theworldismine13
God Emperor of SOHH
http://www.blackbluedog.com/2013/09...ce-helicopter-dropped-bomb-on-black-citizens/
Images of homes burning glared from television sets as houses burned in Philadelphia. This was not an ordinary scene as the fires were a result of the Philadelphia police dropping a bomb on its own citizens. The home belonged to a group of Blacks who were a part of the MOVE community. On May 13, 1985, 11 people were annihilated including five young children. Only two people survived.
Ariel view after the bombing
Absent from the memory of many, one filmmaker has decided to retell the story and bring greater clarity to the events that led up to that tragic moment.
Using actual footage, archival documents and narratives from survivors, Jason Osder will illuminate the MOVE movement in his upcoming documentary, Let the Fire Burn.
In doing so, he hopes to alleviate many misconceptions about the MOVE community. Some believe that the group was a disruptive cult while others espoused that MOVE was more of a commune that believed in staying close and connected to nature
Members of law enforcement believed that the group was engaged in illegal activity, including the stockpiling of guns after a former member became an FBI informant. His information led to agents wanting to confiscate weapons from the MOVE home.
After an attempt to talk with the group and a subsequent raid failed, the police bombed them. Osder recalls that day as one that he will never forget, “I was growing up outside Philadelphia in 1985 when the fire happened. I remember being truly scared. I was struck that the children killed in the house (burned alive) were my own age, living in my own town. Their parents and the police had utterly failed to protect them. Regardless of politics or race or whether MOVE was a cult, I knew even as a child that the children were not to blame for what happened to them and that a fundamental injustice had occurred.”
There are still conflicting accounts of what happened, but Osder is hopeful that the new film will open up dialogue: “A film cannot bring justice to the deaths of eleven people,but an additional injustice is done when this history goes unremembered. This is too powerful and important a story to be forgotten.”
Let the Fire Burn will premiere at the New York Film Forum in October.
