What Is MOVE And How Did Their Years-Long Battle With Philadelphia Police End In Tragedy?
MOVE, a revoluntionary back-to-nature group formed in the 1970s, had not one but two shocking and deadly encounters with Philadelphia police. Members of MOVE, a cult founded by John Africa, avoid being arrested as they gather in front of their house in the Powelton Village section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Photo: Getty Images
Racial injustice has taken center stage in 2020 but a new HBO documentary highlights another raciallycharged battle between Philadelphia police and a Black revolutionary, back-to-nature group that began nearly 50 years ago.
The years long-battle between the group MOVE and authorities left one police officer dead and sent nine of the group’s members, known as the MOVE 9, to prison for third-degree murder after a 1978 attempt to evict the group from their Philadelphia home. It culminated nearly seven yea