MOVE Philadelphia

Let's Talk About Sects

MOVE Philadelphia made headlines in 1978, when police and MOVE members ended up in a prolonged siege and a gunfire exchange that left a police officer dead. They hit the headlines again in 1985, when a confrontation with the authorities became even more deadly after an explosive device was dropped on their property. The events led many to understand the organisation as a Black liberation group who were the victims of a racist system. The latter is hardly debatable, but credible stories from a multitude of former members portray MOVE as never truly being about Black liberation at all. Instead, they characterise it as a cult.

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Links:

• What the survivors of MOVE deserve — by Kevin Price, Leaving MOVE blog, 22 October 2021
• Help Maria Start Over After MOVE — GoFundMe fundraiser for Maria Hardy, formerly Maria Africa, to help with general life expenses
• Help June (Pixie) and kids resettle in hiding — GoFundMe fundraiser for June Stokes, formerly Pixie Africa, and her children to help with general life expenses
• The Invention of John Africa — by Kevin Price, Leaving MOVE blog, 15 September 2021
• Move: An American Religion — by Richard Kent Evans, Oxford University Press, 2020
• Who was John Africa? — by Craig R. McCoy, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 12 January 1986

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