They deny that they shot at anybody and blame the officer’s death on accidental “friendly fire” from other armed police. The Move Nine were accused of firing the first shot and of killing Ramp. Over time they came to be seen as dangerous non-conformists by the Philadelphia police and city government, leading to a drawn-out confrontation that culminated in the 1978 siege and gunfight involving hundreds of police that saw the death of Officer Ramp and sent nine of the black radicals to prison, potentially for life. They lived in a communal house along with dozens of stray dogs and cats where they would preach their political beliefs day and night at high volume through bullhorns, driving their neighbors to despair. They were like the Black Panthers crossed with nature-loving hippies. Deeply committed to fighting police brutality in African American communities, they were also devoted to caring for animals and the environment. ![]() Move was one of the more extraordinary elements of the 1970s black liberation struggle. The group, whose members take “Africa” as their last name as a political badge, were resisting eviction. Last month Debbie was finally released from prison on parole, but his father remains in captivity and to this day he has never seen the two of them together.ĭebbie and Mike Sr, both now 62, are two of the Move Nine, the group of black radicals who were collectively held responsible for the death of Officer James Ramp during a massive police shoot-out at their communal home in Powelton Village, Philadelphia on 8 August 1978. For almost 40 years, he visited both his parents in separate penitentiaries but never saw either of them outside prison walls. Which makes Mike Jr a penal orphan of the black power movement. Not only was Debbie Africa sentenced to 30 years to life for the death of a police officer, so too was her husband, Mike Africa Sr, father to Mike Jr, who was caught up in the same confrontation and given the same punishment. He was born to a mother accused and later convicted of third-degree murder in one of the most dramatic confrontations with law enforcement of the 1970s black liberation struggle. As he approaches his 40th birthday in September, he reflects on what a crazy ride it’s been. ![]() ![]() So begins the extraordinary life of Mike Africa Jr, a man born in a prison cell, and his incarcerated parents. At the end of the three days she informed the jailers of the baby’s existence and, once they had got over their astonishment, they arranged for the mother and son to be separated and for the child to be taken to the outside world. She knew it couldn’t last, as jail rules prohibited mothers being with their children. She hid him under a sheet and when he cried, other jailed women would stand outside the cell and sing or cough to obscure the noise. Debbie Africa got to spend three wonderful days with her baby son. In the end, a co-defendant helped her out, scooping up the placenta in her hands and secreting it to the shower room where she flushed it down the prison toilet. ![]() She was determined to give birth on her own without any involvement of the jail officers so she could spend some precious time with the baby.
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