Matt BlazeMay 13

40 years ago today, the Philadelphia Police Department used a helicopter to firebomb the headquarters of MOVE, a radical collective that was being evicted for what amounted to building code violations. Eleven people died (including five children). The fire eventually spread and completely burned down two city blocks.

Then the remains of those killed, were, for unclear reasons, turned over to the U. Penn Museum, where they sat for decades. https://share.inquirer.com/m7vjmf

The long, tragic journey of the MOVE bombing’s youngest victims

Depositions in legal cases shed new light on the way Philly and Penn treated bones pulled from the rubble 40 years ago.

The Philadelphia Inquirer
Show threadMatt BlazeMay 13
MOVE was, without doubt, guilty of being annoying. They had occasional confrontations with police. There were unsanitary conditions. Their neighbors complained about them. But the response was a case study in wildly disproportionate overreaction that should never be forgotten as a cautionary tale of where militarization of local police leads.
Show threadMatt BlazeMay 13
I think the MOVE bombing isn't as well remembered as it should be partly because it's so over-the-top crazy that people brush it off as something where "there must be more to it than that". But no. The police department literally used a helicopter to drop an incendiary bomb on a row house in order to evict the occupants, burning down two city blocks in the process. That's what happened.
Show threadmatthew greenMay 14
@mattblaze this happened when i was barely a teen in australia and i'd never heard about it until today. WTAF.
Show threadbigiain

@mrgtwentythree

You don't remember this song?

https://youtu.be/gzrCjeo-bO4?t=36

Quite why a band from Perth in Australia wrote ao song about this I have no clue. But that song is why I know about Philadelphia cops firebombing people's houses.

@mattblaze

Eurogliders - City Of Soul

YouTube
May 14 at 6:06amWeb
Show threadmatthew greenMay 14
@bigiain @mattblaze i missed it. i can only think of their heaven must be there song as something i remember. did follow grace knight's career for a while though, saw her in melbourne 90s i think. (i could be misremembering.)