The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – On a Move: Philadelphia’s Notorious Bombing and a Native Son’s Lifelong Battle for Justice by Mike Africa Jr.

Episode Date: August 13, 2024

On a Move: Philadelphia's Notorious Bombing and a Native Son's Lifelong Battle for Justice by Mike Africa Jr. https://amzn.to/4cs15Zw The incredible story of MOVE, the revolutionary Black civil liberties group that Philadelphia police bombed in 1985, killing 11 civilians—by one of the few people born into the organization, raised during the bombing's tumultuous aftermath, and entrusted with repairing what was left of his family. "As necessary and powerful as it is captivating." – Michael Harriot, New York Times bestselling author of Black AF History "Searing and urgent." – Bakari Sellers, New York Times bestselling author of My Vanishing Country and The Moment Before police dropped a bomb on a residential neighborhood on May 13, 1985, few people outside Philadelphia were aware that a Black-led civil liberties organization had taken root there. Founded in 1972 by a charismatic ideologue called John Africa, MOVE’s mission was to protect all forms of life from systemic oppression. They drew their ideology from the Black Panther Party and pre-dated animal and environmental rights groups like PETA and Earth First. MOVE emerged in an era when Black Philadelphians suffered under devastating policies brought by the long, doomed war in Vietnam, Mayor Frank Rizzo’s overtly racist police surveillance, and, eventually, President Ronald Reagan's War on Drugs. MOVE members lived together in a collection of West Philadelphia row houses and took the surname Africa out of admiration for the group's founder. But in MOVE's lifestyle, city officials saw threats to their status quo. Their bombing of MOVE homes shocked the nation and made international news. Eleven people were killed, including five children. And the City of Brotherly Love became known as the City That Bombed Itself. Among the children most affected by the bombing was Mike Africa Jr. Born in jail following a police attack on MOVE that led to his parents’ decades-long incarcerations, Mike was six years old and living with his grandmother when MOVE was bombed. In the ensuing years, Mike sought purpose in the ashes left behind. He began learning about the law as a teenager and became adept at speaking and inspiring public support with the help of other MOVE members. In 2018, at age 40, he finally succeeded in getting his parents released from prison. On a Move is one of the most unimaginable stories of injustice and resilience in recent American history. But it is not only one of tragedy. It is about coming-of-age for a young activist, the strong ties of family, and, against all odds, learning how to take indignities on the chin and to work within the very system that created them. At once a harrowing personal account and an impassioned examination of racism and police violence, On a Move testifies to the power of love and hope, in the face of astonishing wrongdoing.

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So anyway, guys, we have an amazing young man on the show. We're going to talk about his incredible life story, his journey through tragedy to triumph and all that good stuff. I'm finally finding my footing here on adjectives. Mike Africa Jr. is on the show with us today. His book is just out august 6 2024 it is called on a move philadelphia's notorious bombing and a native son's lifelong battle for justice and if you're not gripped by the conversation we're going to have here hold on tight or hold on to something because it's going to be gripping it's a great story mike is going

to be joining us to talk about his book he is a sought-after speaker and writer who has been featured in the new york times the washington post the guardian and on npr he starred in the hbo documentary 40 years a prisoner and was featured in the audible original docuseries about the move bombing summer of 1985 produced by kevin Hart and Charlemagne the God, and narrated by Hart. As a keynote speaker, Mike has been invited to speak anywhere, everywhere, any and everywhere from the Smithsonian and the University of Pennsylvania to the 55th anniversary of the Black Panther Party.

Welcome to the show, Mike. How are you? Oh, man. Thanks for having me. I feel great today. It's a good day. There you go. It's wonderful to have you. It's a great day. Every day feel great today. It's a good day. There you go. It's wonderful to have you.

It's a great day. Every day is above ground is a great day. Is that how it works these days? I didn't put it to the every day is above ground is a good day. My thing is happiness is a choice. There you go. And you've got to create the structure for your happiness. And I've done that, so I feel good.

I love it. I love it. Thanks for bringing that to the show and giving us the pump up there. Give us your dot coms. Where can people find you on the interwebs? www.mikeafricajr.com. There you go. And is...

