MOVE: Untangling the Tragedy | The Standoff

Description: The City of Philadelphia tries to evict MOVE from their Osage Avenue headquarters. As neighbors evacuate the block, former Inquirer reporter Maida Odom and former NBC10 photojournalist Pete Kane stay behind to tell the story. We follow Maida and Pete as they watch police prepare to remove MOVE from their rowhome by any means necessary.

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b[Music]

Voiceover: MOVE: Untangling the Tragedy is a production of Temple University Klein College’s Logan Center for Urban Investigative Reporting and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Voiceover: Hey! Rowhome Productions.

Colin Evans: Content warning, this episode contains description of abuse, trauma, violence, foul language, and police brutality.

Linn Washington, narrating: Four years after the MOVE organization turned Louise James’s home at 6221 Osage Avenue into its new headquarters, the city of Philadelphia decided once again it had enough.

[Music]

Enough of MOVE’s vulgar tirades that came at all hours from the house’s loudspeakers, enough of the children running around the neighborhood hungry and undressed, and enough of neighbors complaining about the noise and vermin and stench.

On May 12, 1985, the city announced police would forcibly evict MOVE from its rowhome. They ordered all of the block residents to evacuate, and closed off the block. Reporter Maida Odom was there to cover the eviction for The Philadelphia Inquirer. When she arrived at 10 A.M., she found a few reporters huddled at the end of the block.

Unidentified reporter, archival tape: Here’s the thing also, the chances of any of us getting into Osage Avenue right now are about one in 10,000.

Maida Odom, archival tape: Why?

Unidentified reporter: Well, cause it’s barricaded off. And you have-your name has to be on a list of occupants.

Maida Odom: And The Inquirer said they had to send me because they had evacuated the neighborhood and I had to look like a neighbor going in there and there were no-they couldn’t send white people in there.

Linn, narrating: Sure enough, Maida was able to walk onto the block and into the house of neighbor Inez Nichols, right across the street from the MOVE home. Police helicopters had begun to whirl above them.

Maida, archival tape: Have you ever had helicopters up here before?

Inez Nicols, archival tape: Yes, we did. They’ve been over here before.

Maida: Are you frightened?

Inez: No. No. I mean, it takes a lot for me to get emotional.

Maida: Mhm.

Inez: And–

Maida: But this could be wearing.

Inez: It’s-it’s aggravating.

Maida: How do you feel about what the police are getting ready to do today?

Inez: I feel as though that something should be done. Without any bloodshed on either side. But I think something should be done.

Linn, narrating: Inez was Vice President of The United Residents of 6200 Block of Osage Avenue. She felt it was her duty to stay on the block despite the evacuation orders. But neither she nor Maida had any idea of the violence they were about to witness.

[Music]

Maida, archival tape: Do you think something will be done without any bloodshed on either side?

Inez, archival tape: Well, that I can’t say, but I’m hoping.

Maida: Mhm.

Inez: I’m hoping...

[Music]

Linn, narrating: I’m Linn Washington. I’ve been covering MOVE for 50 years. I am an investigative reporter and a journalism professor at Temple University’s Klein College of Media and Communication. And this is MOVE: Untangling the Tragedy, a podcast about double standards of justice, a so-called out of control cult, police brutality, and the inequity that underlined it all.

And this is Episode Four: The Standoff

Larry Kane: Philadelphia police moved through the neighborhoods and asked residents to leave by 10:00 tonight. And in a sense, evacuate a several square block area surrounding the MOVE compound at 62nd and Osage in West Philadelphia...

Linn, narrating: May 12th, 1985, was Mother’s Day. A beautiful 80-degree day in Philly.

Charles Thomas: Well Larry, it is ironic that all of this is happening on Mother’s Day. Most of the people inside the MOVE house right now are in fact mothers and their children.

