L.Q. 354 at 381 (1986). This volume of the 6. Philadelphia Inquirer, I (March 22, 1985). TEMPLE LAW QUARTERLY contains a full text of the Commis- 7. 105 NEWSWEEK, 25 (May 27, 1985). sion's Report; the forward to the PSIC's Report written by its 8. Interim Briefing Memorandum, June 3, 1985, from Civil chairman, William H. Brown Ill; a concurrence to the Report Rights Analyst Tino Calabia to Regional Director Edward Rut- written by PSIC Commissioner Charles W. Bowser and a dis- ledge of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Philadelphia sent from two of the Report's thirty-one findings written by Special Investigation Committee, Files Box 2, Folder 20-1, Vol. Commissioner Bruce W. Kauffman. • !1("PSIC files"). The Commission's files are housed in the Ur- 14. Verbatim transcript of proceeding prepared by MOVE ban Archives Department of Palley Library on the campus of members. See also, Commonwealth v. Africa, 466 Pa. 603, 353 Temple University in Philadelphia. A.2d 855 (1976). 9. Africa v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 662 F.2d 15. Philadelphia Inquirer, Sect. C, 5 (October 28, 1985). 1025, 1026 (3d Cir. 1981). Section C was a specially published section containing ex- 10. MOVE v. U.S. Department of Justice, 555 F. Supp. cerpted testimony from the public hearings held by the PSIC in 684, 685 n. 2 (E.D. Pa. 1983). October 1985. 11. Letter to several Philadelphia judges (January 26, 16. Louise Africa, Statement inresponse to the Grand Jury 1986). PSIC Files, Box 14, Folder 455. Report, Press Conference (June 1988) (author has a written 12. Africa v. Commonwealth, 662 F.2d 1025, 1027 (3d Cir. version on file). 1981). 17. Id.

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"The Book" in January 1972 by MOVE co-founder Don- members eat cloves of it as others eat candy. MOVE ald Glassey. "The Book" became the organization's Bi- women practice natural childbirth at home, biting off th( ble. A 41-page MOVE chronology written in late 1974 umbilical cord and licking their babies clean.22 stated: MOVE members have a near fanatical commitmeni to calisthenics with all members doing 500 pushups anc These guidelines completely undercut, disprove and running 10 miles per day. The recognized physical prow. substantiate that nothing in this system is working, ess of MOVE members became a factor in the acquitta or has ever worked since its inception . . . .What of three police officers charged with beating Delbert Af- John Africa's guidelines have taught MOVE people rica following the 1978 shoot-out. "In the instant case, it is that when the roots are sadistically criminal, ma- is possible that the officers did use excessive force in sub- lignantly exploitative, the stems will not blossom, duing Delbert Orr Africa. But that is mere conjecture.. justice, equality, peace, love. The roots of this lifes- . They knew of Delbert Africa's physical prowess ... tyle are corrupt, diseased and people, as well as ani- stated the opinion in the 1981 case. 3 mals, have been viciously exploited .. .it has been The group's members claim miraculous results from made clear by our founder, John Africa, that you John Africa's lifestyle. "Merle Africa had cancer, Del- cannot be against the establishment and carry out bert Africa was crippled from a broken back suffered in a any meaningful social change with the very same car accident and doctors told him he would never run, established principle you are said to be fighting Debbie Africa was sterile," Alberta against." Africa stated in her 1986 letter. "Because of John Africa Merle don't have cancer no more, Delbert can run as long and as hard as Few outside of MOVE have ever seen "The Book." Some he wants, Debbie and her husband have children. John describe it as an eclectic mishmash of dialectical materi- Africa gave MOVE the solution to all our problems, took alism, traditional African philosophy and Far Eastern re- us off drugs, cleaned us up in mind and body, made us ligious thought. One writer in 1973 termed it a "long se- healthy, strong, correct [in] the wisdom of understanding ries of rhetorical, irrational and abusive exhortations."' 9 of Life's law."24 MOVE's lifestyle also includes keeping John Africa is regarded by MOVE members as a de- dozens of stray dogs and feeding them raw meat. Believ- ity. John Africa's impact on Delbert Africa, a former ing that "all life begets life," they compost their garbage Black Panther Captain of Defense in Chicago, is typical among MOVE members. "I thought I was heading in a revolutionary direction," Delbert Africa stated in 1976. MOVE is "absolutely opposed to all "But upon reading the writings of John Africa, I realized that is wrong" and is dedicated to the that the four years I spent with the Black Panther Party, the armed confrontations with police, the attacking of the destruction of the American system, government, the deaths of comrades was all for nothing which it considers corrupt, decadent and because nothing was changed and I see that all that had nothing to do with true revolution, but was only the theo- racistly exploitative in economic, politi- ''20 retical so-called revolution of historical masturbators. cal and social terms. MOVE's doctrine, based on John Africa's vision of God-given natural law, shuns technology, formal educa- tion and products of 'the system'-like processed foods. and feces; thus their residences smell like pig farms. Be- "MOVE believes in Natural law," John Africa's sister cause MOVE's doctrine "respects all life," nothing is LaVerne Sims stated in 1985. "The sun is MOVE Law, done to curb the rats and roaches attracted by the raw the rain is MOVE Law, the Hurricane, Tornado and Vol- meat and garbage. Since the mid-seventies MOVE has cano ....Everybody is equal under MOVE Law, cause been repeatedly cited for violations of the city's health MOVE Law is God's Law. Man's law don't afford you and housing codes. the same equality ....."'I The group follows a "pure" MOVE's poor hygiene caused insects and rodents to communal lifestyle: they eat raw vegetables and fruits, invade the Osage Avenue neighborhood, making life un- avoid red meat, clean their teeth with roots instead of bearable for the residents. 5 "I pulled up the shades one toothbrushes, wear their hair in uncombed dreadlocks day and the whole window was black with bugs. I almost and avoid doctors by treating themselves with herbal vomited," said Lloyd Wilson, who lived next door to medications. Citing garlic's medicinal properties, MOVE MOVE, during testimony before the PSIC. "We had bugs in the house that we could not identify. We had

18. This MOVE document provides a detailed chronology of the organization's activities from its inception in 1972 22. Philadelphia Inquirer, 1 (May 22, 1985). through early 1975 from MOVE's perspective. PSIC Files, Box 23. Commonwealth v. Geist, 5 Phila. 210, 214 (emphasis 2, Folder 180 (pages unnumbered). added). 1.9.Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (April 29, 1975). 24. Letter from Alberta Africa to Judge Samuel Lehrer 20. Letter from Delbert Africa to author (July 17, 1976) (January 26, 1986) in PSIC Files, Box 14, Folder 455. (author has document on file). 25. Report of the County Investigating Grand Jury, Court 21. Letter from LaVerne Sims Africa to PSIC chairman of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, No. 86-007363 at 17 William Brown (November 9, 1985), PSIC Files Box 22, (May 15, 1986) ("Grand Jury Report"). Folder 448.