Of course, like on social media, it's at Mike Africa Jr. On my social media, my Instagram and Facebook and Twitter. There you go. Is Kevin Hart as short as everyone says he is? You know, I've never met Kevin Hart. Okay. The process was that I recorded for my Bakerersfield Sound Studio in West Philly. I mean, in Center City, Philly.

And he did his wherever he did his. So we never actually got to meet. We talked on the phone once, but that was it. It was a short phone call? Oh, I'm just kidding. Anyway, he's a great guy, wonderful comedian. Give us a 30,000 overview of your new book that's just out on a move. The book is about my, as the subtitle says, the lifelong battle for justice. You know, my parents were in prison.

They were in prison before I was alive. I was born in a jail cell. And when I got a little older, by a little older, I mean 13 years old, I started working to free them. And it took a long time to do it. There you go. And so this is about this bombing that took place where there was activists in the building and et cetera, et cetera, and they burnt down like a whole city block, these crazy cops with Philadelphia.

And this kind of was probably something that helped kind of wake people up to some of the abuses that were going on in America at the time in the civil rights era. But you run close to this. Tell us about who MOVE is and how you were related to these folks. The MOVE organization was founded by my great uncle. His name is John Africa. He started the organization with a simple mission to protect life, people, animals and the environment. He talked about the injustices of people being locked in cages and getting unnecessary,

unethical prison terms for crimes that politicians and police were committing and not getting any time in jail at all. He talked about the inequality of it. He talked about how animals were brought to this country the same way Africans were brought to this country in chains and crates and made to work and be enslaved for money. He would say things like, if Barnum and Bailey and Ringling brothers think that it's okay for a tiger cub to jump through a ring of fire, why don't they make their cubs do it? Why don't they make their wife do it? Animals have have feelings too he also talked about the environment and the importance of protecting it and honoring nurturing it you know by giving back composting wasn't a thing back then but that's exactly the type of work that he

did and a lot of opposition in that process and he also met a lot of people that believed the way that he believed and wanted to support what he was doing. And that group of people that followed him became known as MOVE. Okay. And so that's your, what did you say? My great uncle. Great uncle. Yeah.

So that's your great uncle. You're living in the house with him or in the block with him? I wasn't born yet. He started the organization in 1972. Okay. And my mother and my father, a lot of other members of my family, like half the organization is my blood family, my grandmother, my great aunts, my aunts and uncles, my cousins. And so they were all part of it in the very early seventies. And then as time went on, mom you know my dad are together and you know they conceived me there you go do they have the same sort of stance that maybe malcolm x we mentioned the the other

folks that i know had a they had a pretty violent streak the black panthers where they you know they they felt like violence was the way to to even the score or to try and balance out the score. You know, MOVE was a little bit different, not in the stance perspective, but definitely in the way people see violence. MOVE didn't see defending yourself as violent. They didn't see if the police attack you or if anyone attack you for that matter, we don't turn the other cheek and we don't see defending ourselves as violent. If you slap me, you might walk over here and do it, but you're going to live back.

I mean, that's just the way it is. Like you, you're not going to slap. And I don't see that as being violent. I see you as being violent for attacking me unwarranted, but me defending myself from that. No,

I don't see that as violent. Yeah. You're defending yourself, you know? Yeah. And that, no, I don't see that as violent. Yeah, you're defending yourself. Most states have laws for that. The Catholics weren't going around killing people. They were defending the people that were being killed by the police. You know, MOVE was

very much like that. The organization wasn't set up on a pacifist vibe, like Dr. King with the attorney of the team. Not at all. And having that kind of stance, both of them still were attacked. Whether you were a pacifist, you saw the 60s videos and news clips where the pacifists who were not fighting back

were being hosed down by the fire departments and beaten by police and attacked with dogs, right? So, you know, if you're going to get attacked anyway, why not fight back and get a couple licks in yourself? There you go. So now you were six when this whole episode happened where the police attacked the MOVE folks. You said you were born in jail. Tell us about how that went down so move people would protest that demonstrate and demonstrate at like the philadelphia zoo and the barnum and

bailey ringling brother circus and when the cops would come and tell them they had to disband move would resist and say things like we got the right to freedom of speech we got the right to assemble we're not breaking any laws so we're not. And the police ran by the mayor, Frank Rizzo, was like, we don't care what you say your laws are, you're going to jail. And it led to move people resisting being arrested sometimes, move people fighting in scuffles. Eventually, a confrontation happened on August 8th, 1978, where the police storm moves home and shot up the house. And during the shooting, a police officer was shot and killed, of course, moved with blame for the killing. And they all got nine.

