Thoughts on viewing the Documentary about the MOVE tragedy

I saw this documentary last night , and all these years later it was still painful to watch. Maybe not for the reasons you may think. Unlike many people who simply don’t know any better I have no sense
of the Move people being positive ,progressive, revolutionary, or as many people who weren’t there say a “Black Power” group. I got a chance to see Move grow from a tiny “cult” centered around the “handyman” for an apartment building I lived in for a few months named Vince, (who I knew and used to talk to often until he stared calling himself “John Africa”) ..to a insanely aggressive group of lost people..on the other hand the Philadelphia Police Dept . was literally at that time equally out of control ..I posted this response on a link for an out of town friend…and it’s all true………..”At that time Philadelphia had what may have been the most out of control Police department in the Nation and what most people outside Philly don’t get is the Move Cult was an insane, volatile, prone to spontaneous violence group of people. I lived two doors away from them from 1973-78…though they were a mostly Black group they were not a progressive or positive group in any way.. living next to them or within a block of them was a living hell. They would broadcast obscenities over a bullhorn twenty four hours a day. Just walking past their house was risky thing to do..you could be vocally or physically attacked for no logical reason. And the stench from the rotting raw meat they would throw away on the front lawn was horrible. Finally people from the community went to the city for help. What happened in 1978 when they lived next to me and in ’84 was have an insane police dept. set loose on them …two insane forces meeting and a whole neighborhood held hostage and in 84 destroyed ..I have no stupid romantic notions of Move “standing strong” against the police that’s not what happened ..and I am a veteran of SCLC. SNCC. and was an organizer for the Black Panther Party..I know the difference between standing strong and just plain crazy….insanity met insanity and the mad dog racism of the Philadelphia police turned it into a tragedy.”

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