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things that if you would hit it, it would get back up." 2 In $25,000 it claimed was in the headquarters when police September of 1983 another neighbor who sought to rid razed the building hours after the 1978 shoot-out. 0 his house of vermin by using an exterminator "was as- Contrary to its stated Black revolutionary stance, saulted by MOVE members 27 who objected to the killing MOVE has a history of assaulting Black individuals and of insects. castigating Black organizations from community-based The rats, roaches and lack of even rudimentary edu- anti-gang groups to the Black Panthers. When MOVE cation for her children forced Valerie Brown to flee purchased 309 N. 33rd Street for its headquarters in the MOVE in 1981 after a nine year membership. One of the summer of 1973, it used dogs to force four low-income first MOVE members, Brown had been recruited by MOVE co-founder Donald Glassey who became the fa- ther of the oldest of her two daughters. Brown was at- tracted by MOVE's "free and easy lifestyle where every- By the end of the decade police brutality body was equal. No hassles." But years of cult-like had reached such epidemic proportions conformity in which the slightest variation from dogma, like combing her daughters' hair, would spark all-night that the United States Justice Depart- berating sessions, proved too much for Brown to endure.28 ment filed an unprecedented lawsuit in Other ex-members share Valerie Brown's less than 1979 against twenty-one top Philadel- idyllic view of the group. "MOVE is not about honesty. They are not the victims they portray themselves to be. phia officials, including Mayor Frank MOVE is about breaking down the system at anyone's Rizzo. The suit charged a pattern and cost," stated ex-member Jeanne Africa in a 1986 op-ed article. 29 "The time has come to expose MOVE for what practice of unlawful police conduct in- they are - a dangerous, destructive, fanatical organiza- cluding physical abuse, unlawful use of tion bent on destroying the system." The conflicting views of former and current MOVE deadly force and disciplinaryprocedures members is just one of the many contradictory facets of which condoned abuse. the cult. MOVE claims to be a peaceful group yet it has repeatedly directed violence against members and non- members. In December 1983, John Africa ordered his nephew Frank James Africa, 26, to attack Frank's Black families from the adjacent building, which the mother, Louise Africa, with an ax. Nearly a decade group then illegally occupied. The PSIC found MOVE before the attack on Louise Africa, an elderly man living used threats, abuse and intimidation to terrify their Black across the street from MOVE's old headquarters, Monty neighbors on Osage Avenue in the year preceding the Lis, filed a private criminal complaint with the District May 1985 confrontation. MOVE readily proclaimed this Attorney's Office accusing MOVE member Conrad terror was a deliberate tactic to force neighbors to pres- Hampton Africa of being among the group of MOVE sure Black elected officials to secure the release of impris- members who had repeatedly attacked him. Lis died of a oned MOVE members. "MOVE's deliberate use of terror included the intentional violation of the basic rights of heart attack two weeks later. His complaint was dis- 1 missed two days after his death when he failed to appear those living in the Osage Avenue neighborhood."" On in cburt. MOVE members later took credit for causing Christmas Eve 1983 MOVE conducted a 36-hour long Lis' death. invective-filled harangue of its neighbors over its roof- mounted public address MOVE proclaims an unswerving commitment to "the system. Such amplified attacks became regular occurrences.3 2 truth" yet it has repeatedly demonstrated their dishon- MOVE's esty. Nine MOVE members were convicted for the fatal history of assaultive behavior repudiates its claim as a revolutionary group, said former shooting of Police Officer James Ramp on August 18, Black Pan- ther leader Bobby 3 1978. The incident resulted from MOVE's failure to va- Seale during a 1986 college speech.1 "MOVE violated the cardinal cate its North 33rd Street headquarters, as stipulated in rule," said Seale, now a professor an agreement it had signed with city officials in May at Temple University in Philadelphia. "You 1978 to end an armed standoff which had begun a year don't alienate the people, particularly the people around earlier. In the days preceding the August shoot-out, you in the community. We (the Panthers) created too many programs to MOVE publicly stated its failure to vacate the ram- serve the people." A revolutionary group, Seale added, must ... shackled headquarters resulted from its having no money have "goals objectives" and MOVE does not. 4 to relocate. Yet in a federal lawsuit against city officials filed in August 1980 MOVE sought repayment of

30. Philadelphia Daily News, 9 (August 12, 1980). 26. Philadelphia Inquirer, Sect. C, 4 (October 28, 1985). 31. Report of PSIC, 59 TEMPLE L.Q. at 354. 27. Grand Jury Report at 17. 32. Philadelphia Inquirer, Sect. C, 6 (October 28, 1985). 28. Philadelphia Inquirer, 1 (May 22, 1985). 33. Philadelphia Daily News, 16 (March 14, 1986). 29. Philadelphia Daily News, 32 (August 11, 1986). 34. Id.

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II. shot and wounded 148 people in 1974,42 more than twic The rampant brutality pervading the Philadelphia Po- the number of police shootings that year in New York, lice Department during the seventies was a crucial causa- city with a population four times that of Philadelphia. tive element in MOVE's confrontations with city offi- MOVE members fell into both of the categories o cials. Police violence - arrests without probable cause, people whom Judge Fullam found most likely to bt physical assaults, dog attacks in non-threatening situa- targets of police abuse: poor Blacks and individuals wh( tions and fatal shootings - occurred with such frequency challenged their initial police contact. From its inceptior they could not "be dismissed as rare, isolated instances.. MOVE protested against a potpourri of targets: the • .$35 In a suit against the Philadelphia Police Depart- American Veterinarian Association, Buddhists, the Phila- ment, Federal District Court Judge John P. Fullam noted delphia School Board, Jane Fonda, Gulf Oil and in his opinion that city officials did "little or nothing" to 6 NAACP head Roy Wilkins. These protests often resem- punish or prevent police abuse. bled blockades with MOVE members using bullhorns to By the end of the decade police brutality had reached conduct hours-long profanity-punctuated harangues ex- such epidemic proportions that the United States Justice pounding their philosophy. These protests invariably led Department filed an unprecedented lawsuit in 1979 to encounters with police and arrests. Arrests of MOVE against twenty-one top Philadelphia officials, including members skyrocketed from thirty-three in 1974 to 142 in Mayor Frank Rizzo. The suit charged a pattern and 1975, with few if any arrests accomplished without scuf- practice of unlawful police conduct including physical fles between MOVE and police."3 abuse, unlawful use of deadly force and disciplinary pro- 7 MOVE's complaints of police abuse rarely elicited cedures which condoned abuse. The City of Philadel- any response. In a June 10, 1975 letter to the chairperson phia paid more than $2 million in court settlements for of the city's Human Relations Commission, MOVE com- police brutality cases between 1975-1978 according to a 3 8 plained of a series of injuries from alleged police assaults, top NAACP official. including a miscarriage suffered by Alberta Africa "as a Five months before the Justice Department lawsuit, result of being kicked in the vagina by Matron Robinson, Mayor Rizzo had vehemently denied the existence of po- while being held by 4 cops" inside police headquarters on lice brutality during testimony before the U.S. Commis- April 29 of that year. MOVE received no response to the sion on Civil Rights. Rizzo contended that anarchists and five page letter charging it was being subjected to "schiz- an anti-police press had manufactured the issue of bru- 9 ophrenic lawlessness" in which they were locked up for tality. The day before Rizzo testified, the president of breaking the "so-called law" while their tormentors es- Philadelphia's Chamber of Commerce told the Civil caped "without reprisal.""" Rights Commission that the business community toler- 0 MOVE was not alone in criticizing local authorities ated police brutality as a trade-off for safe streets.' for failing to respond to complaints of police abuse. "Phi- The most likely targets of police abuse, Judge Fullam ladelphians must look to the federal government for the found in Coppar, were poor Blacks and persons who chal- protection of our human rights," the director of the local lenged their initial police contact. William Ware, con- American Civil Liberties Union chapter stated in a May fined to a wheel chair, was beaten by police on July 5, 26, 1977 letter to President Jimmy Carter. "The Phila- 1975 during an incident inside of a police station. He was delphia Police Department and the District Attorney's later charged with assaulting the police officer. Cornell Office are largely unresponsive to citizens' complaints of Warren was fatally shot in the face by a policeman on police abuse."' 5 A year earlier the U.S. Supreme Court September 23, 1978 as he laid on a sidewalk - hand- had overturned Judge Fullam's 1973 order, upheld by the cuffed. Warren was one of 162 persons fatally shot by Third Circuit, requiring broad changes in the Police De- Philadelphia police between 1970 and 1978, a period in partment's procedures for handling citizen complaints. which the fatality figure was five times higher than the The Supreme Court's reversal was based in part on find- decade between 1950 and 1960." Philadelphia police ing insufficient facts to show an affirmative link between incidents of abuse and an formal policy of support for the misconduct by city officials."6 During the mid-seventies many MOVE 35. Coppar v. Rizzo, 357 F.Supp. 1289, 1319 (E.D. Pa. members 1973). 36. Id. 37. The case was dismissed for lack of standing, 482 by Police Officers," 54 JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL LAW, Criminol- F.Supp. 1248 (E.D. Pa. 1979), and lack of specificity, 482 ogy & Police Science, 225, 226 (1963). F.Supp. 1274 (E.D. Pa. 1979), ad 694 F.2d 187 (3d Cir. 42. Philadelphia Inquirer, Sect. B, I (January I1,1977), 1980), four judges dissenting from denial of petition for rehear- citing a compilation of complaints about police abuse assembled ing, 644 F.2d 187, 206. by the Coalition Against Police Abuse. 38. Speech by Michael Meyers, assistant director of 43. Statistics reflected in a graph prepared by the Civil Af- NAACP, at symposium on "Police Practices & the Preserva- fairs Unit of the Philadelphia Police Department showing num- tion of Civil Rights," sponsored by the U.S. Commission on ber of MOVE arrests and court appearances between 1973- Civil Rights held on Dec. 12, 1978. ENCORE MAGAZINE, 17 1985. PSIC FILES, Box 17, Folder 179. (February 1979). 44. Letter from Merle Africa to Chairman Clarence 39. Philadelphia Daily News, 3 (April 18, 1979). Farmer (June 10, 1975) (author has a copy on file). 40. Philadelphia Inquirer, I (April 17, 1979). 45. Spenser Coxe, Executive Director, Philadelphia Chapter 41. For an examination of Philadelphia police shooting be- ACLU, to Jimmy Carter (author has a copy on file). tween 1950-1960, see, Gerald D. Robin, "Justifiable Homicide 46. Rizzo v. Goode, 423 U.S. 362, 371 (1976).