[Music]

Linn, narrating: You have to remember that Mother’s Day used to be even more of a big deal than it is now. It was a holiday you had to do right. Osage Avenue was a family neighborhood so this community would normally have been in the midst of celebrations: church, kids cooking a big breakfast, cards and gifts, moms and grandmoms dressed in their best, whatever was their routine. Instead they were being forced out of their homes, surrounded by an invading army of police.

Dennis Woltering: It’s almost like a movie set, people gathering on the outside watching for any sign of activity inside. Inside, people taking all of this almost casually, packing, leaving, some saying they hope MOVE’s gone when they come back.

Linn, narrating: As the neighbors were leaving, Philadelphia Inquirer Reporter Maida Odom continued to hide in the Nichols’ home. Two other reporters had joined Maida in the house. Inez Nichols’s son Harold was there too. They all sat, and hoped, and waited. At first there was only the sound of the helicopters.

Unidentified man, archival tape: I want you guys to know you’re [unclear] or maybe you already have...

MOVE member, archival tape: [on loudspeaker] [unclear]...

Unidentified man: That so far, not one...

MOVE member: [on loudspeaker] All you motherfuckers...

Unidentified man: Oh!

MOVE member: [on loudspeaker] ...goddamn prick. Get in your [unclear] Get in your motherfucking helicopters, [unclear].

Unidentified man: Ha, ha, ha...

Maida: Shh!

MOVE member: [on loudspeaker] ...fucking ass. The fuck y’all waiting for? [unclear] and y’all hemming and hawing...

Unidentified man: What I want to see...what I feel...

Maida: Shh!

MOVE member: [on loudspeaker]: [unclear] asses on, and stop this motherfucking...

Linn, narrating: MOVE members had gotten out their loudspeaker. They were shouting directly at the crowd of police now gathered outside.

Ramona Africa, archival tape: [on loudspeaker] You see, MOVE ain’t going a goddamn place. MOVE ain’t going no goddamn where.

Linn, narrating: Maida went upstairs to continue her watch.

Maida: And so I’m sitting across, looking out the window, the second floor window, and I see community activists coming in, trying to get MOVE to come out. And then a community activist comes out and starts screaming, “Everybody’s gonna die.”

[Music]

Linn, narrating: The hours passed. Day blended into night. MOVE continued to shout over the loudspeaker. The number of police surrounding the house continued to grow. Maida’s now hiding behind an overturned couch in the Nichols’ living room, waiting for something to happen. At times during the night she dozes off.

And then at 5:35 A.M., on May 13th, 1985, Police Commissioner Gregore Sambor yelled through a bullhorn, “Attention MOVE! This is America! You have to abide by the laws of the United States. We do not wish to harm anyone.”

He gives them 15 minutes to leave the home. Police had arrest warrants for four MOVE members living in 6221 Osage Avenue. They were charged with parole violations, contempt of court, illegal possession of firearms, and making terroristic threats. No one came out. Instead, MOVE taunted and dared the police.

MOVE member, archival tape: [on loudspeaker] ...Motherfucker, you’d better be prepared to die. See, because...

Linn, narrating: And the battalion of officers attacked.

Vernon Odom, archival tape: Police then began firing water cannons at the MOVE compound, especially that bunker on top of the house. After that, the tear gas canisters were fired at the MOVE compound. Then automatic weapon fire broke out and it continued nonstop for roughly 40 minutes.

Linn, narrating: This is Channel 6 Reporter Vernon Odom, Maida’s brother. At this point he has no idea his sister is embedded on that very block.

Vernon, archival tape: There you see the water cannon this morning that they’d begun to fire at the MOVE compound about five minutes before 6:00. Moments after that, the tear gas canisters went off, tear gas all over this area of Cobbs Creek...

Linn, narrating: This was all-out war.

[sounds of gunfire, water cannons]

Harvey Clark: Police helicopters are in the air. When we look at the top, more gunshots, now automatic fire, Steve. Automatic fire. It’s automatic fire, Steve. There’s quite a bit of it, see if you can get a shot right back here. Police officers are at the intersection of 62nd and Osage, see if I can get out of the way, maybe you can get a shot there...