They all got 100 year sentences, a total of 900 years in prison. And my parents were two of those people. And at the time of the arrest, my mother was eight months pregnant with me. So five weeks later, I was born in a jail cell. Wow. That's a hell of a story. So when you get out of school, I'm trying to nail down, explain to people the timeline. When you get out of school, or I'm sorry, when you get out of jail, who's taking care of you over the next few years that you're being raised around the movie unit before the bombing happens?

My grandmother was taking care of me. My grandmother, my aunts, and uncle, they were making sure that I was okay, feeding me, taking care of me. And when I was 13 years old, my circumstances at home wasn't great. My grandmother was older. I was one of those unruly kids that wasn't willing to listen to people.

I broke her rules all the time. She felt like I needed to return to MOVE. When Ramona Africa, who was one of the MOVE members who was recently getting out of prison, I asked her to come and pick me up, and she did, and I rejoined MOVE.

There you go. So you said this happened when you were six. Were you in the building at the time of the attack? Were you around? Did you experience what that was like? I was 4.4 miles away and i could see the smoke how i learned about it was i was it was a summer day or early or late spring day it was warm outside and i was going outside to play with some friends and one of my friends he said they dropped the bomb on move wow my

immediate reaction was no they didn't And he pointed to the sky. And then I ran in the house and I saw my aunts and me, and I saw them hugging, huddled up around the television and crying their eyes out. I saw the fire on the television. I could see the blazing fire just erupting out of the windows and through the roof. Wow. And I said, that looks like our house. And my aunt looked at me and she said, it is our house. That is wild. So 11 million people were killed in that attack. I imagine some were members of your family? Every single person that died that day were MOVE members. My great-uncle who started the organization, John Africa, he was there.

My second cousin, Frank, and all of the children that I knew that I grew up with in MOVE were all in the house. Wow. That's quite the loss to take as a young person. That's quite the shocking thing. The interesting thing about it was at the time, I didn't know that. Okay. You didn't know they were dead, right was at the time, I didn't know that. Okay. You didn't know they were dead, right? When Ramona, I'm six years old. I mean, how do you explain to a six-year-old that this thing happened?

The people, my aunts and them, they were young people. They were in their 20s. They couldn't even really wrap their minds around what was happening. But the way I learned about the story, the details, when Ramona Africa took me with her around the world, talking to audiences, universities and classrooms and community centers, she would be telling the story to the audience. And as they were learning the story, I was learning the story too. So I didn't find out about what happened. I didn't even know that I was born in a jail cell until then.

I didn't know that there were newspapers writing articles about this kid, this baby that was born in a jail cell until Ramona came and got me. And then I started doing research myself. I didn't know my parents were in prison for 100 years each. Wow. Until I started traveling around. I didn't know what she was and what parents were in prison for a hundred years each. Wow. Until I started traveling around. I didn't know what she was in, what they were in prison for. I didn't know if they would ever get out, but I do. I did believe through the research that I had done that they were innocent and that I would try to see how I could help to get them out.

There you go. And so at what point, you know, you, you mentioned you were kind of a troubled kid a little bit. You weren't listening to your grandmother or whoever. Was there a point that you crossed the threshold and you go, I'm going to work to right the wrongs of what's been done against my family and my parents? And you start working to learn law to get your parents out of jail. When I was 13 years old, I was in a meeting with a lawyer by the name of Paul Hetznecker. He was going to be MOVES' new lawyer. And regularly, we were scheduled to have meetings with him to discuss strategy and ways to get them out of prison. And I was a part of those initial meetings.

I was a part of the meeting where he was chosen to be Moves Counsel over William Kunstler at the time. I traveled around and we rallied for support and we wrote letters and met with politicians and the legal strategy was to get favorable attention and favorable support from people that had the power to make changes and I was a really big part of that process because I was the son of the two of these people and the nephew of one of them so a third of the

people that were in prison were my blood family and I was just a kid whose life, whose prison, the prison sentence predated my birth. It was a really huge selling point for our supporters. And even with that, though, if a white police officer is accused, is killed, and the people that are accused of doing it as a bunch of unruly black people, the odds are heavily stacked against us. So it took a lot of work. It took a lot of networking and it took a lot of connecting with people that felt that they could help, but wanted to help. It's one thing for people to be able to help. It's another thing for them to want to help. And we had to just continue to chip away at the mountain of the people that could help and kind of convert them into wanting to be supported.

