40 Years a Prisoner (2020) - full transcript

The police will be in there

to drag them out by
the backs of their necks.

There will be a confrontation
this time?

-There'll be no barricade?
-I don't know.

It's up to them whether...
No barricades, Mike.

They're going to be taken
by force if they resist.

Four minutes of gunfire
in West Philadelphia

early this morning,
and it was over.

One Philadelphia
policeman killed.

The members of the
back-to-nature group MOVE

had been routed
from their house.



This was the MOVE house

until a few hours ago.

- The judge said guilty.
- One by one,

handcuffed
and heavily guarded.

"Bring your ass out here,"
Michael Africa shouted

at Judge Edwin Malmed.

"I find you guilty of
murder in the third degree."

"Liar! Liar!"
shouted Delbert Africa.

"How can you find someone
guilty in this illegal court?"

It was the same
with all the others.

All shouting obscenities,
all claiming...

emotions of the MOVE
supporters were the same.

You killed my family!
You killed our babies!

You railroaded our people!



They have at all times
maintained

they were a family
and acted together.

Therefore, I took them
at their own word.

They're a family and have
all acted together,

then they acted in concert.

They acted jointly,
and they should all share

equally in
the punishment imposed.

The judge gave
all nine defendants,

five men and four women,

a minimum of
30 years in prison.

Prosecutors felt
justice was served

with the third-degree
murder conviction.

And he listened to
all of the evidence,

listened to the arguments
of both sides,

and showed that our
system can work.

But do you think that if and
when the policemen leave,

and the things will return
pretty much to normal,

that you could live...

-a normal life in
this neighborhood?
-I don't think so.

There's always
gonna be a memory
of what has happened.

I don't think it'll ever go
back to a normal situation.

Get that death penalty back

and put 'em in
the electric chair
and I'll pull the switch.

That's when I'm sure
they'll not be around.

Tell me where we're going.

Oh, we're going to
Graterford Prison,

SCI Graterford,
they call it.

State Correctional
Institution Graterford.

- I prefer to call it
something else, but...
- What's that?

A st... a state "incorrectional"
institution!

There's no correction
happening there.

Prison is supposed to, like,

uh, correct you
and make you better

and make you a different person.

If it was the answer to crime,

you wouldn't have more of 'em.

How long you been
going to prison?

I've been going to the prison
for about 38 years.

Why have you been going
to prison for 38 years?

I'm going to prison...
been going to prison
for 38 years

because I need to see
my mother and father.

And they are both in prison.

So today, we're going to
the prison that my father's at.

The first time I went to
see my dad that I remember,

I was, I guess, about 4 or 5.

And...

he's asking me
do I know who he is.
And I'm like, nah.

I mean, you know,
I don't know who he is.
No one told me

who we were going to see,
so I didn't know.

So he, you know,
he, he sits me down and,
and he's talking to my sister.

My sister seems to know
who he is, and my cousin,

who was also there,
he seems to know
who he is, too.

And he's asking me
do I know and I say, "No."

And he says,
"Well, my name is Michael."

And I said, okay, like?

I'm looking like,
where, where is this going?

And he says,

"Do you know why both
our names are Michael?"

And I said, "No."
He said, "Because
I'm your father."

And I was like, what?

Like, I got one
of those?
You know.

And I hugged him, you know.
And we linked, we bonded
like that immediately.

I called him Dad right away.
I didn't even...

No one even had to,
like, coach me.

It didn't feel weird,
you know, at all.

And, and, um...

And I hugged him and,
and he hugged me and...

I don't know if he was crying,
but I think he might've been.

You know, my dad
don't really show emotions
like that, you know,

but, um, that's...
that's when I remember

knowing that my dad was,
you know...

and, uh,
and I said to him, I said, um,

I said, "Why-why can't
you come home with us?"

And he said, "I can't
come home with..."

And I said, "Why not?" I said,
"We walked right in the door,

"and when we leave,
we're gonna walk out the door.

Why can't you just
walk out when we walk out?"

And he said, he said,
"I can't."

That's my mama.

Well, that's a picture
of my mama.

That's us at the prison. Look,
that's my teeth in front of me.

When I realized that
my parents were in prison,

I started looking for
pictures of them together.

They got together when
they were real young.

I mean, they went to prison
when they were 21 and 22.

So there weren't even a lot
of even pictures of them.

As an adult,
I don't have any
pictures of my dad

doing anything,
wearing street clothes.

When I learned that they
were actually in prison for

the killing of a cop,
I might've been

12 or 13 years old or whatever.
And I asked my dad, I said,

"Is there anybody in this
prison here for murder?"

He shook his head
and laughed a little bit.

He said, "Yeah.
They got me in here for murder."

And...

It hit me like a ton of bricks.

So why do you keep
fighting to get them out?

Why do I keep fighting
to get them out?

I keep fighting to get
them out because...

I still am connected to 'em.

I'm committed to them

the way that they
were committed to me

which got the situation
the way it was.

This is MOVE and this
is 309 North 33rd.

MOVE is a totally
revolutionary organization,

and the purpose
of MOVE is to

exhibit bias activity for
the purpose of revolution.

Well, I didn't just
join MOVE, you know.

I was raising my child.

I was on welfare and, uh,

it had to be proven to me first,
and they did prove that

they knew what they
was talking about,

and that they were the only
people that could help me.

I was indoctrinated with
a philosophy and a path

that revolution only
meant picking up a gun

and going out
and murdering somebody.

I never thought that
revolution consisted of

revolutionizing myself

to get away from the things
that caused me to wanna revolt.

They talked about living
a natural lifestyle,

um, not eating processed food,

wearing simple clothing,

respecting all forms of life.

They talked about

being disciples of John Africa.

They all took
John Africa's name.

Where is John Africa?

That's organization
business right now.

Teachings of John Africa are
inherent in his disciples.

His works are shown

in the healthiness
of our children,

the sturdiness of our building,

the way we live, alright?

What we're saying is that,
for security reasons,

John Africa's whereabouts
are organization business,

and we will keep it that way.

We're not asking people
to idolize a figure,

a so-called leader as they
have done in the past.

What we are asking people
to do is take a serious look

at their lifestyle as
John Africa has said,

see it for what it is,
and do away with it.

Officer Kressey,
could you characterize

types of meetings
or demonstrations

and what the issues that
were being raised by

the MOVE organization were?

Their main thing
was animal rights,

protesting that all
animals should be free.

Prisoners' rights,
community housing...

people incarcerated.

Was there any indication

that you were aware of that,
uh, the MOVE members

were potentially violent?

Other than being vocal, no, sir.

So this one particular night,

March 28th, 1976.

Our people were
coming home from jail.

We had a big yellow school bus.

I went down there to the House
of Correction, picked them up.

And then when we got back,

there was a big celebration,

and not too long after that,

we was moved on by
a whole bunch of cops.

Cops was swinging their
nightsticks so hard

on people that they
broke 'em in half.

Those sadistic, vicious,

storm trooper cops

took Janine

in their haste, and just

rushed and knocked
her to the ground,

crushing her baby's skull.

The cops wasn't listening to
anything that was being said.

They're just coming at us
with the sticks and I say, like,

my wife, Janine Africa,
was in front of me

as we came out the gate,
and backing up,

trying to protect me,
you know, like,

they just literally,
you know, like,

sticks swinging and everything,

flung her out the way,
you know,

and start coming right
across her to get to me.

The baby died

with a crushed skull caused
by the fall of my wife.

You could see blood
running out the baby's nose.

They carry life that long,
and then just like, you know,
in one, you know,

one scene like that,
to have life destroyed.

They tried to say
the baby never existed.

The baby was only one month old.

She gave birth to him at home,

so of course she did not
have a birth certificate.

We actually called

-all these councilmen
and people out...
-Mm-hmm.

to confirm

and justify and qualify
our position here.

We actually showed them
the baby's body.

It was wrapped and it was dead.

Um, but they would never
give the baby up to have

a autopsy.

The city was in
serious denial mode.

"No, we didn't do it.
We didn't do..."

But, you know,
those denials didn't have

too much weight
because they were also

denying the gross

brutality that was
going on by the police,

either being beatings
or fatal shootings.

Nothing was done about it.

Nothing was
ever done about

anything that happened
to the MOVE organization.

This is what started
everything with MOVE.

We didn't just
jump out the house,

start calling cops
"motherfuckers".

It is impossible to
describe a maniac,

a profane, obscene,
pornographic freak

without using profane words!

Motherfuckers!

I mean, we do call
cops "motherfuckers".
Not to curse.

We don't ever call them
a pig because we got respect

for the pig
because the pig is life.

I believe you said there were
over 100 some-odd arrests.

What was the nature
of those arrests?
What were they for?

There was 193.
Terroristic threats, riot,

aggravated A&B, A&B,

disorderly conduct,
failure to disperse.

We were given a strategy
by MOVE's founder

to take a stand.

We're showing people
now the importance,

the immediacy of getting
rid of this system,

of confronting these judges,

of getting rid of these
crooked, crooked cops,

and the whole
cop system altogether.

It's dangerous to life,
doesn't help life.

It destroys, cripples,
retards, even kills life,

and that's what
we're about now.

The story started to grow
of the neighbors' complaints,

the whole bullhorn thing.
I didn't quite get

why they were doing that
because this didn't sound like

the group that I interviewed.

As long as this system

will impose on us,

by us being non-violent,
we must fight back.