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were regularly incarcerated on charges including disor- three officers was delayed for almost a year because the derly conduct, contempt of court and assault, but no law Police Department refused to provide their names to the enforcement personnel were ever censured much less con- District Attorney. In a November 29, 1978 interview at victed for assaults alleged by MOVE members. For ex- Philadelphia's Holmesburg Prison, Delbert Africa ample, three male MOVE members were rebuffed when commented: they sought to have criminal charges lodged against a group of Philadelphia prison guards arising from a vio- The City and the D.A. has yet to arrest the officers lent fracas on February 24, 1978 in which they sustained who stomped me in front of millions of TV viewers. serious injuries. The trio - including Conrad Hampton They got me in here on $150,000 bail but the cop Africa - were charged with assault, riot and conspiracy who shot and killed Cornell Warren is out on the for attacking the guards. In a departure from MOVE's streets [without posting bail]. The cop who beats up stance of non-cooperation with authorities, the three men [Congressman Robert N.C.] Nix's [elderly] cousin fully assisted in the investigation of the incident."7 A gets 2-23 months for aggravated assault. I've gotten probe by the District Attorney's Office determined that two and a half years for a simple assault. Is that one of the trio had been assaulted by the guards.4" De- justice?"' spite finding no wrongdoing by the MOVE members in the fracas, the District Attorney refused to bring charges When the three officers were brought to trial in 1981 against the guards and merely dropped the charges lodged against the MOVE on assault charges, Philadelphia Judge Stanley L. Ku- members. "Typically, we were backi issued a directed verdict of acquittal - unre- charged ... in an attempt to obscure the truth and jus- quested by either the defense or the prosecution - mo- tify our extensive injuries," stated a caustic press release ments before the case was to be decided by a specially by MOVE a few days after the District Attorney's May 2, 1978 announcement impaneled out of town jury. Judge Kubacki explained of no prosecutions. "We see the that his verdict resulted from the Commonwealth's fail- deceptively oriented prejudice of the District Attorney's ure to sustain its burden of disproving the officers' claims of self-defense. "The entire world saw photographs of the three defendants striking Delbert Africa . .. [but] ... MOVE members represent themselves any conviction returned by the jury would have been the because they feel they are better advo- product of speculation ...since evidence as to intent was legally insufficient," Kubacki wrote in his opinion.5" cates for their viewpoint than lawyers Kubacki's verdict sparked widespread criticism for whom they considered tools of 'the appearing to apply a more permissive standard of justice in the application of the law to police officers. "For Del- system." bert Africa the decision was more evidence that the law doesn't protect unorthodox behavior," wrote Philadelphia Daily News columnist Chuck Stone in a February 6, Office as being no different than the abusively sadistic 1981 column. "[Flor the majority of Philadelphians who behavior of the guards that they are trying to protect." believe in a system of laws, not men, Judge Kubacki's 1 The most notorious assault on a MOVE member oc- hip-pocket ruling trampled constitutional values." One curred during the August 8, 1978 shoot-out in which member of MOVE proclaimed in a 1985 interview, three police officers attacked Delbert Africa as he was "MOVE members have been labeled terrorist time and surrendering. Widely viewed television and still camera time again. If ever the word terrorist fit to a 'T' anybody, coverage captured the police kicking the unarmed Africa it is Philadelphia's 'finest' policemen. They have terror- in the groin, dragging him by the hair and beating him ized a whole city of people in the name of Law and out- with a police helmet. Delbert Africa was one of nine law, in the name of order and disorder .... These "Mod- MOVE members convicted of third degree murder for ern Day Cowboys," Gestapo oriented henchmen have 52 the August 8, 1978 shooting of Officer James Ramp and literally terrorized people to death." sentenced to 30-100 years in prison. The arrest of the Philadelphians familiar with MOVE contend the im-

47. MOVE had refused to cooperate with the investigation 49. Interview with the author (November 29, 1978). of the 1976 death of a MOVE baby which occurred during a 50. Commonwealth v. Geist et. al., 5 Phila. 210. Judge Ku- midnight melee with police. MOVE claimed that the infant was backi noted, "The Court could have allowed the case to go to trampled to death by a policeman after being knocked from its the jury. . .to render a verdict under difficult circumstances. mother's arms. The group rejected requests from authorities to But if the jury had convicted the defendants, the law of the examine the dead baby although it had permitted the child's Commonwealth would require the reversal of that conviction. corpse to be viewed by two City Council members. Philadelphia Therefore, this Court could not take what might have been the Daily News 27 (May 24, 1985). easier road, but was required by law to take the case from the 48. Memo Bernard L. Siegal, ADA, Investigations, to Phil- jury and be the lightening rod for the great public controversy adelphia District Attorney Edward G. Rendell, 10 (April 27, that has surrounded this tragic episode from beginning to end." 1978). ". . .there may be situations when guards assault in- Id. at 212, emphasis added. mates. . .Indeed, the situation involving Robert Moses Africa 51. Philadelphia Daily News (February 6, 1981). seems to us to involve exactly such a situation..." PSIC files, 52. Letter LaVerne Sims to PSIC chairman William Brown Box 14, Folder 37-D. (November 9, 1985). PSIC FILES, Box 22, Folder 448.

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pact of police brutality triggered increasingly violent re- ings in any way prevented a fair and impartial trial sponses from the organization. "Police brutality clearly on the merits . .. . On the contrary, the not-guilty was an element in MOVE moving from just an obnoxious findings on many charges indicate that the court group to low-grade terrorists," said Rev. M.L. Shepard", ruled in favor of defendants where any reasonable a prominent local clergyman whose history with MOVE doubt existed." dates from its founding in 1972 when members wor- shipped at his church. On the other hand, for attorney MOVE's charges of systematic Charles Bowser, a PSIC member, it remains unresolved discriminatory treat- "whether the MOVE organization became more abusive ment by the courts are less documentable than its as a result of violent attempts to suppress it by the police, charges of inappropriate conduct by police and public of- or because of its violent resistance of legitimate law en- ficials. John Straub, a former Assistant District Attorney forcement."'" Although the report of the investigating assigned to the MOVE cases during the crucial 1977-78 grand jury noted that MOVE evolved from a "non-vio- period, dismissed MOVE's claims of discriminatory treat- lent, back-to-nature organization, to an extremist group, ment by the judiciary as ludicrous. "MOVE demanded well-practiced in the art of urban terrorism" it gave no every right a defendant has," Straub said. "They used reason for the transformation.6" the system but they asserted no obligation to adhere to the responsibilities of the rights they demanded."" None- III. theless, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned con- tempt of court convictions of seven MOVE members in While MOVE viewed actions by the city government 1976 expressing its disapproval of literally binding and as a coordinated campaign of official oppression, critics gagging the defendants as a means of remedying their of the organization considered such actions to be legiti- unruly and disruptive tactics.60 The court discharged mate responses to provocative behavior clearly exceeding three of the defendants for insufficient evidence the bounds of constitutionally and or- protected conduct. MOVE, dered a retrial for the remaining four on the according to the grand jury report, grounds that frequently used "ex- they were entitled to be tried before a court that had not treme profanity and engage[d] in unruly and other be- been subjected to their abuse. The majority's opinion pro- havior which caused them to be arrested" during their frequent demonstrations in the mid-seventies. "Their sub- duced a bitter dissent by the Court's Chief Justice, who stated, "[t]he law has long recognized sequent court appearances were punctuated by both dis- the need for per- ruptions and contempt citations."" mitting a judge to summarily find a person in contempt of court where that person directly and seriously affronts In an opinion frequently cited by Pennsylvania courts 1 in MOVE cases, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized in the judicial process." State of Illinois v. William Allen that disruptive defend- In a 1981 ruling, the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Ap- ants jeopardize their constitutional rights: "[I1t would de- peals expressed sympathy for a MOVE member who grade our country and our judicial system to permit our sought to have prison officials supply him with the raw courts to be bullied, insulted, and humiliated and their food diet required by MOVE religious precepts. The orderly progress thwarted and obstructed by defendants court nonetheless rejected the dietary request after find- ' brought before them charged with crimes." During a ing that MOVE did not qualify as a religion within the February 1977 trial of three MOVE members on disor- purview and definition of the First Amendment.62 The derly conduct and resisting arrest charges, the defendants Circuit Court questioned why prison officials could not and their supporters harangued the trial judge, hurling consent to the dietary requests of MOVE "Naturalist invectives, ranging from "liar" to "sick ass mother fucker," which resulted in contempt citations. In its opin- ion upholding the contempt citations, the Pennsylvania Superior Court stated that MOVE members 58. Commonwealth of Pa. v. Africa, 292 Pa.Super. 419, 433 A.2d 102 (1981). The opinion also noted that MOVE al- • . . attempted to bait the trial judge to the point leged "that their oral argument was improperly limited when Where he was compelled to hold them in contempt they were not permitted to read the guidelines espoused by their to maintain order, and they argue that he thus be- founder, John Africa. This final allegation heavily underlines came incompetent and is at the heart of the defendants' misunderstanding of our to judge them fairly and the trial judicial system . .. . Proselytizing may have its place in Ameri- must be aborted .... There is absolutely nothing in can life but, in a courtroom, it is disruptive and the antithesis of this record to demonstrate that the contempt find- the trial's function." 59. Interview with the author (May 22, 1985) 60. 'Commonwealth v. Africa, 466 Pa. 603, 353 A.2d 855. 61. Id. at 867, Jones, C.J. dissenting. 53. Interview with the author (May 20, 1985). 62. Africa v. Commonwealth of Pa., 662 F.2d 1025 (3d 54. 59 TEMPLE L.Q. at 381. Cir. 1981). "MOVE does not claim to be theistic: indeed it rec- 55. Grand Jury Report at 14. ognizes no Supreme Being and refers to no transcendental or 56. Id. at 14-15. all-controlling force. Moreover, unlike other recognized reli- 57. State of Illinois v. William Allen, 397 U.S. 337, 346 gions, with which it is compared for first amendment purposes, (1970). Allen was repeatedly disruptive during his trial for MOVE does not appear to take a position with respect to mat- armed robbery. The Court held it was not unconstitutional to ters of personal morality, human morality, or the meaning and remove defendant from the courtroom, after repeated warnings, purpose of life. . . .[T]he MOVE philosophy is not sufficiently and to continue the trial in his absence. analogous to more 'traditional' theologies." Id. at 1033.

