Michael Africa Jr. was born behind bars in 1978, right before his political prisoner parents were sentenced to 30 to 100 years. In 2018, for the first time in his life, Africa saw his mom and dad free and in the same space. Here’s a family story, 40 years in the making.
Photo: Michael Africa Jr.
By Michael Africa Jr., as told to Sheena Sood
November 21, 2018
MOVE, the Philadelphia-based Black liberation and environmentalist organization, is best known for May 13, 1985. On that day, police bombed its communal home, killing 11 members — including five children. In a fire the mayor allowed to burn, about 60 neighboring homes were destroyed.
But that vicious bombing was far from the first police action MOVE experienced. During an August 1978 police raid of their first home that involved hundreds of officers, and their tear gas and water cannons, Philadelphia Police Officer James Ramp was killed. MOVE maintains that Ramp died by friendly fire. But nine MOVE members were convicted of the shooting and given sentences of 30 to 100 years.
These people — known as the MOVE 9 — were among the dozens of U.S. political prisoners who received disproportionate sentences for their activism in the liberation movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Over the last four decades, members of the MOVE Organization and their allies have been advocating to “Free the MOVE 9.”
As a result of this and additional community work, two of the MOVE 9 received parole this year: Debbie Africa was released in June. Her husband, Michael Africa Sr., came home in October. Their 40-year-old son, Michael Africa Jr., visited and talked to both of his parents while they were incarcerated. Last month, for the first time ever, Michael Jr. was united with both his parents outside prison walls.
Weaving us through a 40-year struggle with state-sanctioned separation, here is Mike Jr.’s story, as told to writer Sheena Sood: http://bit.ly/2OWMMRY.
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