They built this fort-like

structure around their house,
like a parapet.

Walls, two-by-sixes,

two-by-eights,
ducked in the ground
straight up and down

with a walkway on the inside.

Right in the middle of
this urban neighborhood

surrounded by families and kids,

and now there's,
you know, there's

timber and there's
these big metal plates.

The first and second
floor windows

of 309 North 33rd Street

are now boarded up.

There are no longer gonna
be anymore beatings,

no more brutality,

without us defending ourselves.

If you come at us
with your hands,

we'll come back at you
with our hands.

If the police come in
here with their hands,

we'll use our hands.
If they come in here with clubs,

we'll use clubs. But if
they come in here shooting

and killing our women
and children and our men,

we will shoot back
in defense of our lives.

You may call your next witness.

Call, uh,

Louise James and Laverne Sims.

Mrs. James and Mrs. Sims,
if you can turn around, uh...

Can you see
these photographs?

Yes, I can. Yeah.

These were photographs,
as I understand,

that were taken on...

May 20th, 1977, in front of
the Powelton Street house.

I recognize it. Yeah.
Powelton Village.
You recognize it?

- And were those members
of the MOVE organization?
- Yes, they were.

-Were they weapons?
-I don't know.

What did the MOVE members

say on May 20th, '77?

"If you think that this
white racist society

"will shoot down those
white students at

"Kent State,
you think they'll hesitate

"shooting down any
Black, Puerto Rican,

"or Chicano brothers
here in Philadelphia?

"No. How many times did you

"pick up the paper
and read about another

"Puerto Rican, another Mexican,
another Black man

"shot in cold blood
'cause some cop said,

'I thought I saw
a piece of shiny metal.

I thought he'd shoot me.'"

Since you become
mayor in 1972,

more than 150 people
have been

killed by police,
that more than half

of these people
who were killed

were said to be
unarmed at the time.

Isn't this a rather high
incidence of unarmed people

-being killed by policemen
in the line of their duty?
-No, I...

No, I don't think so.

We have to decide who
should be more aggressive,

the police
or the criminal element.

I'm on the side of
the police every time.

If the police department of
Philadelphia was not aggressive,

I would fire
the police commissioner.

More testimony today in
the trial of six homicide cops

charged with beating witnesses.

Warren was shot
once in the head

by Officer Bow as Warren fled

from the police
administration building...

Three off-duty cops
have shot people

who were not armed...

- Officer Robert Flint, now
- Sergeant Flint, chased Craig,

beat him with a nightstick
and shot him to death.

The family was never notified

by police, hearing the news
instead on the radio.

When you cannot reach out

to the officials
and get justice,

when you cannot get justice

from anybody in a city,

what do you do
and where do you go?

Everybody has a saturation point

that they reach sometimes

in their lives when you
just can't take anymore!

The May 20th, 1977,
confrontation jumped off.

I had just came off

from the county prison, um...

I had did a year for
a crime I didn't commit.

The MOVE organization
helped get me out

through the teachings
of John Africa,

and I came home.

And the MOVE members
asked me

did I want to be with them

at the headquarters
on Powelton Avenue,

or did I wanna do things
outside the organization,

outside the headquarters.

And I said I'd rather
be with them inside

of the MOVE headquarters.

And there was this
business of warrants

were issued. I don't
know whether it was 11
or the number...

a large number of warrants
were issued for John Doe Africa,

meaning that all of the persons

on the parapet, on the platform

would be arrested
if they came off.

There's a part of me that
really feels bad for them.

I know that's crazy 'cause
I thought that they were really

harming the city,
and yet they were...

They were kids adrift.

They were kids adrift
who were in a cult and

John Africa
was the cult leader.

My mother actually
was trying to hire

a deprogrammer for me

and all, because...

I'm beginning to look like MOVE.

I'm beginning
to look like MOVE,

you know, because I'm learning
something different.

I'm learning that what
I thought I knew I didn't,

and the people

that, you know,
I thought was about

doing the right thing
and, uh, um, they wasn't.

They wasn't.

You had, um, the cops
that was coming,

and there was this
one highway patrolman.

He would say all kinds of things
about the women and stuff,

trying to force people to come
down and get into fights.

I mean, they were just...

vulgar people.

You got in front of them,
they'd just curse you out.

The girls would get down
and do 50 push-ups

and challenge you to do it.

Which we couldn't do.

They say, "We would
kill every last one of you

"lousy no-good niggers,

"spic motherfuckers,

"white trash before we let

any of your people out."
I mean, they was
talking real nasty.

The kids were all naked,

and the women were...

darn near naked.

And the guys never wore
shirts or anything,

and all the time

mouthing off.
That's all they did, loud.

Loud, I mean,
I put in a pair of...

ear things on. I mean,

you just got tired of
listening to it.
Just saying cr...

stuff over and over.

The radical this and that,
blah, blah, blah.

And they're eating raw food.

And then the rats

and cats and dogs

and all of that sort of thing.

I mean, as soon
as you got home,

you had to take
a shower immediately,

even though you weren't
in the compound with them.

It was just filthy,
absolutely filthy.

These dogs been
picked up just because

they had been rejected
by the society.

We found them homeless,

we found them wandering
the streets, starving.

If we had not begun
to start the process

of getting more people's
eyes on this thing,

I truly believe they
would've been killed.

They would've killed them
without thought or question.

When you say they,
who do you mean?

Police.
The police, the city.

The community was getting
very concerned because

the police presence started
to grow quite a bit,

and the attention that
was starting to get

locally and nationally.

What about the situation
here as it's been

disturbing the residents,

the eyesore,

uh, the commotion
they've caused.
Does that bother you?

Compared to the possibility
of people getting killed,

that doesn't bother me at all.

I mean,
I would hope that eventually

the community could work
out these differences,

but we don't think
that the police
can provide a solution

because their solution
is with weapons.

Now, you just said
the possibility of people

-getting killed
doesn't bother you.
-No, the possi...

-What do you mean?
-You don't believe that people
will be killed over this?

I don't think that
MOVE has any intention

of hurting people
in the neighborhood.

I think the dispute is
between MOVE and the police.

Do you see yourselves as
negotiators, go-betweens?

No, not really.

MOVE does have
a lawyer right now,

and I think he's
playing that role.

What would you like me to say?

I did give one interview
to a fellow

who was doing
a book on conflicts

and conflict resolution.

They use that book
at Carnegie Mellon.

- Really?
- Mm-hmm.

I don't agree
with its philosophy.

I don't think every reso...
every problem can be solved.

I think there are some
problems that are intractable.

Did you think the MOVE
conflict was one of those?

Not when I started.

As I think I said yesterday

that the gulf between
both sides is so wide,

it's very difficult for either
side to trust the other.

My first involvement
with them was

I was court appointed
as standby counsel

to represent one of
the three defendants who were

being charged with
having created a riot

on the seventh floor
of City Hall.

And got, kinda got to know them,

and I was very curious about

their philosophy

to be able to get society

to address what they considered

to be the main ills
of society, which was
technology.

They felt that man
should return, basically,

to a state of nature.

In my mind, it was almost
like the Lockean philosophy

of a state of nature,

and, of course,
it was totally impractical.

I mean, you know, a city
with millions of people,

there wouldn't be any way
that the city could
properly function.

To have somebody
who was educated,

who should be able to
think things through,

not say, "Wait a minute.
This is just impractical.

I, I can't believe this."

To me was a function of
they were a cult.

They were sold a bill of goods
in the sense of their beliefs.

Now, that doesn't make
them bad people per se.

It just means that
they were basing

their behavior on things
that, at base, to me,

just didn't make sense.

And the rub came because
they were really committed

to those things, and they
were willing to die for them.

Debbie Africa,
wearing the dungarees,

is four months pregnant,
but she can still participate

in the regular activity
that make up the bulk

of the MOVE members' day.

When the time comes for
the baby to be born,

it will come wherever
she happens to be,

without a doctor in attendance,
certainly not in a hospital.

Once the whole thing
of who is my mother,

that question came
into my mind, and...

I think at that point,
my grandmother

probably felt like
she had to start

inserting some information.

So, you know, she started
talking about it a little bit.

I was born in
House of Correction

in Philadelphia on State Road.

So, my mother

when she was arrested
on August 8th, 1978,

she was almost due
to give birth to me.

And so when she did
give birth to me,

it was in a prison cell.

Right here.

- So this would've
been her cell?
- Yep.

Nothin' but time.

The first time I actually saw
her was on a prison trip.

And my grandmother
took me to see her.

You know,
I remember thinking like,

hoping that...

I remember hoping
that she looked

the way that I would
want her to look.

When you go into the prison
and you're at the prison,

you see the different people
coming out of the,
out of the prison

into the visiting room.

And the way it was
set up was like

a set of steps that went up

like maybe six or seven steps

that they have to come down

to come into the visiting room.

And when she...
when...

before she came
out of that area,

there was all these other women
that came out before her, right?

Different women just coming out.
Black ones, white ones,

tall ones, shorter ones.
Just different people.

I remember looking at them
thinking, that ain't her.

And then when she came out,
I remember thinking,

"I hope that's her.
I hope that's her."

MOVE is nothing special.

They've gotten away with it
because we're compassionate

and we don't wanna
hurt innocent people,

particularly the children.

We'll do everything we can to

come to a peaceful ending.

But I also wanna tell you,
as an old retired police chief,

that if they fire at
any of our police,

that we will retaliate in kind,

and I can assure you,
they're going to lose.