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Minister" Frank James Africa, who later perished in the rent terms of 26 months to 7 years for the criminal con- 1985 confrontation. "Especially in light of the apparent spiracy and riot charges and one to five years for the willingness of [prison officials] to accede to the dietary weapon and terroristic threats charges. The Superior requirements of other prisoners, both for religious and for Court, citing settled case law, termed Africa's petition medical reasons, it is not clear from the record why spe- frivolous because he could not shift responsibility for his cial accommodations cannot be made in this instance for own performance to stand-by counsel who occupied only 6 7 a prisoner who obviously cares deeply about what food he an advisory role. eats."6 Nine MOVE members were convicted in 1980 for the MOVE's problems with the judicial system result August 8, 1978, death of Officer James Ramp in a 19- from a combination of racist repression by judges and week non-jury trial - the longest in Philadelphia's his- from their disruptive behavior in court and their insis- tory. They represented themselves before being barred tence on self-representation despite insufficient legal from the courtroom for disruptive behavior. Two non- training. MOVE members represent themselves because MOVE members and a female MOVE member, all of they feel they are better advocates for their viewpoint whom were represented by an attorney, were acquitted of than lawyers whom they considered tools of 'the system.' the same charges. Representing the two non-MOVE MOVE's lack of legal knowledge is evidenced by its con- members, attorney Oscar Gaskins won a pre-trial release sistent failure to have federal courts review factual alle- for Devita Johnson and a jury acquittal for Sandra Davis gations due to procedural defects in their complaints. on the same evidence used to convict the five female U.S. District Judge James Giles handled three wide- MOVE members who pled pro se. Police testimony ranging complaints filed by MOVE against various city, stated that only the four MOVE men were armed and state and federal authorities between 1980-1983. Judge the bullet which killed Officer Ramp and seriously in- Giles noted in a 1981 opinion that "the amended com- jured three officers came from one gun. "Sandra Davis plaint is patently insufficient to support jurisdiction was charged with murder and she walked clean. Ben under 28 U.S.C. §1332," demonstrating that the statute 64 Johnson represented [MOVE member Consuewella Af- was "not read" before it was pleaded. Two years later, rica] and got her off on the murder charge," Gaskin said. flaws prevented consideration of the allegations contained "The others may have gotten off if they were represented in a new complaint: by lawyers. MOVE was not revolutionary in asking for a Paragraph two alleges that a child of a MOVE non-jury trial. No judge is going to let someone off who member was 'trampled to death by cop Palermo is accused of killing a cop."" and other maniac cops;' various MOVE members IV. "While the conduct of City Officials in were brutalized by police, and no policemen charged with murder, all on March 28, 1976. As- handling MOVE is entirely unacceptable, suming all this to be true, the complaint states no it is not the proper subject of criminal cause of action against any named defendant .... prosecution ... "" Furthermore, no citizen has a right to have murder Grand Jury Report brought. Finally, the incidents are beyond the pe- riod of the statute of limitations." "Attention MOVE. This is America. You must obey the laws of the United States," Philadelphia Police Com- The insufficiency of MOVE's legal aptitude has been missioner Gregore Sambor bellowed through a bullhorn most dramatically illustrated in cases in which MOVE at 5:35 a.m. on the morning of May 13, 1985. He an- members have chosen to put 'the system' on trial instead nounced that he had arrest warrants for four MOVE of attacking the sufficiency of the criminal evidence members believed to be inside of the heavily fortified against them. In August 1988, the Pennsylvania Superior house at 6221 Osage Avenue. Court upheld a lower court's denial of a petition for a For more than a year MOVE members residing at new trial filed by Dennis Sims Africa who claimed inef- 6221 had threatened city officials and had terrorized fectiveness of back-up counsel during a jury trial in their neighbors in a desperate bid to gain release of thir- which he represented himself on charges resulting from a teen imprisoned members - especially the nine jailed for May 20, 1977 armed standoff with police. The trial the 1978 shoot-out. The warrants charged the four judge, in granting Africa's request for self-representation, MOVE members with possession of explosives, terroristic warned, "[i]f the Court permits you to conduct your own threats, threats against officials, harassment, conspiracy, defense, and you are not successful, then you have to suf- riot and disorderly conduct. fer the consequences, you can't blame it on anybody Sambor give the four named suspects fifteen minutes else.""' Africa was found guilty and sentenced to concur- to surrender. His ultimatum was immediately rejected by an unidentified MOVE member using the organization's 63. Id. at 1037. roof-mounted loudspeaker. "Come on in and get us," the 64. MOVE Organization v. City of Philadelphia 89 F.R.D. member said. "You're going to be laying in the 521, 523 (1981). MOVE 65. MOVE Organizationv. U.S. Department of Justice 555 F.Supp. 684, 688 (E.D. Pa. 1983). 67. Id. 66. Commonwealth v. Sims, PASUPER LEXIS 3004, 549 68. Interview with author (May 22, 1985). A.2d 1280, 1282 (Pa. Super 1988). 69. Grand Jury Report at 279.