There you go. And so eventually you got your parents freed. How many years did it take? I started working on that when I was 13 years old. By then they had spent 13 years in prison. I picked up my mother on June 16, 2018. She had spent 40 years in prison. 40 years.

40 years. Wow. And then four months later, I went to the prison, and I picked up my dad, who had been released. Wow. He spent 40 years, too. Congratulations. Thank you You know Frank Rizzo's Mayor Frank Rizzo's

Mayor of Philadelphia at the time Was so corrupt I mean the guy had some real White nationalist Christian Sort of extremist issues He didn't like anybody who wasn't white I guess Was basically his thing I don't think he liked anybody that

I don't think I think he only liked Italians. Probably from the mob, right? Not even just white. Italians, he liked Italians. That was it. There you go. He built a reputation for hostility to blacks, Latinos, Latinas, and

civil rights demonstrators. And so he was all about white ethics, ethnic groups. Total Christian nationalism sort of dude, right wing. Let's hope we don't have that come back next year. But yeah, it's pretty interesting. And they pretty much attacked one house and they bombed it.

And they pretty much burned down a whole city block. Didn't they burn down more than a city block? They burned down three roads. Yeah. So there was a total of 61 homes and 250 people homeless. Wow. See, this is what happened. The people that were, the MOVE members that hadn't been arrested when my parents got arrested,

they continued to speak about the imprisonment of the Move 9 prisoners. And they made so much noise and they created so many disruptions that the city felt like they needed to do something to shut them up. But knowing Move with the type of reputation that Move has for fighting back and resisting injustice and arrests and all of that, I guess they felt like they needed to come with as much firepower as they could. So they went to the military. They went to the military and they got a brigadier general and made him the Managing Director. They got a Korea War veteran and

Vietnam General and made him the Police Commissioner. Then with those connections, they got their hands on C4, plastic explosives. They got their hands on anti-tank guns,.50 caliber machine guns, armor-piercing guns. They got their hands on M16s, M14s, M1s, every kind of weapon that you can imagine the United States was using during war times. And then on May 13th, 1985, MOVE members were in their house and they were yelling from a bullhorn to free MOVE 9 prisoners. And the city's response to that was to fly a helicopter over the house and drop a bomb on it. The bomb ignited a fire. The fire burned down 61 homes.

As MOVE members tried to escape the burning building, they were shot at by police. I remember watching the video of this, and I don't remember what I was up to, but I was watching the video of it, and it was quite extraordinary. It was just insane. And one of these things that probably, you know,

tried to help wake people up to how bad racism was in this country, especially back then. It's still here today, of course. What do you hope people come away with reading your account, your story, your parents' story, your family's story? What do you hope people come away with? There's two things. One, this is a story of resistance.

I mean, despite all of the tragedy that Moved experienced, despite all of the issues that I ran into in trying to free my family, at the end of the day, we were very successful in releasing my mother, my father, and my uncle Chuck. And so there's that positive aspect of it. 40 year long journey came to an end and they came out on their own two feet instead of laying down.

Yeah, that's pretty good. The other thing about it, though, is that I want people to come away with it is there needs to be accountability, some type of way for law enforcement to be held accountable for the crimes they committed against humanity. Five children were shot. Wow. Burned. Kids. Kids.

I mean, 14, 12, 11, 9 kids, children. And no one, none of the police commissioner that put shrapnel in a, first of all, dropping a bomb in the neighborhood is crazy. Yeah, that is, but to then lace the bomb with shrapnel so that it means anyone that it hits when it explodes is just evil.

Yeah, that's just the police commissioner never saw the inside of a jail cell. He never was placed in handcuffs. He was never in the inside of a jail cell. He never was placed in handcuffs. He was never in the back of a paddy wagon. The fire commissioner that let the fire burn, knowing that this fire is raging out of control, it reached to the point of 2,000 degrees, the temperature at which steel melts.

