MOVE appeal argued in court

Judge bars Africa from speaking Ramona Africa, the only adult survivor of the 1985 MOVE bombing, had her appeal heard in front of a three-judge panel in the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday. In front of a packed courtroom, Judge Morton Greenberg refused Africa's request to speak to the court, saying that her lawyer is best suited to represent her. The hearing centered on whether city officials used excessive force in dropping a bomb on the MOVE house and letting a fire go on unabated. The May 13, 1985 bombing of the MOVE house on 6221 Osage Avenue killed 11 people: six adults and five children. The bombing, ordered by former city Mayor Wilson Goode, destroyed an entire city block and 62 West Philadelphia homes. The homes have since been rebuilt by the city. MOVE, a group that advocated a return to their natural surroundings, had allowed trash and human excrement to pile up in the front of its rowhouse. The members' refusal to surrender to a search warrant for the house led to the bombing. Africa said the court proceedings were a travesty of justice, adding that she was particularly upset with Greenberg. "What did we do that warranted dropping a bomb on us," she said. "[The proceedings] were very indicative of what goes on in courtrooms. There is no justice in courtrooms. One judge in particular, Judge Greenberg, a Jewish judge, was the most outrageous on trying to blame MOVE." Greenberg continually asked the prosecution if they thought police force might have been necessary in light of the situation. "Wasn't it reasonable to take into account, in the face of gunfire and everything else and that people wouldn't surrender," Greenberg asked. Africa's attorney, Andre Dennis, said he believed deadly force was unnecessary, especially since children were involved. "Other means of force could have been used," Dennis said. "It was unjustified, unreasonable conduct that occurred that day." One of the attorneys for the city of Philadelphia, John Morris, argued that the city never intended to kill anyone by dropping the bomb. Judge Timothy Lewis said Morris's claim was ridiculous because dropping a bomb would obviously cause fatalities. "Are you joking?" Lewis quipped. In his autobiography, In Good Faith, Goode said he believed the fire was the real cause of death, not the dropping of the bomb. "The real cause for their deaths was the stupid decision to let the fire burn combined with the actions of renegade police officers in the alley, shooting to force MOVE members exiting the house back inside," Goode wrote. Africa was convicted of inciting a riot and has since served five years in prison. She said yesterday that the American justice system and legality is not always correct or right. "The Holocaust was legal, slavery was legal and the wholesale slaughter of the natives was legal," she said. "These are the same judges that celebrate the Fourth of July every year, people that resisted and defied legality." According to Steven Waxman, an attorney for former city managing director Leo Brooks, a defendant in the case, the MOVE trial has had a long and complicated history. Originally Africa asked for a civil trial against the city, Goode, former Police Commissioner Gregore Sambor and other city officials. Goode was dismissed from the case. A federal magistrate originally recommended to federal Judge Louis Pollack that the suits filed by Africa be heard in court. But Pollack rejected the recommendations and asked the magistrate to reconsider his recommendation. Waxman said yesterday's hearing was an appeal to see if the case should finally go to a jury trial. A Depauwe University intern Natalie Frazier, who sat in on the trial, said she was very interested in the MOVE case, especially the injustice of the whole affair. "You can expect you're going to be safe in your own home," Frazier said. "People don't understand other people's philosophy. It's fear and people attack it. That's the societal issue behind all of this." At the hearing, each attorney was allowed to argue his case for about 15 minutes. Waxman said he is not sure when a decision on the appeal will be handed down. "There's no way to tell," Waxman said. "I have had decisions come down the next day and some the next year."

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