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street. Bleeding in the street."" ° through the front of the MOVE fortress which had been At the end of the fifteen minute period Sambor or- blown off in the morning battle. The bomb was dropped dered police to begin their assault on the fortified MOVE on the MOVE fortress from a State Police helicopter at house which he knew contained a number of children. 5:27 p.m. without prior warning or offers to surrender. 6 Sambor had failed to carry out Philadelphia Mayor Wil- The bomb failed to destroy the bunker but sparked a fire. son Goode's "poorly communicated" instructions to re- Shortly after 6:00 p.m., with flames leaping from move the children before assaulting the house.71 MOVE's roof, Commissioner Sambor decided to let the Gunshots rang out minutes after high pressure fire house burn - opting to use the fire as a "tactical hoses were directed at MOVE's rooftop bunker. MOVE weapon" to destroy the rooftop bunker.7 The fire was members and police engaged in a ninety minute shoot-out out of control within thirty minutes and soon engulfed in which police fired thousands of rounds from military adjoining homes. Temperatures inside the MOVE house weapons including M-60 and .50 caliber machine guns. reached 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. MOVE members who The two police SWAT teams assigned to attack the attempted to flee the raging inferno were driven back in- MOVE fortress from adjacent houses became pinned side the burning building by police gunfire."6 One child down by police gunfire." Mistakenly thinking the gunfire and one MOVE adult managed to escape the inferno and were taken into police custody. Both were badly burned. Sambor ordered Bomb Squad members The raging blaze eventually destroyed sixty-one homes on Osage Avenue and adjacent Pine Street, displacing over to spike the bomb with shrapnel "to get 250 people. them motherfuckers." [T]he bomb On the morning of May 14th, the charred remains of five children and six adults were recovered from the ... . contained C-4, a powerful mili- smoldering ruins of 6221 Osage Avenue. Only three of tary high explosive, which was surrepti- the six dead adults and none of the children were named in the arrest warrants. Authorities also recovered two .38 tiously supplied to police bomb squad revolvers, two 12 gauge pump shotguns and a bolt action members by an FBI agent in early 1985. .22 caliber rifle from the ashes of the MOVE house. Po- lice said that they had armed themselves with exotic mili- to be from the MOVE house, the teams detonated high tary weapons like silencer equipped sniper rifles and an explosive charges to cover their escape. The charges com- anti-tank gun, in order to out-gun MOVE and prevent a pletely destroyed the front of the MOVE compound and repeat of 1978 when a policeman was killed by MOVE heavily damaged three adjacent houses. The force of one members armed with semi-automatic carbines. explosion was "so great that a rear window air-condition- Philadelphia was stunned by the events of May 13, ing unit was blown across the alley."73 1985. Many residents saw the assault as another example After a five hour lull in the fighting, Commissioner of police brutality. Police Commissioner Sambor justified Sambor ordered the construction of a bomb that he the assault on everyone in the house on the ground that hoped would destroy MOVE's rooftop bunker. Sambor he considered the MOVE children to be combatants and ordered Bomb Squad members to spike the bomb with not hostages of their fanatical adult guardians.79 Blacks shrapnel "to get them motherfuckers." 4 Both the bomb viewed the assault as another extreme act of racism and and the satchel charges used by the SWAT teams in the wondered how the brutal attack could have beei ap- morning assault contained C-4, a powerful military high proved by Philadelphia's first Black mayor, Wilson exp!osive, which was surreptitiously supplied to police Goode.80 May 13, 1985, marked only the second time in bomb squad members by an FBI agent in early 1985." history that an U.S. city had been subjected to an air Sambor later said that the bomb was needed to re- raid. The first aerial attack occurred during the bloody move the bunker so that police could pump tear gas into race riot on May 31, 1921, in Tulsa, Oklahoma when the house through the roof. The necessity of that tactic white racists dropped dynamite from a bi-plane on that was questionable since police could have thrown tear gas city's Black community. Formal demands for a grand jury investigation of the May 13th confrontation were first issued on May 20th by 70. Id. at 101. the predominately Black Ad-Hoc Committee of Con- 71. 59 TEMPLE L.Q. at 361-62. PSIC Finding #14. The cerned Philadelphians for Civil Liberties. Noted civil lib- PSIC criticized the mayor and other city officials for failing to erties lawyer William Kunstler volunteered his services to remove the children prior to the assault. The Human Services the Committee, calling the confrontation "murder" com- Commissioner was specifically criticized for not demanding "any" information from police regarding protecting the chil- parable to the state violence of South Africa. Philadel- dren. The grand jury stated that the failure to adequately in- form police officers of the mayor's removal directive resulted in 76. 59 TEMPLE L.Q. at 366. police allowing a car containing MOVE children to cross a po- 77. Id. at 368. lice barricade and enter the compound two days before the 78. Id. PSIC Finding #28 ("Police gunfire prevented some confrontation. occupants of 6221 Osage Avenue from escaping from the burn- 72. Grand Jury Report at 113. ing house to rear alley.") is its most controversial finding. PSIC 73. 59 TEMPLE L.Q. at 267-268. Commissioner Bruce Kauffman dissented from this finding. 74. Grand Jury Report at 154. 79. Id. at 388. 75. Id. at 258. 80. Based on interviews by author (May 15 - June 1, 1985).

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phia's then District Attorney Ed Rendell rejected the de- "The FBI encouraged, promoted and protected the Phila- mands for a grand jury probe. Three weeks after the delphia Police Department's offensive use of excessive confrontation Mayor Goode appointed the Philadelphia force, and, for this, the FBI shares responsibility and cul- Special Investigation Commission (PSIC), an eleven pability for the outcome of May 13, 1985."84 member panel composed of community and corporate Besides the PSIC report, a second major investigation leaders, respected members of the clergy, renowned pros- of the bombing of MOVE was conducted by a local ecutors, a former top FBI office and a retired state Su- grand jury, which was belatedly convened on May 15, preme Court Justice. The PSIC was initially greeted with 1986. It heard testimony from over 125 witnesses. The widespread skepticism as cronies selected to exculpate grand jury's report, issued on May 3, 1988, mirrored Mayor Goode, but the PSIC's public credibility was many of the PSIC's findings on the chronology of events boosted when the city's 8police union mounted a legal at- leading to the confrontation and on incompetence by city tack to block the probe. 1 officials. On the question of criminal charges, however, PSIC staff, which included national experts in explo- the grand jury's report reached an opposite conclusion: sives, fires, medical pathology and criminal investiga- "Our investigation has, revealed considerable incompe- tions, conducted over 900 interviews and gathered tence and ineptitude. It has not, however, disclosed any records from thirty-six governmental agencies before con- actions which we believe warrant the filing of criminal ducting five weeks of public hearings, in October 1985, in charges." While failing to indict, the grand jury stressed which testimony from ninety witnesses was broadcast live on public television and radio. In a scathing report issued on March 6, 1986, the PSIC repeatedly described the ac- It strains credibility to suggest that tions of city officials as grossly negligent and those of po- lice as excessive and unconscionable.82 City officials, ac- Sambor - who had two decades of law cording to the findings in the PSIC's report, had adopted enforcement experience - did not know a non-confrontational, policy of appeasement toward the that dropping a bomb on a house con- transgressions of MOVE which allowed the situation to fester for years and enabled MOVE to fortify the house. taining children and allowing the ensu- The report chided city officials for not using negotiation ing fire to burn were reckless acts. as a method of resolving the problem. When city officials finally decided to take action in April 1985 - after frus- trated neighbors vowed to take matters into their own that it was not exonerating "those men responsible" for hands - the city hastily approved an ill-conceived as- the disaster. "Rather than a vindication of those officials, sault plan which culminated in the unconscionable deci- this report should stand as a permanent record of their sion to drop the bomb and let the fire burn. The deaths morally reprehensible behavior."8 The grand jury's 279 of the five children, the PSIC concluded, appeared to be page report termed the actions by city officials before, "unjustified homicides" which should be investigated by during and after the May 13th confrontation "an epic of a grand jury.83 governmental incompetence" marked by political coward- In internal memoranda, the PSIC criticized the local ice, inexperienced planning and inept execution.88 U.S. Attorney and the FBI. Then local U.S. Attorney The grand jury considered a number of criminal Edward Dennis, now head of the Justice Department's charges ranging from reckless endangerment to murder. Criminal Division, rejected city requests that he intervene However, it adopted the recommendation of Philadelphia to resolve the MOVE dispute during a May 1984 meet- District Attorney Ronald Castille that after "applying ing. He warned that he was unlikely to become involved the law to the facts . .. " criminal prosecutions were not in the city's dispute with MOVE; in fact, he would only proper, despite contradictory testimony of "dubious cred- intervene if the city violated civil rights norms in dealing ibility" from top city officials and instances of outright with MOVE. The FBI, which had supplied the Police perjury by police officers. The grand jury approved Cas- Department with thirty-eight pounds of C-4 explosive, tille's recommendation by a 16-4 margin. Defending the endorsed the assault plan. "The U.S. Attorney contrib- grand jury report, Castille said "[t]he pain we suffer in uted to the events of May 13 by asserting an artificial the death of the children and the destruction of the distance between his official duties and the events un- neighborhood would seem to lead to the conclusion that folding on Osage Avenue," one PSIC document stated. crimes must have occurred on May 13. Our society can- 81. Id. at 269. Chairman Brown observed that the PSIC's "first and most formidable adversary was public perception." 84. Memorandum from Emerson Moran, PSIC Communi- The perception that the PSIC's purpose was to "white-wash" cations Officer, to PSIC Chairman William Brown. PSIC the May 13, 1985 confrontation began to shift with the attacks FILES, Box 2, Folder 20-1, Vol. I. The Grand Jury Report also from the police union. "[The attacks] enhanced the Commis- noted Dennis' rejection of requests for federal assistance from sion's credibility. The columnists began to ask: If the [police city officials during the May 1984 meeting. "Dennis said that union] is attacking the whitewashers for conducting a witch simple loudspeaker threats did not warrant his intervention. He hunt, then what is it the police have to hide?" did acknowledge an outstanding federal warrant for John Af- 82. For complete text of the PSIC's Report, see, 59 TEMPLE rica, but refused to act on it without concrete evidence that Af- L.Q. at 339-377. The Report contains findings and rica was in the house." See Grand Jury Report at 18. recommendations. 85. Grand Jury Report at 279. 83. Id. at 369. PSIC Finding #29. 86. Id.