- The city's tabloid, the
- "Philadelphia Daily News,"

played a role in this
too because they ran

a sort of investigative
story reporting

all the overtime that had been
accumulated as the police

staked out the house
and watched it.

The tone of the "Daily News"
story was that this was a...

a mistake on the part of
the Rizzo administration,

that they had not taken action.

But it had an impact,
and I think

spurred
the confrontation onward.

We're gonna put
the blockade in.

We're gonna shut off
all utilities.

They'll be not
a fly gets through.

- The Pennsylvania
- Supreme Court has upheld

Philadelphia's request to
blockade MOVE's headquarters.

This ends many weeks of legal
maneuvering and allows the city

to starve the group out of
its West Philadelphia house.

For the last six hours or so
since about 6:00 this morning,

MOVE has been cut off
from the rest of the city

by this not-so-familiar,
but I guess it's going to be,

police barricade,
A wooden barricade set up here

to make sure that no water,
no food, no nothing

got through to the MOVE members.

So I guess at this point,
MOVE's back-to-nature philosophy

is really being put to a test.

They're down to the bare
minimum, which is survival.

Then, on the other hand,
there's no telling how long

they can stay inside
that headquarters.

I heard a little while ago

three people come up
to the barricade,

said they lived inside.

The police said,
"Where's your identification?"

They said, "We don't
have any identification."

The police said,
"You're not getting in."

- "1984" has arrived.
- I now know what it's like

to be a white person
in South Africa.

I am surrounded by police.

My friend, Sister Betty
over here, who's a friend,

is not being allowed
into the blockade.

In order to get into your home,

you had to show ID.

And on me, a lot of times,
I had my ID,

I couldn't get in.
My children couldn't get in.

They were saying they
was putting a blockade up

to blockade MOVE in.

But it was actually to
blockade the people out.

There is no way that
a resolution can occur

with constant
police harassment,

with 400 police in
the area, with SWAT teams

sitting up with
high-powered rifles,
looking down on MOVE,

and with the police
currently antagonizing MOVE

by throwing various
kinds of objects at them.

Okay, Diane, thank you. Jack,
there is the possibility...

The cops would throw
cherry pickers,

and throw rocks,

and what this was doing
for me and a lot of people,

the belief that we had
in this government,

was slowly leaving.

People wanted to come and do
what they could about MOVE,

and I wound up opening my
house for these meetings.

My house had white folks in it,
it had Asian folks in it,

it had Black folks in it,
nationalists. I mean,

it had some of
everybody in there.

They were all coming together

to see what they
could do to help.

We wound up having
meetings at a church,

I think it's 35th and Baring
or 36th and Baring.

About 150 people
called for mobilizing

against the city's blockade
of the MOVE headquarters

in Powelton Village.
Most of those at the church

were against the city's action.

People were divided,
pro and con.

I knew I had to use

a lot of the tactics
and strategies we'd used

historically,
since '50s and '60s,

to, um, to engage people.

We literally made
a human chain, two-deep,

and it was, it was...
it resonated.

And it got people's attention.

I believe the mayor's trying
to deny basic human rights

and constitutional
rights to MOVE.

He's starving people.
I don't believe
that's happening

in the United States of America.

People went nuts

because they wanted this
confrontation to end.

So there was this attempt

to try to negotiate
an end to it.

I mean,
the city is really trying.

The mayor has bent backwards
as far as making sure

a whole humanitarian
approach is given.

And it basically rests
with them at this time.

The first demand
was that our people

that are in state
prison be released,

unconditionally,

and brought in a helicopter
with Jimmy Carter.

MOVE's position was we
want these three released

from prison.
The city's position was
well, you gotta clean up

the house or you gotta leave.
It's one or the other.

They kept talking
past each other,

and MOVE never did anything

to clean up the house
that I was aware of.

In the first month,

our water supply did run out.

And we was telling them

that we have no more food
to feed our babies.

The food is only for the nursing
mothers and the babies?

- That's right.
- Not for the adults?

- No, sir.
- But the adults
- may consume it.

That's their problem.
If they wanna deprive

their children of food,
that's for them to decide.

The city can't do nothing

in the face of
some of the things

that were going on
in that house.

There were public health issues.

There was a lot of
other sanitation stuff, uh.

You couldn't do nothing,
but you don't do what

the Philadelphia PD did.

That was crazy.

We had these things.
When I was a kid,

me and my dad,
every so often,

these ideas that we had about
what was gonna happen when

they came home
would change, right?
So, when I was like...

10 years old,
it was always this thing of

he's gonna teach me
how to play basketball.

He's gonna teach me
how to play football.

He's gonna teach me these,
you know, these things that

10-year-olds do, right?
From like when
I was a teenager,

mid teenager to... he's gonna
teach me how to talk to girls,

he's gonna teach me
how to, like, do business
and build... and help

the organization in that way.
And as time went on,

now it was, okay,
you got kids.
You're 20-something.

Right. You're having kids,
I'm gonna help you
raise your kids,

and when we get home,
we'll help you do this

and we'll do this together.

Into the 30s, it was, we'll
build a business together.

And these things would
change every decade,

you'd get these other stories

that these are
the plans that you have

when this day comes.

And, um, now,
we're into the...

you know, um,
I'll take care...

I will take care of my father.

I will make sure that he has

the things that he needs
to live out his life

happy and stress-free,

and, you know,
this is where that's going.

Within the next 10 years,
it'll probably be something like

I'll make sure he has
a good burial plot.

I'll make sure
he has a good, um,

a good memorial service.

I'll make sure that all
the people that he loved

and that loved him
is at his memorial,

and the people
who, who, who didn't

will not get an invitation
'cause I'll tell you one thing

about my father.
If I know anything about him,

I know he do not
mess with people

who talk a bunch of shit
and do nothing.

But that's where we're going.

I mean, what can I say about,
what can I do about that?

Except just keep on pushing.

We got people who were strong,

not just local grassroots
everyday people,

but we built an army

of people in every level.

I mean, the most powerful
people in business.

The most powerful
people in the pulpit,

in education and law.

I pulled in Oscar Gaskins,
who I law clerked for.

People who might not
have an interest in MOVE,

but might have an interest in

the constitutional
questions, right?

And all of this really allowed
us to give us leverage.

The mayor couldn't go
against the forces of, like,

you know, the, the, the large
business interests

that were here in
the city of Philadelphia,

and the large legal
institutions, etc.

Every week,

the support from
the people outside,

all over the world,

and in Philadelphia
intensified
and got so, so big

that, eventually,

the city officials came
to us and asked us

what do we want

to end this confrontation.

And we told them. We said,
"Y'all have our demands.

That our people be
released unconditionally."

All this time,
Rizzo had been saying

that MOVE had
underground tunnels.

They had bombs.

They had all this
high-powered weaponry.

That is what's happening,
and it's happening right now.

Police are inside
MOVE headquarters

in West Philadelphia conducting
an intensive search for weapons.

Don Fair and
the Live Instant Eye
are standing by at the scene

and Don, how is
that search going?

The Philadelphia
Police Department

are going inch by inch
through the MOVE compound

with metal detectors
and with other devices

trying to find any weapons
that might still be inside.

What does the mood
seem to be

down there at MOVE
headquarters right now?

The MOVE members
who are on the porch
seemed to be a little testy,

seemed to be
a little bit upset.

They seemed to be apprehensive
that maybe the police will find

some more weapons.
That's the mood down there,
and right now,

we're just waiting to see
what they come up with.

Well, the search
wound up showing

that there was no
real illegal weapons.

And what they found
in there were weapons

that, for the most part,
were damaged,

firing pins not...
So, it was...

It really was a ruse
in many ways, right?

And a clever one.

There was no tunnels.
There was no bombs.

There was nothing but
the explosive power

of John Africa that had radiated

around the world
for people to see

who MOVE is and who they are.

Do you recognize these people

and the things that they're
holding in their hands?

Exactly, appear to be weapons,
and I don't want anyone

to think that I'm insulting
their intelligence.

You know, you may say

she's got to think we're crazy.
There they are standing there

with weapons,
and she's saying that

they are not weapons,

and I base that on the fact that

they searched
309 and 307.

They went up and down
the walls and everywhere,

from the cellar to the roof,

but what they brought out

were inoperable weapons.

They met our demands except...

that Jimmy Carter didn't
come in a helicopter.

We had also knocked out

an agreement that there'd
be a 90-day truce.

We wanna disengage
these wires and fences.

That's coming down, right?

So for 90 days,
there was a quiet, right?

- Are you glad
that this process is over?
- Uh...

It's not over really.
I'm saying, like, um,

until the city stop
harassing MOVE members,

until like, uh, they stop
the continuing harassment,

then it'll never be over.

And then what happened was

City Solicitor
Sheldon Albert said,

and I think this really
triggered it and rekindled it,

"On the 91st day,

we intend to tear down
those two buildings."

Well, when he said that,
everything came apart.

The community was
enjoying a solid peace.

You filed for
an injunction?

The injunction is only to make
sure that house stays intact,

to prevent anybody from
touching one brick.

From the starvation blockade,

there was some agreements,
some of them written,

some of them
allegedly understood.

So, one of them was that

MOVE would be allowed
to stay in that house

until they were
able to move out.

Rizzo and his crew
contended that

they were supposed to be out
of the house on August the 1st.

That really wasn't a clear
understanding from everybody,

and that August 1st
date of getting out

again led to Rizzo

to do some extralegal actions.

