this post was submitted on 06 May 2024
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A Boring Dystopia

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[–] [email protected] 129 points 6 months ago (2 children)

The only surviving adult MOVE member, Ramona Africa, refused to testify in court and was charged and convicted on charges of riot and conspiracy; she served seven years in prison.

Jesus Christ! No criminal charges against police so let's imprison the sole surviving victim!

(She did get a handsome settlement years later, so there's that but holy hell man)

[–] [email protected] 33 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Qualified fucking immunity

Yet another thing to go after the revolution.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Don't need qualified immunity if there are no cops left.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

Damn straight

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[–] [email protected] 82 points 6 months ago (39 children)

The police obtained arrest warrants in 1985 charging four MOVE occupants with crimes including parole violations, contempt of court, illegal possession of firearms, and making terroristic threats. Mayor Wilson Goode and police commissioner Gregore J. Sambor classified MOVE as a terrorist organization. Police evacuated residents of the area from the neighborhood prior to their action. Residents were told that they would be able to return to their homes after a 24-hour period.

There was an armed standoff with police, who threw tear gas canisters at the building. The MOVE members fired at them, and a gunfight with semi-automatic and automatic firearms ensued for 90 minutes... At 2 p.m., Sambor ordered that the compound be bombed.

From a Pennsylvania State Police helicopter, Philadelphia Police Department proceeded to drop two 1.5-pound bombs (which the police referred to as "entry devices") made of Tovex, a dynamite substitute, combined with two pounds of FBI-supplied C-4, targeting a fortified, bunker-like cubicle on the roof of the house. The bombs exploded after 45 seconds, igniting the fuel of a gasoline-powered generator and setting the house on fire, which was left to burn. Officials later stated that this was to let the fire burn through the roof and destroy the "bunker", so police could then drop tear gas into the house and flush out the occupants.

30 minutes later, firefighters moved in to control the fire but there was gunfire and the firefighters and police were ordered back as the fire spread to neighboring houses down the street.

The only two MOVE survivors, Birdie Africa, who was 13 at the time, and Ramona Africa, both escaped the house. Police initially said that two men had also run out of the house at the same time and fired at them and that police had returned fire. Ramona Africa said that police fired at those trying to escape. Police said that MOVE members moved in and out of the house shooting at the police. The fire department later declared the fire under control at 11:47 p.m.

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[–] [email protected] 65 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Holy shit, I’d never heard about this.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Let the Fire Burn is a really good documentary on this event.

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[–] [email protected] 62 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

And racist think this kind of life destroying event generation after generations doesn't have a negative impact on a group of people. The fact that Black Americans have anything should be applauded. This is just one event, look up Oklahoma massacre, or our wide spread lynchings history. There are still to this day southern families that have body parts of black lynching victims because that's just what their ancestors did back in the day. Hunt down black people that didn't stay in line and mount a piece of their body over the mantel as a family heirloom.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 6 months ago

Okay but did you know that they were brown people? Checkmate liberals

[–] [email protected] 45 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I remember this craziness. Was insane and of course, it was all considered ok.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I remember this craziness.

I remember that craziness because as a young adult, I was working nearby and saw the smoke clouds.

...and of course, it was all considered ok.

I'm unaware of anyone at all those days who considered it 'all okay.' On the contrary, it put a kind of national spotlight on Philly police' brutality going back to the Rizzo days, and doubtless contributed to Rizzo never being mayor again. And I think even amongst the folks who believed the bombing was justified, a large segment had to admit that it obviously went very, very wrong.

All that said-- yeah, as a nation I'm not sure we learned a damn thing out of all that. The police certainly didn't appear to.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

In the SE USA where I was about to graduate from high school, in the local news it was presented as "inner city terrorists handled with appropriated force"

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I'm not surprised there was a deal of confusion about it. It was a complicated affair that doesn't have much analogue in contemporary history AFAIK.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (6 children)

Militarization of the police has been a wild fucking ride over the last 40 years.

Acorn drops and some pimple-faced teenager with a badge goes on a shooting rampage. Then we're told he needs better training, so we spend another couple million dollars bringing in IDF officers to train local cops on effective use of Skunk spray

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Technically, they bombed a home. But it was a row home and they were too stupid to think about what happens when you set fire to a home connected to a bunch of others

[–] [email protected] 34 points 6 months ago (2 children)

and then they refused to let firefighters in

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago

The ones that were being shot at?

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Ok that's messed

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago

Imagine being firebombed because you're a shit neighbor (this is what I understood after a glance on the wiki page about MOVE, the two times the police went after them, it began as complaints from neighbors)

There was an armed standoff with police,[8] who lobbed tear gas canisters at the building. The MOVE members fired at them in return, and a 90-minute gunfight ensued, in which one officer was bruised in the back by gunfire.[38] Police used more than ten thousand rounds of ammunition before Commissioner Sambor ordered that the compound be bombed

Fucking hell, 10k rounds? How?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

You know, if you guys are just gonna label everyone who wants freedom terrorists, you've got a fucking problem there in the land of the ree

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

Don't forget to call the opposing groups of said terrorists "freedom fighters" (1986 newspaper)

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