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not condone prosecutions motivated solely by grief or MOVE's abuses were ignored by city officials for two rage."'' 7 The crux of Castille's rationale in not prosecut- years, stated, ing city officials or police was his determination that none possessed a clear intent to harm MOVE members, a I teach my children to respect adults and obey the prerequisite for criminal culpability. "I was determined laws. What if governmental officials lie while under that the investigation would be exhaustive, that no one oath? That is not a good example of fair and equal would be prejudged, that the law would be fairly applied, justice, especially in a land that proclaims itself a and that there would be no scapegoats. Applying these democracy and stresses protection of its people. Yet principles, I determined that no charges should be that is the example that was set by the grand jury brought." when it decided not to indict any government offi- "Maddening as it may seem, MOVE grand jury is cials or police officers involved in the events of May right" stated the headline of the lead editorial in Phila- 13, 1985.92 delphia's largest newspaper three days aftcr the report's Only two people have been convicted on charges aris- release. Quoting from the grand jury report, the Inquirer ing from the May 13th confrontation: the lone surviving noted that Mayor Goode and other high officials might MOVE member, Ramona Africa was convicted of riot have been prosecuted under the old common law crimes and conspiracy charges, and Black developer Ernest Ed- of malfeasance, misfeasance and nonfeasance but those wards, Jr. was convicted of stealing $137,000 from his laws were abolished in Pennsylvania in 1973. "[T]here contract to rebuild the sixty-one homes destroyed in the are no laws against stupidity, incompetence and neglect blaze. The lack of police convictions deeply disturbed of government duties."88 many Philadelphians. Echoing a sentiment frequently ex- MOVE members blasted the grand jury's report as pressed on local radio talk shows and in personal conver- another link in the chain of repressive acts against the sations, Pulitzer Prize winning Philadelphia Inquirer As- organization by Philadelphia officials. "To know that a sociate Editor Acel Moore wrote in an October 27, 1988 house is inhabited by men, women and babies and make column: "It is ironic that our criminal justice system a conscious decision to let a fire burn is a crime! Anyone could easily indict and successfully prosecute a person for committing a crime ... is a criminal! It cannot be other- stealing $137,000 in connection with rebuilding the de- wise!" Louise James Africa stated in a bitter forty-six stroyed homes but could not indict any public official or page response to the grand jury's report issued during a find anyone else guilty for creating the catastrophe that press conference in June 1988.1' Louise Africa castigated took 11 lives, including six children, and destroyed the Castille's interpretation of criminal intent: "[Ylou need homes." to stop all this nonsense about lack of criminal intent... Similarly, the only non-MOVE member jailed follow- [.1 [T]he bombing and burning up alive of men, women ing the 1978 shootout was a Quaker named Richard and children was malicious and deliberate. If that bomb Kanegis, a member of a Quaker peace-keeping team who had tore into your house ... you wouldn't rest until you was trying to defuse tensions between police and commu- saw Wilson Goode and everybody connected with that nity residents following the morning confrontation on Au- bombing in jail." 90 gust 8th. Kanegis was charged with obstructing the law MOVE was not alone in its criticism of Castille. Dis- after being arrested for blocking a policeman from mak- tinguished attorney William H. Brown, who chaired the ing an arrest when police suddenly charged the milling PSIC, charged Castille with using a double standard of crowd. Like many of the thirty-eight people detained dur- justice. "[T]he grand jury has confirmed the belief of ing the police riot, Kanegis claimed that he had been ar- many that in Philadelphia there are two standards of jus- rested falsely. Kanegis, however, was the only arrestee tice: one for the poor and minority and another for those who refused to accept a deal to exchange a guilty verdict who are white and economically more secure," Brown for a suspended sentence. He received a sentence of stated in an op-ed article in the Philadelphia Inquirer." twenty-three months in jail. When he unsuccessfully ap- For Brown, there was "more than sufficient evidence" to pealed his Municipal Court conviction to Common Pleas warrant indictments arising from dropping the bomb, al- Court, the judge leveled an anti-MOVE tirade before lowing the fire to burn and permitting police to use exotic sentencing Kanegis. Kanegis spent 14 days in jail in early military weapons which "showed little if any concern" 1984 before being cleared during a special hearing in for the safety of the children. "I am ashamed to be a part which his new lawyer located documentary film footage of a legal system that treats the loss of life so cavalierly." of the police riot which showed that Kanegis did not in- Clifford Bond, the block captain of the burned-out terfere with any officer. The D.A.'s Office opposed claiming the film had been doctored de- whose pleas for relief from Kanegis' release section of Osage Avenue spite testimony from the award winning filmmaker that the sequence was unedited. 87. Philadelphia Inquirer, Sect. F, 7 (May 8, 1988). 88. Philadelphia Inquirer, 22 (May 5, 1988). 89. Louise Africa, Statement in Response to the Grand Jury Report, Press Conference (June 1988) (author has a writ- ten version on file). 90. Id. 91. Philadelphia Inquirer, 22 (May 5, 1988). 92. Id.

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V. ".... the risk of harm to the children posed the house when children were known to be inside consti- by the plan was not so significant as to tuted excessive force. The deliberate decision to allow the mandate criminal liability.""3 fire to burn ...recklessly endangered the lives of those 1 Grand Jury Report persons within the house." ' The grand jury, however, agreed with Commissioner Kauffman that Section 508(a)(1) negated charges like PSIC member Bruce W. Kauffman, a former state murder, aggravated assault, risking catastrophe, and supreme court justice, did not agree with the conclusion recklessly endangering another person, which the grand of his ten fellow commissioners that the police firing of jury felt "arguably could apply" to police actions. 0 The over 10,000 rounds of ammunition in under ninety min- grand jury determined that all of the "assaultive police utes at a row house containing children was clearly exces- conduct" began after MOVE initiated gunfire in re- sive and unreasonable. Kauffman also disagreed with the sponse to the police "executing judicially approved" war- majority that the failure of those responsible for the fir- rants.1 0 2 While "police probably fired far too many ing to control or stop such an excessive amount of force rounds," the police gunfire was a "justified response" to - including the use of military high explosives - was the provocation posed by MOVE's fortifications at 6221 unconscionable. "[T]he police were entitled to use deadly Osage Avenue."0 3 "Use of C-4 [explosives] to accomplish force on May 13," Commissioner Kauffman stated in his this goal cannot be deemed criminally excessive as this dissent which cited Pennsylvania's Deadly Force Statute. force was applied only against combatants." 0 4 "They were attempting to serve lawfully executed war- The grand jury did agree with PSIC chairman Brown rants upon persons this Commission has found to be on the issue of the Police Department's failure to follow armed, dangerous, terroristic, and dedicated to provoking its own directives on deadly force and hostage situations. a violent confrontation with authority .... Use of deadly 94 The Department's directive on hostage situations calls for force was lawful and appropriate." using trained hostage negotiators and stalling tech- Pennsylvania's Deadly Force Statute, Section niques." 5 The grand jury report stated, "We are com- 508(a)(1) provides, in pertinent part, that a police officer pelled to note at least that had the procedures ...been is: followed, it is almost certain that fewer lives would have (1) ... justified in using deadly force only when he been lost. The failure of the Police Department's leader- ship to follow or implement its own directives, of course, believes that such force is necessary to prevent 10 6 death or serious bodily injury to himself or such is irrelevant to the issue of criminal liability." other person, or when he believes both that: The grand jury also agreed with Commissioner (i) such force is necessary to prevent the arrest Kauffman's dissenting view that there was no credible ev- from being defeated by resistance or escape; and idence that any adult MOVE member was prevented (ii) the person to be arrested has committed or from leaving the burning house by police gunfire. The attempted a forcible felony or is attempting to es- grand jury and Commissioner Kauffman also discounted cape and possesses a deadly weapon, or otherwise the vivid testimony of the only surviving child, Michael indicates that he will endanger human life or inflict (Birdie Africa) Ward, 14, that Conrad Africa was driven serious bodily injury unless arrested without back inside by gunfire 9 when he attempted to carry the delay. " youngest child, 7 year old Tomaso Africa, to safety. Both the grand jury and the PSIC found that MOVE members PSIC chairman Brown vehemently disagreed with did exit the burning building. PSIC concluded that six Commissioner Kauffman's application of Section people tried to escape but the grand jury concluded that 508(a)(1), arguing that the police assault was excessive one adult and two children returned because of the mis- 9 under deadly force standards set by federal case law " taken belief that the police were firing at them and/or 9 7 and Philadelphia Police Department directives. The De- due to confused, irrational decision-making that included partment's deadly force policy states that officers shall a possible desire to commit suicide. "exhaust all other reasonable means of apprehension and 98 The determination that police bullets did not block control before resorting to the use of deadly force." MOVE members from leaving the burning building was "Clearly Section 508(a)(1) could never be interpreted to critical in the grand jury's decision to absolve Fire Com- authorize the use of deadly force against children against missioner William Richmond of culpability for his part in whom no arrest warrants were pending and who were in the decision to let the fire burn. "We find that Richmond no way attempting to prevent the execution of an arrest," could not foresee that MOVE members would remain in- Brown stated in the Temple Law Quarterly article ac- 9 side and keep their children with them. We further find companying the publication of the PSIC's report. that this intervening action precludes criminal "[T]he dropping of high-powered military explosives onto

Grand Jury Report at 86. 100. Id. at 276. 59 TEMPLE L.Q. at 413. 101. Grand Jury Report at 115. 18 P. Cons. Stat. §508(a)(1) (1982). 102. Id. 59 TEMPLE L.Q. at 274. 103. Id. at 117. Id. at 276. 104. Id. at 120. Id at 288. 105. Grand Jury Report at 89-90. Id. at 274. 106. Id.