Barbara Grant: They were setting it all up for people that were living there to get out of the way, for reporters not to be able to see what the–hell was going on in that block. Our view of that block was blocked.

Linn, narrating: WDAS-FM Radio News Director Barbara Grant was behind the barricade at the end of the block when she heard Ramona Africa say her name.

Ramona Africa, archival tape: [on loudspeaker] We want our brother Jerry Africa to be accompanied by Walt Palmer, Barbara Grant of WDAS, and Harvey Clark from Channel 10.

Linn, narrating: Ramona was requesting a meeting with MOVE member Jerry Africa, community activist Walt Palmer, Barbara and another reporter. Barbara saw it as an opening for negotiations, an opportunity to end the crisis. She took a chance and bolted towards the officers.

[Music]

Barbara: And that’s why I tried to get to the cops and say, “Hey, look, they’re calling for help and they’re saying they’re willing to talk, finally, you know, we need to try to do something here.” And they were-they were just having none of it.

Linn, narrating: An officer pushed her out of the way.

Barbara: I was just like, tossed aside like a little rag doll.

Linn, narrating: What could have been the last opportunity to end the crisis was ignored. Barbara was scared.

Barbara: When I got on the phone with my contact at City Hall, I was practically crying, because I was like, somebody’s gonna get killed here tonight. Somebody is going to get killed. You could just see it and feel it.

Linn, narrating: Barbara was thinking of the MOVE members, not as enemy combatants, but as human beings.

Barbara: When you watched this operation taking place, it got really scary. And because I did-I mean, I reported on it, clearly. We were reporters. We were journalists. We had to do our jobs. But I knew the people in that house. I knew them, and there were children in that house.

Linn, narrating: Meanwhile, Maida Odom is still in the house directly across the street from MOVE, hearing the gunfire, water cannons, and tear gas, and afraid of what might come next.

Maida: It’s obviously-everybody’s in too deep, everybody’s in too deep. And at that point, I start suggesting that we leave, okay? MOVE may have had many issues. They may have been-they probably, very likely were unjustly jailed. But at 32 years old, I was not prepared to give them my life for a cause that I did not understand or appreciate.

Linn, narrating: Fortunately Philadelphia Inquirer Police Reporter and former cop, Tommy Gibbons, was also at the scene by that morning. He knew Maida was on the block and was also concerned for her safety. So he found Maida’s brother, Channel 6 Reporter Vernon Odom, who searched for an officer to help get his sister out.

Maida: By that time, I had left it to God.

[Music]

Linn, narrating: At this point, Maida is exhausted and the other reporters in the house suggest she try and rest.

Maida: Now, I’m told that I could go to sleep while everybody was sitting there, waiting for the story of their lifetime.

Linn, narrating: A police officer makes his way to the Nichols’ row home, wakes Maida up, and escorts her and the others out of the home. She says Tommy Gibbons saved her life.

Maida: Because with the first explosion, the front of the house I was in was blown off.

Vernon Odom: I’m sorry, I called at the wrong time.

Maida: No, you called at just the right time. You should be here for this.

Linn, narrating: While we were interviewing Maida, her brother, Vernon Odom, happened to call. Vernon was and is a Philadelphia news legend. He was just outside the MOVE home on May 12th. He was there all night.

Vernon: I remember hearing–the police and all the MOVE members knew each other. They really did. And they-and they were calling them by name and MOVE was making their profane and provocative comments, calling them by name. “When you die by John Africa’s,” you know, “Long, long live John Africa,” and, “Your heart’s gonna bust out of your head. And when you–your chest and you’re gonna die,” and pretty soon, “When you’re gone, your wife’s new Black boyfriend is gonna be down on your boat, in your boat shoes that you got down at the Jersey Shore.”

