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| 2008-05-01 | MARCH 6, 2008
It’s time to free the MOVE 9 Nearly 30 years ago, Philadelphia was embroiled in one of the most bloody and tragic confrontations in its history. On Aug. 8, 1978, police were involved in a shootout with members of MOVE, a pan-African organization in Powelton Village. Despite competing accounts about what happened, particularly regarding who instigated the exchange of gunfire, the confrontation ended in the death of Officer James Ramp. Nine MOVE members were convicted of third-degree murder and sentenced to 30 to 100 years in prison.
Next month, seven of the eight living members of the MOVE 9 [Merle Africa died in prison in 1998] are scheduled for parole interviews. This has prompted a string of protests from the city’s law enforcement community, including the District Attorney’s Office and the Fraternal Order of Police. They insist parole be denied and the MOVE members remain incarcerated for a full 100-year sentence. While I empathize with their pain, such a decision would be a gross miscarriage of justice. Based on the evidence used to convict, there is still serious doubt about whether Officer Ramp was killed by MOVE members or police fire.
Given the Rizzo administration’s well-chronicled history of racist terrorism, both as mayor and police commissioner, there remains considerable doubt about the integrity of the investigation. Still, even if we were to trust the ballistic reports, which claim that Officer Ramp was shot in the neck [that the author talks about the neck instead of the chest shows again how controversial it all is] at a down-ward angle, it would be impossible to believe that a MOVE member could perform such a feat from the basement. Also, based on all accounts, the three female defendants were in the basement protecting the children from gunfire. At the very least, the parole board must recognize the absurdity of keeping these women incarcerated for a full century.
Pretend for a moment that everything that the police and prosecutors said was true and everything that MOVE members claim is untrue. This would still mean that one MOVE member fired a fatal shot and eight others (who authorities insist were brainwashed cult members) were in the vicinity. Even if they were criminally negligent in other ways, do their actions call for a 100-year sentence? If we are to believe that prisons are really “correctional” facilities why are we denying them the opportunity to demonstrate their rehabilitation? In the interest of justice, we have only one choice: FREE THE MOVE 9!
Marc Lamont Hill is an assistant professor of Urban Education at Temple University.
Free the MOVE Nine Now!
Questions, materials, other: Michael Schiffmann * mikschiff@t-online.de * 0049-(0)6221-800 313 | |
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