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liability."M 7 tion of the administration of law or other governmental PSIC chairman Brown criticized Kauffman's dissent function under 18 Pa. C.S.A. §5101 was made "because from the Commission's finding that police it is not clear what gunfire had testimony is accurate1 1 and5 there is a prevented escape of MOVE members. In addition to lack of any evidence of criminal intent. Michael Ward's testimony, fire personnel and police of- The charges of recklessly endangering another person ficers, including a police inspector, also told the Commis- and risking a catastrophe were considered by the grand sion they heard gunfire. "[Olne of the questions that con- jury in connection with various actions and incidents on tinues to nag my brain," Brown stated, "is how did the May 13th. Under Pennsylvania's reckless endangerment metal fragments that the FBI laboratory and the Com- statute: a person commits a misdemeanor of the second mission's pathology expert indicated were consistent with degree if she recklessly engages in conduct which places 00 buckshot pellets get into the body of one of the chil- or may place another person in danger of death or serious dren found in the rubble? The children were in the base- bodily injury. 1 6 The risking catastrophe statute states ment throughout the entire day and it seems inconceiv- that a person who causes a catastrophe by explosion, fire, able that buckshot pellets could have been fired into one child's body while she was in the basement of the house. I am convinced that she was shot at some point in time when she was outside of the house."' 108 [T]he grand jury found evidence sug- The grand jury heavily criticized many of the actions gesting that Sambor participated in a and sworn testimony of Police Commissioner Sambor but would not find that Sambor "committed any crimes for cover-up of the fact that a plan to use a which the requisite mental state is intent, knowledge or demolition crane to remove the bunker recklessness."'"° As a result, Sambor, like Mayor Goode, was not held to be criminally liable for proceeding with was rejected as too costly at $6,500. the assault despite his knowledge that children were in the house. Sambor's decision to use the bomb also was not prosecutable because "the decision to let the fire or seven other means commits a felony of the first degree burn, not the use of [a bomb], was the root cause of the if she does so intentionally or knowingly, or a felony of loss of life and property."" 0 His decision to let the fire the second degree if she does so recklessly and a person is burn was acceptable because there was "insufficient evi- guilty of a felony of the third degree if she recklessly cre- dence that Sambor intended that the fire do anything ates a risk of catastrophe in the employment of fire, ex- other than destroy the bunker which he was empowered plosives or circumstances contained in the seven other to destroy.""' categories"1 The grand jury did criticize Sambor in a number of Although the events of May 13, 1985 were unprece- areas. It "completely discredit[ed]" Sambor's revised tes- dented, the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office has timony that city Managing Director Leo Brooks played a taken a stricter line in applying the reckless endanger- key role in the decision to let the bunker burn. "We have ment and risking catastrophe statutes when prosecuting no reason to believe that Sambor's memory three years persons not connected with city government. The D.A.'s after the event, on the eve of our decision with respect to Office appealed a Municipal Court judge's 1986 dismis- possible criminal charges, is more accurate than it was sal of charges against a street vendor charged with reck- closer in time to May 13, 1985.""' Sambor's testimony less endangerment and risking catastrophe in a case in- that he was unaware that gas cans were on MOVE's roof volving the theft of electric service. The judge dismissed was also discredited by the grand jury, citing testimony it the charges after finding that the D.A.'s Office had received from top police and fire officials who said failed to present sufficient evidence at the preliminary Sambor attended a May 11, 1985 meeting where they hearing. The Superior Court approved the D.A.'s appeal discussed the risk posed by the presence of the gas cans to reinstate the charges in May, 1988.118 The vendor was on the roof."' Sambor's denial that he told Bomb Squad operating a curb side variety store out of a bus which had members to spike the bomb to "get them motherfuckers" an illegal electrical connection. An electric company rep- was questioned but the grand jury rejected the statement resentative had testified that due to the location of the as insufficiently corroborated." 4 While the grand jury illegal connection in a residential area and the manner in which it was installed "there was a potential there for found evidence suggesting that Sambor participated in a ' 9 cover-up of the fact that a plan to use a demolition crane injury to anyone who may have been in that area."" to remove the bunker was rejected as too costly at D.A. Castille stated that fear of unsuccessful prosecu- $6,500, no recommendation of filing charges for obstruc- tions was a factor in his recommending no indictments to the grand jury. 2 But the state's appellate courts have Id. at 204. 115. Id. at 59. 59 TEMPLE L.Q. at 282. 116. 18 Pa. C.S.A. §2705 (1972). Grand Jury Report at 194. 117. 18 Pa. C.S.A. §3302(a)(b) (1972). Id. at 160. 118. Commonwealth v. Morman, 373 Pa. Super. 360, 541 Id. at 194. A.2d 356 (Pa. Super 1988). Id. at 189. 119. Id. at 357. Id. at 151. 120. Remark made in response to a reporter's question dur- Id. at 155. ing a press conference (May 3, 1988).

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shown no merely '. . . a footnote reluctance in strictly applying the reckless en- 126to the tragedy that left 11 people dangerment and risking catastrophe statutes in cases in dead,' is outrageous. which defendants claimed their actions accidentally According to the grand jury, "the infantile deception caused deaths. In early 1988, the state's Superior Court engaged in by these officers after May 13th is a petty upheld the conviction of a Philadelphia man who was detail .... [E]nding this massive investigation by charg- found guilty of manslaughter, reckless endangerment and ing a few front line officers would not serve any purpose risking catastrophe for the 1984 death of a fireman re- or vindicate any interest when it was the City's high sulting from a fire he set in a vacant rowhouse next door elected and appointed officials who1 2were7 at least morally to his home which was frequently used by junkies as a responsible for this great tragedy. shooting gallery.12 ' The Superior Court stated that the Brown's criticisms of the grand jury's failure to indict defendant should have known that firemen would respond the officers for perjury were echoed by former Philadel- to the blaze, and dismissed his claim that he was not di- phia U.S. Attorney David Marston. The failure to bring rectly responsible for the fireman's death since all fires perjury charges, Marston stated, was a "startling conclu- set in urban areas eventually endanger firemen. The sion" and one of the grand jury's central failures.1"8 "Ly- court chided the defendant for setting a fire in a building ing to a grand jury had always been known as perjury in which he knew people frequently slept. "The Common- and the conviction of low-level figures on perjury charges wealth may sustain its burden of proving every element has been the fundamental technique in every successful of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt by means of probe of crimes by public officials from Teapot Dome to wholly circumstantial evidence." 122 Watergate," Marston stated. "Big crimes are solved by In a 1976 case, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court re- working up the ladder of smaller crimes, and if smaller versed the dismissal of charges against a Philadelphia crimes are dismissed as "petty details," it 1is29 axiomatic man charged with the death of two firemen who died that the major crimes will never be solved." fighting a fire caused by a lighted cigarette which he ac- cidentally dropped while he was working in a section of a plant where smoking was prohibited. 23 A Common Pleas Court judge had found that the word 'catastrophe' as VI. "The primary issue to be examined is not the used in the statute was not sufficiently precise and voided radicalism (of MOVE) but it is our ability to the statute for vagueness. The Supreme Court disagreed: respond appropriately to radicalism without "the degree of culpability required by Section 3302(b) is perpetrating a more extreme radicalism. very specific; a gross deviation from the standard of con- PSIC Commissioner Bowser' duct that a reasonable person would observe in the ac- tor's situation. The 'risk' proscribed by this legislation is The events of May 13, 1985 presented perplexing le- the use of dangerous means by one who 'consciously dis- gal dilemmas in determining criminal culpability, but the regards a substantial and unjustifiable risk' and thereby actions of city officials and certain police officers tran- unnecessarily exposes society to an extraordinary scended legally accepted standards of decency as surely disaster."'2 as did the actions of MOVE precipitating the clash. "It is Although there may be dispute as to the applicability a crime in Pennsylvania to recklessly engage in conduct of statutes that penalize failure to prevent a catastrophe which places or may place another person in danger of - these state that a person commits the offense if she death or serious bodily injury. Does anyone who watched knowingly or recklessly fails to take reasonable measures television on May 13, 1985 doubt that someone commit- to prevent or mitigate a catastrophe if she knows she is ted that crime?" Marston asked.' under an official or legal duty to do so. 2' However, there Charges of double standards in the administration of should be no such ambiguity in applying perjury charges justice gain credibility in view of incidents in which dif- against the police officers who gave false testimony to the ferent classes of individuals are blatantly accorded differ- grand jury. The criminal liability of policemen for their ent treatment. "Fairness is what justice really is," former actions on May 13th may have been mitigated by the U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once stated. battle field conditions, but there were no such extenuat- Absolving city officials for any criminal liability in the ing circumstances inside the grand jury room. "The deaths of the six children by simply apportioning all of grand jury determined that not only had various police the blame to the adult MOVE members is not fair, just officers committed perjury, but that they had engaged in or honest. "Neither the excuse, the legality, nor the expe- a conspiracy to cover up their lies," PSIC chairman diency can cleanse the stain of the blood of innocent chil- Brown stated. "The statement by the grand jury to the dren," PSIC Commissioner Charles Bowser wrote in his effect that the perjury committed by police officers was concurrence to the PSIC's Report.1 32 "The bomb and the unrestrained fire are conclusive evidence of a wanton and

121. Commonwealth v. Dykes, 541 A.2d 1 (Pa. Super 126. Philadelphia Inquirer, Sect. F, 7 (May 8, 1988). 1988). 127. Grand Jury Report at 273, 276-277. 122. Id. at 3. 128. Philadelphia Inquirer, Sect. F, 7 (May 8, 1988). 123. Commonwealth v. Hughes, 468 Pa. 502, 364 A.2d 306 (Pa. Supreme Ct. 1976). 129. Id. 130. 59 TEMPLE L.Q. at 409. 124. Id. at 311 (emphasis original). 125. 18 Pa. C.S.A. §3303 (1972). 131. Philadelphia Inquirer, Sect. F, 7 (May 8, 1988). 132. 59 TEMPLE L.Q. at 391.