And these restrictions
were put on us by DiBona,

not by the judges
that released us.

And we're saying this
is another reason why

we feel certain that
DiBona is trying

to instigate another
confrontation.

Anything other than terms
of the original agreement

will not be abided by
by MOVE members.

We said that we
had to have time

to find homes for our animals

because we had
a lot of animals,
and they gave us 90 days

at first, and they...

We couldn't just leave our
animals there, so we said

we want an extension. They
would not give us an extension,

which is what led
to them coming out.

I know good and well
that Frank Rizzo,

if he didn't sign off on it,
it wouldn't have happened.

So we were really negotiating
with Frank Rizzo, Mayor Rizzo,

behind the scenes using
these intermediaries.

My dad set tough rules,

and you played the game by
his rules or you didn't play.

There was no free
or open forum, you know.

No. Pop is not gonna...

Boom, you got
knocked down,
you know, and...

Good system.

He was easily agitated,
much like Trump is.

He's easily agitated.
People kinda know

how to get to him, what
buttons to push, right?

So, so just escalate
more and more.

- We saying
we getting rid of Rizzo.
- That's right.

We saying we tired
of that man coming

and taking his racism
and spewing it on Blacks.

We saying we know
that he's racist.

He knows that we're right,
and we know we right.

He know it.
He knows we innocent.
He knows we committed.

- He wanna be racist, we got all
Black members inside of here.
- That's right!

We don't have no whites
inside of here.
And we saying the door

is open 'cause we know he
coming down here to kill.

If he come to our front door,
we know he coming in here

with the intentions to kill
'cause we done told him

if he come inside our house,
he gonna murder
everybody in here.

Not like we wanna die,
but rather than have a man

like Rizzo dictate our lives,
make us unhealthy,

make us sick and kill
any more of our babies,
we'd rather be dead.

'Cause to be free is not to be
so-called living on this level.

It's to be free of
the oppressive power

of a maniac like Rizzo.

What they need is a good bath
and some soap and water

in their mouth,
and I can tell you that...

unequivocally, Hank,

they're going to go
either easy or hard way.

That can be standing up
or laying down.

Every night on TV, Rizzo was

taunting them and they
were taunting Rizzo.

The problem was...

the cops had more firepower.

And now this second
day of August, 1978,

upon consideration
of the then petition

and accompanying affidavits
and upon mention

of Sheldon A. Albert,
City Solicitor,

attorney for the plaintiff
with petitioner,

a rule is hereby granted upon

Janet Holloway, Consuela Dotson,

Janine Africa,

- Charles Sims...
- Talking
about legalized murder!

-Every time you civilized
maniacs murder...
-Merle Austin,

-...shipped Jews in gas ovens,
-Phillip Smith, Delbert Orr,

-you had legal papers!
-Carlos Perez,
Debbie Zelda Sims,

-In the Korean War...
-Michael Davis,

Raymond Chester,
Robert Moses...

...at 12:01 AM,
the police will be in there

to drag them out by
the backs of their necks.

There will be
a confrontation this time.
There'll be no barricade.

I don't know.
It's up to them whether...
No barricades, Mike.

They're going to be taken
by force if they resist.

No question about that.

Children or not.

Do you feel that MOVE has
been treated fairly in this?

Well, I think that they've

been treated
particularly unfairly

in the sense that they
are now on $50,000 bail,

and wherever they may be
found in and around the city,

they're going to be arrested.

The same kind of thing that
had happened to them before

when they got arrested is going
to happen to them this time,

and I think that it was
totally unnecessary.

The press would go
out to the house

with microphones and cameras,
and the MOVE members,

every other word
was the F-bomb.

They were so aggressive

and so violent and so angry.

Nobody sided with them.

That's why you say...

every event takes place in
the context of its time.

Had that happened today,

people would've gone wild.

There were these two forces.

There was MOVE,
and there was Rizzo.

They were complete opposites,

and whatever you wrote,
you were gonna get flak

from the other side.

If either side felt that

we were doing a superior job,

then in fact, we probably would
not be doing a superior job.

Both sides are down on us.

- What are
you trying to accomplish?
- Trying to tell the truth.

I don't think you really ever
put on the media what MOVE

really stands for.

- No one saw any message that
- MOVE was trying to convey.

This was a counter-culture

Philadelphia
hadn't seen before.

It's a different time
and it wasn't received well.

Especially by the Blacks.

They thought they
were an embarrassment.

And many of the Blacks
that I talked to

and socialized with and went
to school with and worked with,

they didn't wanna have
anything to do with MOVE.

So if they're not getting
through to the Blacks,

imagine how they're gonna try
to get through to the whites.

Forget about it.

I don't think it's important
what MOVE really stands for.

If the law says you must
be out of this house,

then you must be
out of this house.

And if the law said
you had to move?

How the hell you gonna spend
your money, your lifetime

worried about owning
and the court gonna get up
and say, "You move"?

I'm telling you that
there are eviction notices
served on people every day.

If you own a home and you
have broken the law...

Y'all gonna get up
and put me out any
kind of way you want?

If you buy a home and you
have broken the law...

-They haven't broken the law.
That's them people's religion.
-Judge says he broke the law.

-Judge tells lies
just like me or you.
-Okay.

People who became part
of MOVE made certain

personal decisions.
They decided to let

their hair grow into dreadlocks.

They decided to look different.

They decided to spout
different philosophies.

They decided to eat
different foods.

They made these decisions.

We're sayin', we're talkin'
about protecting our family.

We don't give a fuck how
many guns they got, man.

We ain't concerned with no guns.

We are armed with truth.

Ain't no way in the world
a gun is gonna stop truth.

Ain't no way in the world a gun
is gonna stop what's right.

They can't stop life.
I don't give a fuck

- how many people they kill.
- When they come in though

and they say they're
going to arrest you,

they start taking you outside,
what do you do in that case?

-We do what's necessary, man.
-Which means what?

-The strategy of John Africa.
-Which means what?

-What's right.
The strategy of John Africa.
-Which means what?

Okay. Do you cite
the strategy of John Africa,

-or do you actually
do something?
-The strategy of John Africa

is the strategy that is right.

The strategy that kept every
last one of us alive last year

during this whole confrontation.

- But they didn't come in
to get you last year.
-They did so.

What do you call a blockade?
What do you call a blockade

where they cut off
our food and water?

What do you call 100 cops
marching down the street

to our very gate with a little
truck to pull down our fence?

If that ain't coming in to
get us, what do you call it?

-Do you have that
around your house?
-What do you think

they been doing
for seven years, man?
Playing chess with us, man?

When my baby was killed, you
call that not coming to get us?

- That's right.
- My question is this.

If a policeman is
standing there,

-do you fight? Do you cite
John Africa's strategy...
-Policeman is standing here now.

- I'm saying...
- The policeman is not
trying to drag you outside.

The policeman is here.

The policeman been here
for seven motherfucking
years, alright?

The policeman was here.
The policeman is here

when my sister's
baby was killed.
The policeman was here

when we was trampled
and beat in front of
judges in courtrooms.

The policeman was here
when we was beat in
the goddamn prison, man.

The policeman was here

when four of my brothers
was beat unconscious

and beat the fuck back
to consciousness,

goddamn it,
in that fucking prison.

The policeman is here,
been here, and ain't gonna leave

unless the fucking people
get the fuck rid of them.

I guess in a minute and a half,
sometimes sound bites

are chosen or other things

are part of stories that

can help mold what
someone thinks.

But they made those decisions,

and I think they were seeking

some kind of end,

or evolution,
maybe is a better word,

of their way of life.

But they wanted
something out of that.

And so...

I think the media was
part of giving it to them.

It's about 12:20 right now.

There's approximately
500 or 600 people

gathered around
MOVE headquarters,

and it seems apparent
that the police
do not wanna move in

as long as the media
and all these people
are present.

It's most likely they'll use
past tactics and come in

when there are
no camera crews

and no people present

to witness what goes on.

The street was just jammed.

It was jammed with reporters
and with neighbors,

and the beginnings
of barricades,

and all sorts of police.

And we just sort of
stood around.

An "Inquirer"
photographer came.
His name was Bill Steinmetz.

And then,

both Bill and I noticed
that the police

seemed to be moving
the media away,

ostensibly for
their own safety.

But if I was a block
to the north,

I was gonna
have trouble seeing

what was going on
at the MOVE house.

It's now probably
3:00 in the morning,

4:00 in the morning,
and I'm not tired.

I mean, adrenaline is
racing by this time,

and I decide

to start knocking
on doors to see

if someone will let me in
so I can look out a window.

They were students in
a second floor apartment,

and they said sure.

Bill and I went into the house,

and found a window
facing Pearl Street,

and sat on the floor
and looked out the window.

And Bill got
his camera stuff ready,

and we just waited

and waited and waited.

- I got a call from
- Louise Africa,

John Africa's sister,
about 4:00, 5:00
in the morning, and said,

"Walt, you gotta come down
here because it's crazy.

"They're bringing in
what looks like tanks.

They got police everywhere,
helmets, etc."
And I tell her,

I said, "Louise,
there's nothing else I can do.
I mean, it's, it's...

"It's over.
These guys have decided

"they're gonna
go after each other.
They're gonna, you know,

have a shootout,
so all I can do is let them
have their shootout."

I had got evicted.

Had to get out, so I had
nowhere to really go, right?