Wow. And they said, let the fire burn. And he never saw the inside of a jail cell. He never felt the cold steel of handcuffs on his wrist. He never spent any time in the back of a paddy wagon. And then the managing director and the mayor who participated in this entire process for this assault to be carried out. No one ever served one day in jail, not one second.

The only, I guess, semblance of wrongdoing that anyone could see that the police were feeling is that Terrace Mulvihill, one of the police officers that was stationed in the back alley, that never admitted to shooting people as they tried to escape the burning building, but he did kill himself shortly after the bombing. Oh, really? The guilt was just too much? I would expect that the guilt on him was heavy, and he couldn't live with himself anymore. But I don't think that killing yourself is an indication that you felt like

you did the right thing. That's very true. But we talk about reparations a lot. We talk about this thing called qualified immunity. And I think that needs to be talked about more. Police officers, law enforcement, public officials should not be able to get away with crimes, especially when children are involved and being shot and killed.

They should not be able to get away. I can't get away with that. We're talking about equality. The people that are supposed to be protecting people from injustice protecting people from harm they should be held to a higher standard yeah i'm hoping that george floyd maybe set a bar i remember the surprised look on his killer's face when he really thought he was going to get off at least that's my impression of when i watched his face he was in shock that he got found guilty and and i think it was a good moment

that sent a shock waves across police unions and stuff that like hey you need to start paying attention to what's going on and training people better and you know there's there's so much that goes into it but you know this is this is why your stories like yours are important It's such a great story. Do you guys end up suing this the city after your parents got out? the city of Philadelphia was brought up on the city of Philadelphia was in a battle with Ramona Africa the lone adult survivor of the bombing and She sued the city. She sued the managing director,

the mayor. She sued the fire commissioner and the chief of police. Every single one of them were found guilty. And the jury found them guilty. The judge granted them all

immunity and therefore they served no punishment for what they did. The jury found them guilty. The judge granted them all immunity. And therefore, they served no punishment for what they did. Huh. Was it civil or criminal? It was civil. Oh, okay. Huh. So no money was awarded or anything like that for damage? The Ramona was awarded $500,000.

Wow. That's all. That same year, I bet you remember this. A lady was driving through a McDonald's. Yeah, the $10 million burger. And she was spilling hot coffee on herself. And she won millions of dollars for spilling hot coffee on herself. That she knew was hot.

A hot fire that burned 11 people alive. And the settlement was $500,000. Yeah, that's just insane. That's just insane, that whole thing. There you go. It's a wonderful story, a beautiful story of loss and redemption. And for you, as a son, you could have just been like, I'm going to go be bad and probably end up in prison with my family. I could turn to crime and stuff, but you went to High Road and looked to right the justice, the violence and justice, you know, that was not given to your family and right the wrong there. And props to you, man.

I mean, it's quite the journey and it took a long time. You stuck it out and now you got a great story. I think it would be a great movie. People need to hear more about this thing. I don't remember how I heard about it, but watching the video is just extraordinary to watch. And then the fire gets out of control and the people are just, it's just shocking that something like that

would take place in America. But, you know, we like to, this is America, we like to invent stuff and I'll say Chris if people aren't being held accountable for their actions this won't be their last tragedy like this that's true no one should be above the law in this country

that's kind of the whole point of it but we're still working on that point there you go so give us your dot coms as we go out tell people where they can find you on the interwebs and get to know you better. Come and see me on my Instagram page. That's the page that I'm on the most. My Instagram is at MikeAfricaJr.

I'm also on Twitter and Facebook. And you can purchase the book. There's a link in my bio where you can purchase the book. We had a book signing for it yesterday because yesterday was the 46th year anniversary of the day that police took my parents to prison. And we're selling books right now. It's available on Amazon, Target, Barnes & Noble. And, of course, you can get that link to all of those places if you want at my

website, www.mikeafricajr.com. There you go. Well, thank you very much for coming on, Mike, and sharing your amazing story of your family and the battle and justice and all that stuff. Thank you very much for coming on. Thanks for having me, Chris. There you go.

Thanks, my audience, for tuning in. Go to goodreads.com, 4chesschrisfast, linkedin.com, 4chesschrisfast, chrisfast1, the TikTokity, and all those crazy places on the internet. Thanks for tuning in. Be good to each other. Stay safe.

We'll see you next time.