MOVE member, archival tape: [on loudspeaker] ...buck-eyed looking motherfucker with a gun, got to understand, he ain’t think you [unclear] out here to get fucked up, cause he knows you that you white boys can’t stand his motherfucking ass...

Linn, narrating: When you hear the tape from that day, it’s easy to get caught up in how vile the MOVE members sound. But you also have to remember that this home, surrounded by hundreds of heavily armed police officers, contains just 13 people: four men, three women, and six children, who considered themselves a family. And in their minds they just wanted the MOVE Nine, their brothers and sisters, released from prison.

[Music, midroll]

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Linn: Hi Pete, thank you so much for coming in. This is Pete Kane, videographer.

Pete Kane: Retired videographer [chuckles].

Linn: Retired videographer. Get that retired part in there.

Linn, narrating: Pete Kane, a videographer for WCAU-TV, had gotten the Mother’s Day assignment too.

Pete: Every time I think about it, you know, it’s-it’s a nightmare.

Linn, narrating: He ended up in another house down the street from Maida.

Pete: I had this one family. They said, “You can come in.” So I snuck down the alley and went to the back of the house. So the house that I went into was right here. I’m looking right down Osage Avenue. So I go up the second floor, I’m looking out the window and I see this, you know, the police here, police there, on the corner, in the houses and everything, and the bullhorn is going on...

Loud speaker: You want to come out here and fight MOVE, because that you know we’re right. “Yeah, they live like scum, yeah look at the motherfuckers, they don’t take baths.” But motherfucker, that ain’t no reason for you to kill some motherfucking body...

Pete: I put my microphone outside the window. I put the window down. I put the blinds down to about eight inches. And the room was dark. So whenever those cops, SWAT guys looked up at that window, nothing changed because my camera was back. So they couldn’t see my camera lens.

Linn, narrating: Police threw tear gas and smoke bombs at the MOVE house. It spread to Pete’s hideout.

[Music]

Pete: I was choking and coughing and everything.

Linn, narrating: But MOVE did not surrender. Then came two fire trucks pumping what they called water cannons on the bunker atop the MOVE home. 640,000 gallons of water was shot into the home.

Pete: It never moved that bunker. And then I saw the bomb guys.

Linn, narrating: The bomb squad set off explosives in the homes on either side of 6221 Osage Avenue.

Pete: And then, while later I hear, “Boom,” I hear the explosions, and which I found later they were putting the explosives through the walls of the basements, to try to blow a hole into the MOVE house.

Linn, narrating: And then there is the gunfire–10,000 rounds in 90 minutes. The police fired M-16s, machine guns, Uzis, and rifles.

Steve Levy, archival tape: What we’re going to do now is bring you a live report from a gentleman who also works for Channel 10. He is one of our cameramen who takes many of the pictures that you have seen. Pete Kane has been on the scene for many hours. And, Pete, I understand you were in a pretty strategic location when a lot of this happened. First of all, are you alright?

Pete Kane, archival tape: Yes, I’m alright. A little nervous, Steve. Other than that, I’m okay.

Steve: I can appreciate you being nervous, as I’m sure all of our viewers can...

Linn, narrating: Maida made her way down the road to Cobbs Creek Parkway after police escorted her from the Nichols’ home.

Maida: So I positioned myself on Cobbs Creek after that, grateful that I’ve gotten out.

Linn, narrating: But she’s still working, still on the story. She interviews community activist Charles Burris who had tried to negotiate with MOVE.

Charles Burris, archival tape: All we were trying to do was get them to start negotiations to resolve this thing with peaceful means.

Maida, archival tape: How many times did you go back and forth?

Charles: Approximately 20 to 25.

Maida: All afternoon, right?

Charles: Oh, well, I’ve been going back and forth for the last three, four days.

Maida: Mhm, mhm.

Charles: And to-to help, hopefully to prevent what’s about to happen. Evidently, I failed in my mission.

Maida: Who talked to you?