So they were like,
"Well you can
come around here, Dee."

And I remember laying down,
going to lay down with my kids

in one of the rooms. And, uh,

and I heard somebody say,

"They out there."
I'm like, they out there?
Who out there?

By the time we got
down the steps,

when I got down the steps,

I looked out the house,

and it was blocked off.
It was blockaded off

all the way around.
You could see them
all the way around.

And I was like, dag!

What do I do now?
I'm thinking about me.
What I do now?

There were over 600 cops,

heavily armed.

Uzis, hand grenades,

cherry bombs, bulldozers.

Everything that you can have

in wartimes, except the bomb.

- Something told me,
- I better get down there.

It was about 6:00.

I go down,
and my observation is that

they were totally surrounded.

They've let nobody in.

- Is that video tape?
- No, no. I...

- You have
to leave, please.
- Okay, I understand.

They did let me in only
because of the past history.

Commissioner O'Neill
was there, and he wants me

to use a bullhorn to tell them
to come out and surrender.

I said,
"You must be out of your mind.
You gotta be kidding me."

I said,
I'm not asking nobody

to surrender, right?

The bulldozer was to
clear away the fence area,
is that correct?

That is the fence
and the platform, yes, sir.

After they knocked
the barrier down,
we came up with the RAM.

And having penetrated those
barriers and the windows,

what action did
the plan call for
and what action was taken?

Our personnel,
a combination of personnel,

stakeout, and highway...

all volunteers, I might add.

Went into 307

and went through
the building thoroughly,

starting top to bottom
or bottom to top.

We also were able to
get people into 309.

They had surrounded them,
and, um,

so then he finally
called me. He said,

"Walt, go ahead in." Right?
So I went in the house,

and then I started describing.
I said, "MOVE,

"you guys
are surrounded, okay?

"You got six policemen with
sub-Thompson machine guns

standing directed
at the basement."
And the police say, "Walt!

Don't, don't, don't say that!
Don't tell them where we are!"

I said, and you got
them upstairs, right?

So, they're saying,

"They can shoot up
through the floor!"

All I was doing,
I wasn't trying
to give them any data

except other than
here's the situation
that you're facing.

So, let me take
the women out, right?

You guys stay, have the fight,

and let them go.
"No, no!

Tell them to get the fuck
out of our building! No, no!"

They had only one intention,

and that was to kill
the MOVE organization.

While we were in our basement,
you could hear them

drilling a hole in the wall...

in the floor,
the first floor to the basement

to gain access to us.

I could hear them,
while they were doing all this,

saying,

"Kill anything that
moves in here. Anything."

That meant babies, women,

animals, men. Spare nothing.

I can recall being
with Bob Hurst

alongside him, at the side
window I believe it was,

and we were looking
down into the place,

and noted that they had
weapons in the form of rifles.

I was at the window around
the front of the house...

um, with several officers,

think some highway patrol
officers went into the house,

maybe about 15 or 20 of them,

and they came out
pretty quick because,

uh, we heard the shots,
but they were

shooting up through the floor.

Something was
shooting from upstairs

down into the basement

'cause they had a generator.
You could see something

plicking off the generator
like sparks.

Now we see the dogs,
the dogs was over there.

And I remember me
and Delbert running low,

not wanting to get hit.
I'm running,

I'm running right
behind Delbert.

So, we get the dogs,

but by that time, I remember

they stopped shooting.

Then when they stopped shooting,

they started hosing,
putting water down.

And they just poured water.

It was unbelievable the way

they poured water
into that home.

Thought they were gonna
drown them, for God's sake.

Their smart people
in the upper echelon

decided to put water
in the basement

instead of tear gas
because tear gas would

burn the babies' eyes.

Well, water will
drown them, too.

I'm five-foot-six.

They pumped so much
water into that basement

through the window
and through the side,
in our houses,

that I had water up to here.

I had to literally
hold my son up here,

so he wouldn't drown.

I went back one more time.

If they don't come out,
if they don't wanna come out,

this is it. I'm outta here.

And Chuckie Africa and I
got into a cussing match,
right?

He's cursing at me,
I'm cursing at him, right?

And the police are
telling me, "stop! Stop!

You gonna escalate something!
You're not helping!"

I'm not no professional
negotiator, right?

I'm just an old former
street gang guy, right?

So, when I leave out,

I'm standing
looking at the house

in the middle of the street,

and I hear what
sounds like a shot.

Two years ago,
the women went up for parole

at the same time.

Janet and Janine were denied
pretty much right after

the, um, the hearing.

And, my mom,
they had taken awhile.

A month had passed,
six weeks passed,

and they still hadn't
come back with an answer.

The parole agent in the past

had said that she needed
five votes, and she had four.

So, we were thinking
like they were kinda

tug-of-warring, you know,
on that fifth voter.

It was like, okay,
maybe this'll happen now.

Maybe it'll happen now.

And they came back neg...

They gave her a two-year hit.

A two-year hit.
So at that point,

it was like, okay.
They weren't deciding

whether or not they
were gonna parole her.

They were deciding how much
time they were gonna give her.

The parole board expects you

to answer questions
a certain way.

They don't ask you,
"Do you feel remorse?"

They don't say,
"Do you take responsibility
for your crime?"

They don't say that.
They ask you questions,

and they, they get...

What they gather,
what they pick up from you,

they make their decision,
and that's the kind of response

they come back with.

I talked to my mom,
I talked to my dad,
and we're always

bouncing off each other
with these different ideas,

and, you know, and so
she said, "You know.

"They have
classes up here for

how to re-enter
into society." Right?

So she was like,
"I'm gonna start taking
some of them classes."

And I'm like, yeah.
Yeah, definitely. And, and,

I said, "Dad,
did you think about taking
some of them classes?"

He said,
"I took every class
that they offered."

So, my mom was like

started learning the language

that they're,
that they're speaking
and what they're looking...

There are certain words
that they look for, and like...

she wasn't...
she was never...

happy that the cop was killed.

- We are under fire. Back up.
- Back up by the car. Back up.

I seen his face.

Chuckie Africa.
He popped out,

and boom boom boom boom,
went down.

When the bullets came,

I literally saw the sparks

fly past my face.

Literally saw sparks.

They had like a blanket

like over our heads

where the wood from the beams,
when they were
shooting the bullets,

where the splinters
wouldn't like

get in our eyes or in
our head or in our face.

I was transfixed when
the shots started firing.

I couldn't sort of
stop looking.

And Bill Steinmetz
told me to duck.

So I ducked,

but then I couldn't see.

I just hit the ground
'cause I just knew

some cowboys out here
are gonna just go crazy,
and they did.

The police with those six
sub-Thompson machine guns

opened 'em up.

I mean, totally,
and emptied them.

The commissioner said,
"Stop! Stop! Stop!"

But he couldn't stop them.

They pulled me off

and they come to the tree,
back to the tree,

where everybody was
in a prone position.

They told me to come out.
I had fired my weapon into the...

-into the basement.
- When
- the police stopped,

then after that,
MOVE started shooting.

The shooting started
coming out of the basement.

- First shot I think was
- Bill Stewart got hit

in the back of the neck.

And he fell on top
of the fire hose.

Firehose goes up in the air,

and after that, was just
bedlam coming out of there.

They just, you know, cops shot.
Well, I seen Jimmy Ramp

was standing behind
a pole across the street,

and he kept looking out
from behind the pole.

I kept hollering for
him to stay back.

So I turned around again
and he was going down.

I left the firemen
to run across to him,

and I got halfway across
Pearl Street and I got hit.

I got hit in the chest.

Bullet come through the shield
and through the vest.

Put smoke on Pearl Street
so they couldn't see us.

They put me in
a van or in the truck

I was supposed
to be driving, the tank.

To get me outta here.
They put Jimmy on top of me,

took us to the other
end of the street,

and took us to
different hospitals.

After that, you know,
I don't remember anything.

What caused them to come out?

Well, we turned
the water on again,

then began to pour smoke in.

I think that was the sequence.

Once the tear gas hit,

you couldn't talk,
you couldn't see,

you couldn't hear nobody,

and the only thing
I remember was

I was standing near my son,
one of my kids was here,

one of them was here.

They was 4 and 5,

and one was 2.
Myisha was 2.

I had Isha in my arms.

I said, "Oh, fuck it.
This is it."

And I started walking,
and when I got by the window,

I still had Isha in my arms,

but I could see Merle.
Merle was out.

If Merle out, I'm going out.

But once I got out
the side of the window,

this is what they say.
Where that damn picture?

When I got out
the side of the window

to get Merle,
this is what I was faced with.

I started walking
down Pearl Street,

but when I got to
the corner of Pearl Street,

the civil disobedience-ing
women were coming towards me.

They was gonna
take my daughter.

They was gonna take
my baby from me.

They put me in the paddy wagon.

My skin was burning,
them clothes was so hot

that they was
sticking to my skin,
and I remember trying

to keep them off of my skin
because it was burning.

I assume that you're
distinguishing between

the word "smoke"
and the word "tear gas,"

-is that correct?
That's correct.
I conferred with Dr. Polk

about the effect of gas
on the lungs of a child

because we knew that they had

some very small
children in there,

and their recommendation was

that we not use it.
So we didn't use it.

They've just thrown gas,

and they're dragging MOVE
members out right now.

...basement window in the front.

One of the MOVE members
coming out and to prison.

The next half hour
or so like that

was a matter of getting
everything out of there.

