Today is Friday, May 13th, 2022.

On this day in 1985, the Philadelphia Police Department firebombed the headquarters of a Black Liberation group called Move.

Welcome to Today in True Crime, a Spotify original from Parcast. Due to the graphic nature of today's crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode features descriptions of police brutality and political violence. Extreme caution is advised for listeners under 13.

Today we're covering the firebombing of the Move headquarters.

Let's go back to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,

on May 13th, 1985.

The sounds of police sirens and marching boots filled the West Side neighborhood.

The Philadelphia Police Department had already gone door-to-door the night before evacuating residents.

The people knew better than to resist. They knew the police were there for their neighbors, a group called Move.

Move combined Black liberation activism with a back-to-nature environmentalist message.

In addition to focusing on racial and social justice, they believed society should revert to a hunter-gatherer society.

The group avoided modern medicine and technology, but the police viewed

them as a radical cult. For nearly a decade, the organization had been at odds with the authorities.

Seven years before, a clash between the two sides left one police officer dead, dozens of

people injured, and nine move members convicted of third-degree

murder. Although MOVE advocated for racial justice in a largely black area, some neighbors

didn't like the group either. They claimed the members were loud, piled trash around their house,

and could be violent. Moves tactics also pitted them

against other activist groups. It was only a matter of time before the tension reached a boiling point.

May 13th was that moment. Over the course of that day, the police tried to force move members

out of their headquarters. They blasted the building with water cannons and tear gas.

By the end of the day, they'd fired at least 10,000 rounds of ammunition at the house.

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