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🗓️ 13 May 2025
⏱️ 18 minutes
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May 13, 1985. Philadelphia Police bomb MOVE, a radical Black liberation, back-to-nature organization, killing 11 people including 5 children.
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0:20.4 | Thank you. It's late afternoon on May 13, 1985, in a townhouse in West Philadelphia. |
0:31.0 | 13-year-old Birdie Africa, huddles next to his mother on the floor of a dark, cramped basement. |
0:40.9 | There are 11 other people beside them, including five young children. |
0:46.8 | Bertie's mother presses a wet blanket against his face, trying to ward off the tear gas that's seeping into the basement from the house above. |
0:49.8 | It's hours into a standoff between Philadelphia police and move, a radical black liberation |
0:56.2 | back to nature group which Bertie's mother belongs to. And after months of growing tension, |
1:02.2 | hundreds of cops surrounded the townhouse this morning and ordered move to surrender. |
1:07.0 | But the families inside refuse to go anywhere, and now the police are trying to force them out. |
1:12.6 | Bertie listens anxiously as a helicopter flies low overhead. |
1:16.7 | The entire house seems to shake, showering dust on the people sheltering the basement. |
1:22.3 | Then an explosion rocks the house above. |
1:25.5 | People cry out, and Bertie clings tighter to his mother, but still, no one thinks of escape or surrender. But within moments, more smoke begins creeping down the steps into the basement. But it's not tear gas this time. The house is on fire. |
1:43.8 | Bertie Africa will be one of only two survivors to make it out of this basement alive. |
1:49.1 | By the time the fire is extinguished, Bertie's mother, five other adults, and five children will be dead. |
1:55.3 | 61 houses in the neighborhood will have been destroyed, and hundreds of people will have been left homeless. |
2:01.2 | Bertie will be badly burned. But the disaster will also leave a lasting scar on the city of Philadelphia |
2:07.0 | itself, which even today still grapples with the consequences of the fatal decision to drop a bomb |
2:12.8 | on the movehouse on May 13, 1985. |
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