Then they all
started coming out,

and they were putting
their children out first

so that they,
of course, wouldn't be shot.

Then Delbert Africa
started coming out

of the Pearl Street window,

and, of course,
he was helped out

by the couple of
stakeout officers and, um...

Interviewer:

Well, he was. um,

he was being subdued.

Lemme just put it
that way. He was...

he was subdued.

He's hitting him,
he's hitting him.

Hitting him on the head.
Kicked him in the head!

- I have no idea. I couldn't see.
- That's enough!

He was being helped out
by them three officers.

And then promptly
went to the hospital.

But, um, should've
went to the morgue.

It's one of the few
things I think

I've seen as a reporter,
for a long time,

that I'm never gonna forget.

It was vicious.

It was sadism. It was...

attempted murder.

At that point,

we become aware that the police

see us in the window.

So we're a little
nervous about that.

We don't want anybody
shooting at us,

so we move from the window.

Bill's afraid they're
gonna confiscate his film.

This is a time when
they're still using film.

And he takes the film
out of his camera
and puts it in his boot.

So they got everybody
out of there.

And then,

then they put a unit together,

and I was one of them.

You mentioned that Mr. Hurst,
who I believe currently

heads the Fraternal Order
of the Police, played a role

- in the 1978 plan.
- He happened to be

right at the same...
where I happened to be,

and I'm pleased that
I was at the same location

- that he was.
- Do you recall

whether Mr. Hurst
played any other role

at that time,
other than observing

what was going on
in the basement?

I don't really know
what you're, you know,

if you could re...

It is your recollection then
that he was there with you for

- at least a short
period of time?
- Oh, probably a matter

of a few seconds or minutes,
something like that.

And that's all that
you observed him do

and that was to peer
into the basement.

You didn't observe him do
anything else at that point?

Well, he was telling them
to put their weapons down

- and things of that nature.
- Do you know

whether or not he recovered
a weapon from inside of

the MOVE house on
Powelton Avenue?

I don't recall specifically
whether he did or did not

because a number of
weapons were recovered

and they were
handed out. In fact,

one was handed to me,
and I remember that

the MOVE people trying
to make a big issue

over the fact that
I had a weapon

that I had handed
back into them,
or some such stuff as that

that the weapon
was a police weapon.

When we went into the house,

and then down
into the basement,

we waded through there.

The water was
up to my belly button,
about three feet.

And then there was sorta like

an area to the right, and to
the left was storage, and we...

Excuse me, and
we took some weapons

and stuff like that and ammo,

and different things like that,

and make a chain line

to go from there
out to the window.

And it was put out
the window like that from us.

The tear gas was down there,

and it was...
I was overcome by it,

as were several of
the other officers,

and so we came out,
and we went to the hospital.

I went to
the Misericordia Hospital.

Pardon?

The police used tear gas.

So when I was in the hospital,

I drew a plan

of everything I remembered
in that basement...

and what was taken out,
to the best of my ability.

Well, it was good that
was done because...

Rizzo ordered the building
demolished right then.

Right then.

Taken down completely
with bulldozers.

And, and so
there was no evidence.

And so that little
sheet of paper

was the thing that was
used for the trial.

Who knew?

- John Africa said,
- "Do what's necessary."

I got a tape of
him saying that.

So I would listen to it,
and just listen to it,

and then I would...
I spent a lot of time

with another supporter,
and we found a lot of stuff.

Witness testimonies,
police statements,

all kind of stuff.

I actually have
FBI files in here

from the investigative
reports they did on MOVE

from back in 1973.

And this is not even all of it.
This is just some of it.

Needle in a haystack.

I'm looking for the evidence.
I'm looking for the information

that would show

something about
their innocence,

and it doesn't matter

if you have to read the entire

Philadelphia Sunday paper

to find that one line.

Look for the needle in
the haystack. Find it.

And if you can't
find it in this paper,
find it in another paper.

I wound up doing that info...
that stuff

for over 25 years.

The compound belonging to

the controversial
radical group MOVE

is no more tonight. It's been
torn down by city bulldozers

after a dramatic early morning
shootout in West Philadelphia.

Eleven MOVE members
are behind bars tonight

after the battle.
One police officer is dead,

four others hospitalized,
along with two firemen.

And as I perceived it while
watching this drama unfold,

MOVE gave its dogs
more of a chance

than it gave their own children.

But I really think something
sh... could've been worked out

a little bit better
than what this is.

People getting killed, babies,

police officers.

Everybody suffering,
neighborhood is tensed up.

There were some residents who
felt the city acted with plenty

of restraint and blamed
the whole confrontation on MOVE.

Most of those people
refused to appear on camera

for fear of retaliation.

That concludes our coverage
of what happened in

Powelton Village on this day,
August 8th, 1978.

It was a day on which
a policeman was killed,
a house was torn down,

and a whole movement exploded.

For Bill Baldini,
I'm Michael Tuck. Good night.

I remember a few days ago,

I think you were
trying to save... get a court
order to save the house.

Yeah, what we did,
Oscar Gaskins' office filed

an injunction enjoining
the city from tearing

the property down.

And as you can see here,
the city is now in the process

of tearing the property down.

Question we've
gotta ask is why.

You know, why is that
house being torn down

and why is there such
a great effort put to it?

Tonight, we have
a complete special report

on the battle at MOVE,
the wild shootout

that took
a policeman's life.

The Instant Eye
was there through
the terror-filled fight,

and we've got reaction
from all sides.

All the while, they play on
the news media that the people

in Powelton Village agree

with what was going down.
That was a lie.

They'll go down and get three
white people off the corner

from Baring Street

and say we don't like MOVE.

Why ain't they ask
the Black people?

The press has to

take part of
the responsibility

for their
irresponsible acts.

They believe
what you read,

what you write,
and what you say,

and it's got to stop.

And one day, and I hope
it's in my career,

that you're going to have
to be held responsible

and accountable
for what you do.

One reporter claims to have
looked up and seen the muzzle

of a weapon sticking
out the window.

Walt Hunter from WCAU,
by the way,

swears that a shot was fired
going in this direction.

- For Helen Ramp and her
- 14-year-old son, James Junior,

the terror and violence
at MOVE headquarters came

crashing down this morning at
Presbyterian Medical Center.

Inside, they were told
James Ramp, husband, father,

and Philadelphia
police sharpshooter,

had been shot to death
in the crossfire at

the West Philadelphia
compound.

Ramp, 52,
was shot in the chest

and died soon after
being admitted.

Shortly after
the shooting ended,

there was a near
violent confrontation

between police and an angry
crowd that gathered.

-Nobody was hurt.
- To prevent
- the spread of trouble,

police sealed off one
corner of the intersection

where the rock
throwing occurred.

We talked with one
young man, a teenager,

who accused the police
of beating him.

And, as you remember,
I asked him,

"Now, what do you mean
when you say beating?"

And he indicated
that the police
pushed and shoved him

and hit him with
a knife stick...
a nightstick.

What people
don't understand,
I think, Vince,

is that in a situation
like that,

police just don't have
time to ask twice.

So perhaps if there was
some direct involvement

by high city officials,

-we could cool out any
possible problem...
-Yeah. Communication is needed

because when we talked with them
and also with the policeman,

we did learn that
rumors were flying.

Commissioner, what's the
situation in Powelton now?

Police are in control in
Powelton at the present time,

and if there are any
additional confrontations,

I can assure you that the police
will take care of them.

We will not brook any nonsense.

Anybody that takes his own out
in Powelton or anywhere else

in this city

is going to be crushed.

They all charged,
chased everybody

all, all over the place
with their clubs.

Bunch of people ran into their
own houses and were followed.

I was upstairs sleeping,
then I heard all this noise
on the steps.

Then the cop was
swinging the nightstick

and hit me in my eye
and my head.

- Where were
you at that time?
- On top of the steps.

- You were on top of the steps.
- The cop came into the house

- to do this?
Yeah!
They came into the house!

And here comes all these
people and all these cops.

They're chasing them
again with the nightsticks,
hitting them all

on the shoulders and stuff.
There's about three
up there already hurt.

These people want these
white racist pigs to go home,

back to their own northeast
families where they belong at.

Go up there and beat heads

and trample on people's
children with their horses.

They don't want this
shit down here. We tired.

No-good shit-eating vermin,
motherfucker!

Kill me,
you son of a bitch!

No-good white
motherfucking beasts!

A group of MOVE supporters
spent much of the day outside

a heavily guarded
Jaffray Medical Center,

waiting for word on Chuckie
and the other MOVE patient,

Delbert Africa,
thought to be the most
seriously injured

in Tuesday's
battle with police.

Delbert has a broken cheekbone

plus a bloodshot
and swollen eye.

MOVE members charged with the
murder of Police Officer Ramp.

It took hours of
microscopic examination

and police have now
decided that the weapon

that killed Ramp
belonged to MOVE.

This firearm that I'm holding
in my hand is the weapon

that fired the projectile
that killed Officer Ramp.

The semiautomatic rifle
was one of only a number

of weapons confiscated
after the shootout.

Police also found
1,600 rounds of ammunition,

both fired and unfired,
gas masks,

holsters, and ammunition boxes.

I saw them bring the guns
out of that basement.

So if you have
250,000 gallons of water

in the basement,
no electricity, it's dark,

and there's residue
of smoke and tear gas,

how thorough was
the investigation

in an hour and a half?
And these were

the same weapons that
were sparkling clean

when Rizzo gave his
press conference
in that afternoon.

