MOVE Confrontation: 30 Years Later
By Walt Hunter
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Wednesday, at 5:27 p.m., it will be 30 years since Philadelphia police officers dropped a bomb made of military explosives C4 and Tovex onto the roof of the home occupied by MOVE members and their children on the 6200 block of Osage Avenue in West Philadelphia.
When the fire, ignited by that bomb, a fire that officials let burn unchecked for hours, was finally controlled, six adult MOVE members and five children were dead, 61 adjoining homes destroyed, 250 residents left with only what they could hurriedly remove as police ordered them from their homes.
"We felt the house shake, it never occurred to us they would drop a bomb on us," Ramona Africa, the only living survivor told Channel 3's Walt Hunter.
"All we could see was the fire and the smoke," explained neighbor Gerald Renfrow who, along with his wife Connie, lost their home and everything they owned that night.
"It was like our lives were being burned down in front of our faces."
"Burned alive, 11 MOVE members," Africa stated. "And nobody goes to prison, I defy anybody to explain that to me."
No city officials were criminally charged, but the Special Investigation Commission called the initial decision to fire 10,000 rounds of ammunition at a rowhouse containing children "clearly excessive and unreasonable" and the final decision to drop the bomb "unconscionable."
Meanwhile, Renfrow showed Hunter how most homes on his block, rebuilt by a city-hired contractor who was later arrested, are now boarded up and vacant, making them appealing to prostitutes and drug dealers. The city says the homes are too dangerous and must be torn down, but Renfrow says that's not the case, they can be refurbished, all that's needed is for the city to open the door and allow contractors to restore them.
But the city, in an emailed response, stated "the city concluded long ago that the properties can't safely be rehabbed. They must be demolished." The city also stating that 16 homeowners left after accepting $190,000 payments ordered by the court.
The Renfrows and seven others remain, however, hoping the houses will be renovated and, 30 years later, the neighborhood they lost that fiery night will be fully restored.