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callous disregard for the lives and safety of the guards for beating a MOVE member despite an undis- children." 133 puted finding of illegal conduct by the attacking guards. The lenience Castille displayed towards former Police Castille's recommendation - like Judge Kubacki's di- Commissioner Sambor is a clear example of a double rected verdict of acquittal in the 1981 Delbert Africa standard when compared to Castille's application of mens case - short circuited the orderly working of the justice rea doctrine in the case of Anthony Woodward. Legal ex- system. perts throughout Pennsylvania contended that Woodward "The test to be applied in determining whether or not was deprived of a fair trial due to actions by the police, someone should be indicted is merely a reasonable belief prosecutors and his court-appointed attorney. Woodward in a crime has been committed," PSIC chairman Brown was sentenced to life in 1984 when he was convicted of wrote in 1988 reaction to the grand jury's report. "I do being an accomplice in a fatal barroom stabbing in not mean to suggest that convictions of persons who which, according to trial testimony, he did not partici- might have been indicted ... would have occurred, but pate. Castille's office vigorously opposed Woodward's that determination should have been made by a jury motion for a new trial by strictly applying state case law charged with38 the responsibility of determining guilt or which declares that criminal intent can be formed in a innocence."' split second."" Such a standard of intent was never ap- Four months after the Philadelphia grand jury issued plied to Sambor. its findings, a federal grand jury - investigating possible It strains credibility to suggest that Sambor - who civil rights violations, particularly regarding the death of had two decades of law enforcement experience - did the children - issued a press release stating its year-long not know that dropping a bomb on a house containing probe "yielded no indictments."1 9 Assistant Attorney children and allowing the ensuing fire to burn were reck- General William Bradford Reynolds, head of the Justice less acts. If Anthony Woodward can allegedly form crim- Department's Civil Rights Division, praised the thorough inal intent in a split second - after seeing his cousin and professional investigation of a complex case by the (who did the stabbing) attacked by two men - why did FBI, the very agency that had been criticized by the Sambor escape the same split second standard? PSIC for supplying Philadelphia police with the C-4 ex- The exonerations granted by the grand jury rein- plosive used in the excessive assault and bombing. forced the perception of double standards in the applica- Much has been made of the battlefield-like conditions tion of laws, and so left many with the view expressed by on May 13, 1985, yet the excessive force used against a Osage Avenue block captain Clifford Bond that the house containing children would violate provisions of the grand jury made a "political decision, instead of a right- Geneva Convention. Article 3, Part I of the Geneva Con- eous and just one." 136 Almost 147 years to the day before vention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in the May 13, 1985 tragedy, a white mob, composed Time of War of August 12, 1949 states that persons tak- largely of "gentlemen of property and standing"' 36 ing no active part in hostilities "shall in all circumstances sacked and burned the newly built headquarters of the be treated humanely." This section prohibits "violence of Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society in downtown of Penn- life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutila- sylvania. No arrests were made for the May 17, 1838 ar- tion, cruel treatment and torture."'40 Sadly, city, state son of Pennsylvania Hall because "the authorities de- and federal authorities abdicated their responsibilities to clared that the mob had been composed of strangers, and protect the lives and civil rights of the MOVE children. 37 that none were recognized."' "Our social order was profoundly tested on May 13, Some argue that District Attorney Ronald Castille's 1985, and I must conclude that we did not pass the test," recommendation against indictments was a proper exer- the PSIC Commissioner stated in his concurrence. 41 cise of prosecutorial discretion and not a political deci- The dynamics that propelled MOVE's decade-plus sion. But Castille's recommendation to the grand jury confrontations with the city were rooted in the denial of perverted the equal application of the law as surely as his the equal application of the law through exercises of predecessor's 1978 decision not to prosecute prison double standards. While MOVE members were not the guiltless victims they claimed to be,"they correctly criti- 133. Id. at 387. cized the double standards constraining equality in 134. For description of case see, Philadelphia Daily News, America's law enforcement and judicial apparatus. "The 50 (October 8, 1987). See also, case file: Commonwealth v. Anthony Woodward, Court of Common Pleas Case No.2053-54 MOVE ORGANIZATION is saying there is nothing (1984). The D.A's Office acknowledges that Jerry Woodward, more disruptive, abusive or profane than a system that Anthony's cousin, had the right of self-defense when he was at- blesses upper class whites with a crown and poor whites, tacked inside the bar but lost that defense when he used a knife against his unarmed attacker. As an accomplice, according to the D.A., Anthony Woodward was liable for the same life sen- tence. Legal experts who've reviewed the case say life sentences 138. Philadelphia Inquirer, Sect. F, 7 (May 8, 1988). for the Woodward's are outrageous. A Philadelphia judge va- 139. U.S. Justice Department press release (September 20, cated Anthony Woodward's life sentence in January 1989 or- 1988). The press release quoted Assistant Attorney General dering new post-trial appeals after a finding that his original William Bradford Reynolds, head of the Department's Civil court-appointed attorney was woefully incompetent. Rights Division, stating the federal grand jury "will not issue a 135. Philadelphia Inquirer, Sect. F, 7 (May 8, 1988). report." 136. Julie Winch, PHILADELPHIA'S BLACK ELITE, 148. 140. See A. Roberts & R. Guelif, eds., DOCUMENTS ON THE 137. Edward R. Turner, THE NEGRO IN PENNSYLVANIA: LAWS OF WAR, 273 (1982). 1639-1861, 163 (1911, reprinted 1970). 141. 59 TEMPLE L.Q. at 409.

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Blacks, Puerto Ricans with a blackjack. 1' 4 2 Racism is an aspect of the double standard of justice, and the PSIC found racism to be operative in the 1985 confrontation. "The Commission believes that the deci- sions of various city officials to permit construction of the bunker; to allow the use of high explosives, and in a 90 minute period, the firing of at least 10,000 rounds of am- munition at the house; to sanction the dropping of a bomb on an occupied row house; and to let a fire burn in a row house occupied by children, would not likely have been made had the MOVE house and its occupants been situated in a comparable white neighborhood. 1 4 MOVE has vowed to return and continue its confron- tation with city officials. Local and national governmen- tal institutions remain susceptible to the type of paralysis presented by anarchists like MOVE because charges of racism find resonance among the have-nots and societally disenfranchised who also feel victimized by unequal treatment from 'the system.' Speakers at a rally outside of Philadelphia's City Hall on December 10, 1988 com- memorating the United Nation's 40th anniversary of In- ternational Human Rights Day repeatedly expressed the view that the MOVE issue never will be resolved unless "justice is served." One speaker, William Meek, director of the American Friends Service Committee's commu- nity-relations division stated, "The City's action [on May 13, 1985] violated any definition of human rights or human being . .. 144 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once observed that jus- tice, long deferred, has accumulated interest with costs that will be substantial for American Society in both fi- nancial and human terms. "White America must recog- nize that justice for Black people cannot be achieved without radical changes in the structure of our soci- ety. "14' Elimination of double standards in applying the laws of the land is an essential element in the radical re- structuring envisioned by Dr. King.

142. PSIC Files, Box 2, Folder 180 (pages unnumbered). 143. 59 TEMPLE L.Q. at 377. This conclusion was not an official finding of the PSIC but was included in the section ti- tled "Additional Comments." PSIC Commissioner Kauffman dissented from this conclusion. PSIC Commissioner Bowser stated in his concurrence, "Sambor testified that if the child of one of the other families who lived in the 6200 block of Osage Avenue had been in the house he would have made different decisions and employed different tactics." Id. at 391. 144. Philadelphia Inquirer, Sect. B, 7 (December 11, 1988). 145. Martin Luther King, Jr., THE WORDS OF MARTIN Lu- THER KING, 55-56 (1983).

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