The police force and
the city administration

has acted,
in my judgment, with...

extremely commendable restraint.

The police probably would've
been legally within their rights

to have, subsequent to
the shooting of Officer Ramp,

stormed the house and killed all
of the people in that basement.

Do you know of any incidents
where some officers may have

become a little overzealous
in arresting some of
the MOVE members?

I know of one instance
where one of the MOVE
members came out

the window with a cartridge
case in one hand,

a clip, and with
a knife in the other.

...with a cartridge
case in one hand...

and with a knife
in the other...

Where he was hit on the top of
the head with a steel helmet

and was taken into custody,

if that's what you're
referring to, Bill.

If that's overzealous,
so be it.

But I've had it up to here
with individual reporters

who are constantly
our adversaries,

constantly.
And I think when you go out

and you talk to these people
and stir them up

and try to find out who did
what where and all that,

that you're being
totally unfair

to the police of this
community and to the people

of this community.

And you accept at face value

absolute lies that
are told to you.

You don't even
get off your asses

and walk down to look where
these people claim they were.

Despite official statements
claiming the police showed

great restraint in Powelton
Village yesterday, these people

chanted a series of anti-Rizzo
and anti-police slogans.

The real thing that made
it bad was the video.

The Fraternal Order of Police,
which my father represented,

was very, very upset
that they would even

arrest these officers
involved in this case.

What they should've done
is shot the goddamn bum,

and then there would've
been no trouble today.

- Mayor Rizzo,
- Police Commissioner O'Neill,

Fire Commissioner Joe Rizzo,
and other high-ranking officers

file past Ramp's open casket.

Then the patrolmen and women,

many of whom Ramp knew,
many of whom

were just brothers and sisters
in the Fraternity of Police.

And many emerged
from the church
with tears in their eyes.

I hope that their jury of
their peers finds them guilty

and then they're put
on the electric chair

where they belong,
the people that had any part

in the killing of Jim Ramp.

If it was testimony
from eyewitnesses

from five feet away,
you could reject it
and say, I don't care.

If the cops say it
happened this way,

that's the way it happened.

And people still believe
that today in juries.

It's not that they beat
his face and beat his body.

It's the fact that they
got caught. Inescapably,

because it's on video.

There's no question of how it
happened and what happened.

Now what are we
gonna do about it?

For the first time in years,
the Black community

of Philadelphia staged
a major demonstration

against the Rizzo
administration.

The focal point
of this protest,

the pictures of Delbert Africa
being beaten by police

after surrendering from
the MOVE house last Tuesday.

Many of these Black people
feel they themselves

could get similar
treatment from the police.

I became aware of the beating
watching the 11:00 news,

and I spoke with
the district attorney

and told him that, to me,

the evidence was
clear that we...

we had to prosecute those
three police officers.

With us right now is
District Attorney Ed Rendell.

You saw the film,
you heard Commissioner
O'Neill's comments.

How do you see it?

Obviously, Bill,
on the face of it,

it looks like the police
were overzealous
in that one clip.

When we look at
an incident like this,

we don't look at it
as an isolated film clip.

We look at it in context
with what occurred

minutes before it,
and the emotion of that

and what had occurred
and the violence

that was perpetrated on
policemen and on firemen,

and we have to view it
in that context.

Well, he, you know,
he ultimately agreed.

He was quite concerned.
Obviously, he wanted to get

all the facts,
and I agreed with that. Fine.

And after a very
thorough investigation,

we then arranged to

have the police
officers arrested.

And the day that they
were to surrender,

I came into the office.

I said to a couple
of my detectives

who were assigned
to the unit, I said,

"Why don't you get on
down to the police
administration building

and process the officers
that are supposed
to surrender today?"

And everybody looked at me like

I was... I had two heads.

And I said, "What in
the world's going on?"

And they said,
"Don't you know?"

- I wear blue! Take me, too!
- I wear blue! Take me, too!

"I wear blue, take me, too."

That was the chant.
It had started at 500 strong.

It ended up
2,500, 3,500 easy.

It was a lot of people.

The case got assigned
to a bad judge,

so we thought.
Stanley Kubacki,

who was a very tough judge,

and he would put people in
jail for a million years.

Two of the defendants
testified, teary-eyed,

they feared he
was laying on top

of Officer Geist's
missing pistol,

that the kicks were an effort
to turn Delbert over.

- O'Neill told the court that,
- "Delbert Africa wasn't a man.

"He was a savage,
and with a savage,

you don't know what
he'll do," says O'Neill.

O'Neill said,
"Given the circumstances,

the force used by police
to subdue the prisoner,"

meaning Delbert Africa,
"was reasonable."

I thought we stood
a very good chance

of obtaining a conviction,

but before the defense
could give its summation,

and certainly before
I could give my summation,

the judge came out,

and called a halt to the trial.

Boy, that judge turned out to be

the best thing that
ever happened to them

because by the time
the trial was over,

he, all of a sudden,

issued an order
finding them not guilty,

and wouldn't even let
the jury decide the case

because he thought
it was so outrageous

that they were even
charged. He actually,

I remember his words.
"Let me be the lightning rod

"to absorb all of the criticism
the city wants to hail.

"Let them hail it at me.

I am not letting this
case go to a jury."

Despite indications that
the all-white jury chosen

from Dauphin County would've
found the trio innocent,

Prosecutor George Parry
had planned

to raise a significant
credibility issue

in the closing arguments
that Kubacki denied him.

Geist was apparently already
kicking Delbert Africa

as his service revolver
flies from his holster

because of the kicking motion.

The kicking that Geist
testified that he did

to find the gun that was,

according to this photograph,
not yet missing.

I am not sorry at
anything I did.

The only thing I am sorry for
is that James Ramp is dead,

and a lot of other police
and firemen are now

out of the job,
permanently injured.

Would you handle the arrest
of Delbert the same way?

Yes, in those
circumstances, I would.

I would do the same if I was
in that same situation again.

Is that his place to
make that sort of...

No. No.

The judge should only take
a case away from the jury

when it's, as a matter of law,

there's no way the jury could've
found the defendant, uh,

guilty. And here,
the evidence was clear

just on the tape alone,

they could've found
the defendant guilty.

The judge had no
business doing it.

How often have you seen
that sort of thing?

I've never seen
a judge take it away

from a jury except for this.

The Academy of Music,

the Civic Center,
the Spectrum
can all step aside

because the top showplace
in town these days

is a commonplace
courtroom in City Hall.

Do you think it's gonna
be a pretty good show?

Do you have any ideas
about what it's gonna be like?

I'm sure it'll be spectacular.

The defendants have said they
wanna be tried all together,

without a jury.
Said Delbert Orr Africa,

"A jury would only be
composed of racist whites

from the northeast
and store-bought Negroes
from downtown."

It was a bit of a circus.

They would shout,
gesticulate, scream.

Then they would
either be restrained,

or, in some cases,

removed from the court room.

The MOVE members will have
to promise they'll behave

before they come back
and act as their
own lawyers in court.

And the court appointed me
as backup counsel

in the event that
the defendants, or my client,

-should be removed.
- But now,
- you're taking over.

Yes.
I did not want to do that,
but the Supreme Court

-ordered me to do it,
so I'm doing it.
-You didn't want to do that?

-You could've refused
to do it, right? Why not?
-No.

Because I have tried to
withdraw from the case.

-Well you would be in
contempt of court, right?
-That's right.

-And you're not willing to
go in contempt of court.
-Absolutely not.

The backup counsels
cannot represent MOVE

better than themselves
because they are not going

to risk a contempt order

telling that judge
when he's wrong.

They will tell you privately,

"Yes, Judge Malmed was wrong.
This was illegal."

But they will not stand up
in that courtroom

and let the judge know that.

They essentially

pled guilty without
pleading guilty

because they didn't wanna

try to take advantage
of the system

and try to make a case
that they were not guilty.

I think that the city was pretty
sick of the story in general.

I know the media was sick of it.

We covered it on an incident
by incident basis.

There was no real effort,
in my mind,

to really dig deeper
into what was going on there.

Monaghan told the court

he heard Delbert Africa
insist that Phil Africa

take the carbine
and quote,
"Shoot the pig."

Testimony was wrapped up today
with police still photographer

John Eugesick
on the stand.

At that point,
I was moving on to other things,

and I think the city of
Philadelphia was, too.

Nobody cared about it.

Not the courts.

Not the news media.

The coroner's testimony

differed from the coroner's...

official report,

and the DA took out a pencil

and just changed it
right in court,

and the judge allowed it!

-Good evening,
I'm Vince Leonard.
-And I'm Beverly Williams.

Here's what's happening.
Guilty of murder
in the third degree.

That's the verdict for
all nine MOVE members.

The judge said
guilty nine times,

and Channel 3's
Kim Sedgwick was in court

when the MOVE murder
verdicts came down. Kim?

Dick, it was the longest
criminal trial

in Philadelphia court history

and one of the longest
in the country.

"Guilty of murder
in the third degree."

That's what Judge Malmed
said to each of
the nine MOVE members.

"Liar! Liar!" Delbert Africa
shot back at the judge

when he was brought
before the bench.

"How can you find someone
guilty in this illegal court?"

It was the same
with all the others.

All shouting obscenities,
all claiming innocence.

Emotions of the MOVE
supporters were the same.

You killed my family!
You killed our babies!

- You railroaded us!
You broke down our house!
That's right!

