11 Philadelphia City Council members issue apology on 35th anniversary of MOVE bombing

ABC News(Philly) ^ | 05/13/2020 | Gray Hall

[Kid Shelleen]

It's been 35 years since one of the darkest days in Philadelphia history. The MOVE bombing carried out by police claimed 11 lives, and continues to be a source of controversy for the city.

May 13, 1985, continues to haunt the city of Philadelphia. It's the day police dropped a bomb on a house along Osage Avenue, occupied by members of a radical group called MOVE. Eleven people were killed, including five children. Two city blocks were burned and 61 homes were destroyed.

The largely African American community did not want MOVE in their neighborhood. Many complained about trash around the group's home, confrontations and obscene political messages from a bullhorn. An order to evict them turned into a violent episode that is a dark day in the city's history. Tensions erupted, there was a standoff with police and officers eventually dropped a bomb on the compound.

[Kid Shelleen]

As horrible as the MOVE bombing was it's just a footnote in the Democratic party's long list of violence against minorities.

[Gay State Conservative]

If there were genuinely innocent people affected (which sounds to have been the case) then an apology for *that* aspect of the operation is warranted.

[DoodleBob]

I remember this like yesterday. MOVE was no choirboy outfit, but only a group of a Dems could sign off on dropping a satchel bomb (composed of FBI-supplied C4 and Tovex TR2, a dynamite substitute), on a 45-second timer from a state police helicopter on a row home...

...and get away with murder and mayhem.

[dfwgator]

Which is why this was downplayed.

If a Republican had done this, we would have seen documentaries ad nauseum about, and probably a couple of films, portraying the Republicans as evil.

[ConservativeInPA]

Wilson Goode was a Rat like all Rats.

[jagusafr]

I had just graduated from law school and was studying for the bar exam -guess that’s why I have no memory whatever of this. No spare room in my brain at that particular moment...

[kvanbrunt2]

Funny thing about this whole event. Philly cops didn’t own a helicopter and the time and weren’t in the habit of maintaining plastic explosives for demolition or any other purpose.

[Delta 21]

When you just dont have time to call in the FBI snipers,a satchel bomb made out of C-4 is the next best thing!

[DoodleBob]

Meanwhile, Ed Rendell is held up as a great Dem American while this ghoul was DA at the time. Unflipping real.

I just read this piece and to his credit, former Mayor Goode apologized FOUR TIMES yet Fast Eddie doesn't seem to have ever apologized. So the black mayor asks for forgiveness but the white DA stays silent. Even more amazing is the current Philadelphia admin wants to focus on the virus rather than address perhaps THE most horrific abuse of power in City history.. as you said, if it was a bunch of Republicans in power in 1985, we'd have a zillion Netflix documentaries.

[Buckeye McFrog]

That was just about the stupidest thing I had ever seen law enforcement do.

But were any of these people offering apologies even alive at the time? Were they in politics at all?

[kvanbrunt2]

I remember this like yesterday. MOVE was no choirboy outfit, but only a group of a Dems could sign off on dropping a satchel bomb (composed of FBI-supplied C4 and Tovex TR2, a dynamite substitute), on a 45-second timer from a state police helicopter on a row home...
...and get away with murder and mayhem.>>> The FIBS did it with our without Goode’s consent.

[4yearlurker]

I was living in South Jersey at the time and remember watching this live on channel 6 news.

[DesertRhino]

Dropped a bomb on the pill box on the roof of the building, after a battle involving thousands of rounds being fired up and down the block. They dropped a small charge on the pillbox, and the idiots had a large amount of gasoline stored inside illegally. The cops did the Right thing Against this communist terrorist cell

[DoodleBob]

And Goode apologizes 4x (good on him) while others with blame, don’t. He WAS in charge, so I applaud the former Mayor but really...WTF?

[DocRock]

I was in town the day they dropped the bomb. I had a portable black and white TV I watched the live coverage on as I could see the flames with my eyes. It was surreal.

[Abby4116]

MOVE was terrorizing the neighborhood. Loud speakers at all hours. The neighbors were living in fear.

That part of history has been erased.

[Kid Shelleen]

All good points. Most accounts don't even mention the stash of gasoline.
The big mistake was that the PD could have apprehended or detained the MOVE children before the assault because they were known to frequent a park in the neighborhood.

[Kid Shelleen]

They also threatened to murder Mayor Goode many times. That is why he never went to the front lines PLUS he wanted to distance himself from the inevitable tragedy.

[rebooted]

The police ran this show. The fire department already had their aerial ladders trained on the roof to put out the fire started by the bomb. Police commissioner said let it burn, preventing the fire dept to extinguish the small rooftop blaze. By the time the fire department was allowed to start pumping water the blaze was an inferno, hence the loss of life and destruction of 61 homes.

[SueRae]

I was on the train heading to work in the city when the machine gun fire erupted. People were jumping on the train at Overbrook station. Horrible to watch that unfold as some of my co-workers had to watch their houses burn. Then, the contractors given the rebuilding (by Mayor Goode) did slipshod work and never made it right.