Charles: Oh, Ramona Africa, and–well I spoke to Ramona Africa and Jerry Africa and-what’s the sister’s name? Teresa.

Maida: What kind of response did you get from them to your-what were you saying to them and what were they saying back to you?

Charles: Well, basically all I was telling them that they need to come up with a peaceful solution, the same thing I was telling the city...

Linn, narrating: Maida thought she had finally made it to safety. But then, gunshots begin to fly over Cobbs Creek Parkway.

Maida: And I’m behind cars that are being shot at. So we end up basically crawling for our lives.

Linn, narrating: Maida is with Inquirer reporter Mike Ruane.

Mike Ruane, archival tape: Come on. Can we get out of here?

Maida, archival tape: Can we get out of here officer?

Unidentified: [unclear] Get as low as you can.

[sound of feet running on pavement]

Maida: Let’s go down Locust.

Linn, narrating: Maida and Mike start to plead with neighbors.

Maida, archival tape: Hey. If we get out of here, could we come to your basement? We’re newspaper reporters. You need to get off the street. If we get over there, can we come in your house?

Mike: How about, how about you folks, can we get in there? Tell you what. You wanna make a run for this guy’s house?

Maida: One, two, three, go! [running noises] Thank you very much. Thank you very much. My name is Maida Odom, and I work for the Inquirer...

Linn, narrating: When the shooting ended Maida made her way back to Cobbs Creek Parkway and then ran into me. I survived the shootout too. I had arrived around 5 a.m.

Maida: I said, “Linn, you need to get out of here because there are explosives in this house and they’re about to drop some kind of device on it. And I’m going home,” and Linn said, “I just arrived. I can’t leave now.”

Linn: Mmm...Yep.

Linn, narrating: Maida was done. But my time had just begun. On the next episode of MOVE: Untangling the Tragedy.

Chris Wagner: Lisa, there has just been a huge explosion here. We don’t know what it means, but it just shook the whole place.

Ramona Africa: And the instant that we could be seen trying to come out, the cops immediately started shooting at us.

Diane Allen: Well Jerry, we understand the fire is now five alarms still raging out of control. As you can see, flames jumping 60ft, maybe 100ft up into the air...

Tyree Johnson: Yeah, the devastation just was just overwhelming.

[explosion]

Colin Evans: MOVE: Untangling the Tragedy is a production of Temple University Klein College’s Logan Center for Urban Investigative Reporting and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Linn Washington is our Producer and Host.

Our Executive Producer, Field Producer, and Script Writer is Yvonne Latty, the Director of The Logan Center.

The Podcast Editor is Audrey Quinn.

Our Inquirer Editor is Daniel Rubin, the Senior Editor for Investigations.

Sound design, scoring, mixing, and mastering by Rowhome Productions.

Rowhome’s Creative Director is Alex Lewis. John Myers is Rowhome’s Executive Producer.

Our Associate Producer, Tape Assembly, and Lead Researcher is Natalie Reitz.

Original Music is by Royce Hearn.

Our Data Editor is Colin Evans.

Our Podcast Art is by Layla Jenkins.

Production Assistants Allison Beck and Nicole Barbarito.

We used the MOVE archives of Temple University Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center.

Thanks to Josue Hurtado and John Pettit of the Center for their support facilitating our endless requests.

This episode used sound from WCAU, KYW, and WPVI.

Funding support comes from The Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, The Lenfest Institute for Journalism, Temple University’s Humanities and Art Award, Temple’s Klein College of Media and Communication, and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Special thanks to the Dean of Klein College, David Boardman.

We are also grateful to Matt Curtius of Temple’s Tyler School of Art and Design and Jack Klotz of Klein College’s Media and Production Department and Audio & Live Entertainment Major.

Go to sinomn.com to check out archival stories on MOVE and more. Subscribe, download, review and share.

I’m Colin Evans. Thanks for listening.

Voiceover: Rowhome Productions.