You broke in our house,
goddammit!

MOVE defense attorneys
were bitter, too.

As I said, I was hurt,
disillusioned,

but not surprised.

In the news tonight, nine
members of the radical group

MOVE are facing stiff jail terms

for their part in a shootout
with Philadelphia police.

Judge Edwin Malmed sentenced
each of the nine MOVE members

to 30 to 100 years in jail,
nearly the maximum sentence

that had been requested
by the district attorney.

Each MOVE member cursed
and threatened the judge

as he was brought
into court today.

The judge then ordered each
of the MOVE members removed

and their sentences
were relayed

to them by their attorney.

Judge Malmed, explaining
the verdict, called

the MOVE members' conduct
"criminal and obscene,"

and he quietly declared
that MOVE members had

"abused this community
for far too long."

They have at all
times maintained

they were a family
and acted together.

I, therefore, took
them at their own word.

If they're a family
and have all acted together,

then they acted in concert,
they acted jointly,

and they should
all share equally

in the punishment imposed.

Do you think they
deserve to get parole?

I'm not against
people who've done

substantial time and are
clearly in an age bracket

they're not gonna go out and
commit serious crimes again,

getting parole.
In fact, when I was governor,

I pardoned a number of lifers.

Individually, it would
depend on how they did,

what the degree of
evidence against them was.

I think some of them might
be very appropriate,

uh, uh, subjects for parole.

For me, what it comes down to
is the basic question.

Can you believe what the police
said happened that day?

To me, the opportunity
for a crossfire

created a significant

possibility that
James Ramp was killed

by a bullet that didn't
come from inside the house.

It has never been
clear to me that

the police got
it right, that the...

district attorney got it right,

that the judges got it right,

that the sentences were proper.

And as I've looked at it

in hindsight over the years,

I am convinced that they
did not get it right.

That the Officer Ramp

died from friendly fire.

I'm willing to do whatever.
If we, if that means...

set it up so that we can
get pardon papers up to them,

and they do that.
If that means that they...
if we set it up

where we try to get the DA's
office to help us out.

If that means that
we hire a lawyer, 10 lawyers,

an investigator, whatever.

If that means that we just beat
the drum and try to get people

to, to wake up their neighbors

or wake up their, uh,
their, their congressmen

or senators or whatever.

I'm a guy who's saying

do whatever it takes,

do all that it takes

because those people that are
in prison are dying in there.

Phil didn't make it to 40.

The system... Whatever
was happening with him,

or the people who was
feeding him that poison

up at them prisons
that they call water.

They're feeding him that
swill that they call food,

or that... yeah, I mean,
like, that, that stuff...

you know...

What can you do?
You just gotta keep on pushing.

Keep on exposing the system
for the wrongs in it.

If it takes 10 years,
if it takes 20 years.

It could take...
it could take every
single one of their lives.

Larry! Larry! Larry!

This is not

another story about
the history of kings and queens.

This is a story
about a movement.

That's right!

And this is a movement
that is tired

of seeing a system that
has systematically picked

on poor people,

primarily Black
and brown people.

This is a mandate for a movement

that is loudly telling

government what it wants,
and what it wants

is criminal justice reform

in ways that require
transformational change

within the Philadelphia
District Attorney's office.

So, in terms of
the parole process,

Krasner's office,
the DA's office, can make...

can either oppose parole
or not oppose,

and so that recommendation is
significant in that aspect.

And then also,
he's campaigned on this

open files policy,
and specifically around the...

Conviction Integrity Unit.
They call it

the Conviction Review Unit
in Philadelphia,

wherein they would...

the person who's been convicted

is entitled to full access

to whatever's in the DA files,
and we know they...

there must be some
information that's

not been released to
the public in the MOVE cases,

and that the...

The police destroyed
the house and they...

covered up information,
covered up evidence,

and it's important that
we see what's in there,

so that's one way that
Krasner's office can

ex... help expose
the truth on this
so that some sort of

just resolution
can come out of it.

And it's written to Leo Dunn,
Chairman of the Pennsylvania

Board of Probation and Parole.

It says, "On behalf of District
Attorney Lawrence Krasner,

"I write to inform you and the
Board that I recommend that

"Ms. Debbie Sims Africa
be paroled.

"Ms. Sims Africa has been
in custody for 39 years

"and has not had a single
misconduct since 1995.

"Her prison record shows that
she has made use of her time

"in custody,
completing 2,113 hours

"of vocational training,
60 hours of academic training

"and attaining her
cosmetology license.

"She is now 61 years old.

"In short, I am confident that
she will not pose a threat

"to the Philadelphia community
to which she wishes to return.

"While Ms. Sims Africa's
crimes were very serious,

her continued incarceration
does not make our city safer."

And it's pretty much
the same thing for Janet

and for Janine.

Do you think they'll
be paroled in May?

No. I think the parole
board sees itself as

cops and part of
the brotherhood.

And they're carrying out,

um, their mission that
anybody convicted

of homicide of
a police officer

should be
eternally punished.

And that's what it's
been for nine years,

and I don't think a more
persuasive parole packet is

going to change that
deeply entrenched attitude.

Which is why it's important
to build up the record

so as to establish that
the denial of parole

is violating their
constitutional rights.

Mike, hello?

Yeah.

Mom. How you doing?

I'm alright, how you?

Speaker phone.

Is it on speaker phone?

- You got your what?
- What?

-Her what?
-Hold up, hold up.

You got your green sheet?

- What's that?
- That's your, what?

Yeah?

Oh, Debbie coming home!

Long live John Africa!

- Josh is happy!
- Look at Josh!

My mom said,
"Tell your dad...

-He can't help it.
-"to control hisself

"'cause...

being extremely happy can
cause heart attacks, too."

- Want a strawberry?
- Is this for your mom?

I don't know!

We're picking her up tomorrow,
7:00 in the morning.

Best news I've ever
heard in my life.

This is the best news that
I've ever heard in my life.

By far.

- No, she ain't wearing that.
- Then what should we get?

That one is perfect.
Look at it.
Robes are like shoes!

They're universal.
They go with anything.

We don't have any time.
Get the damn thing,
let's get the...

-...heck outta here.
-Alright.
Calm yourself down.

How do you feel?

Beside myself.

I don't even know what to feel.

There's so many
things happening.

I can't even really
fully process it yet.

And I always say
I don't believe it

until she's in my car.

Forty years.

♪ Tell the world
I'm coming... ♪

Mm.

♪ I never felt so strong ♪

♪ That feeling like there's
nothing I can't try ♪

Put your hands high!

Ah, man!

♪ If you're with me
put your hands high ♪

I have her!
We have her!

The package is delivered!
She's in the car!

Oh! Oh my God,
they're so... Look at that!

It's nice and sunny
in here, too!

Oh my god!

Okay, I'm gonna cut the cake.
Hey, wait a minute.

I better not pick up that
knife on that camera.

You can hold the kitchen knife.

I've been in prison
almost 40 years and, um,

I was released on Friday...

Saturday. Saturday, and, um,

I still don't think
I've actually caught up

with my emotions on how
happy it makes me feel,

seeing my family and being...

I should say
united with my son

because I've never
been with him.

I had him in my prison
cell when I was in, uh,

the House of Correction,
and this is the first time

we've ever been together
in all those years.

Mm.

But...

And although, if I felt,

you know, excited
and overwhelmed
and happy

to see everybody that came up
to pick me up on Saturday,

I still felt, you know,

incomplete,
and it just wasn't...

It shouldn't have been
the fact that I left prison,

and my sisters,
Janine and Janet, didn't

because we came in
on the same charges,

we were arraigned the same,

we, um, we had the same hits

and everything,
the same charges,

but when it came time
to get out of prison,

they didn't do that the same.

So, my name is
Mike Africa Jr.

As you know, this is my
mother right here and, um,

our family has
been experienced,

the MOVE organization
has experienced so much,

um, hate and anger
from the system and, um,

this is a small victory,
but it is a victory.

But I say a small victory
because our family

is still separated.
We're still incomplete.

My father is
still in prison.

He was in prison...
He was arrested
with my mother

and the rest of the MOVE Nine
and he's still in prison, too.

I talked to my dad today.

Every time, every time
something happen, my dad,

like, come up with
a theme song for it,

the experience that he's
experiencing at the time.

And he got this thing...

He says, um,

so for this one, he says,

he said, "Man."
He said,

"Tell your mom that I...

that I said I got a new song."
And I said, "What's that?"

He said,
"Hold on, I'm coming."

He comes up in
September 2018,

so the same process
we used for her,
we're gonna use for him.

But only difference is
we're gonna need more

support for him

because people see men
as different than women.

So they... he's gonna
need more support

than she, she needed.

- Do you
think he'll get out?
- Do I think my dad'll get out?

I'm hopeful. I'm hopeful.

I believe that if
we have the pressure,

the same kind of
pressure that we applied

for my mom, and if he can

understand the importance of...

the way of cooperation,

and...
and we can get

the letters that we need
to have written from people

and support,

showing their
support for him,

I think that we have
a really good shot.

Really good shot.

So he took the test.

It was all negative.
He passed the test.

Everything's good.
So now, it's just...

we're awaiting word.

Imagine being like...

stuck in...
stuck in traffic.

Like, you're driving your car.
You're headed home from work

after working
a long 12-hour day,

breaking your back,
trying to get your jobs done

so that you can get your
check for your family.

And you get in the car,

drive it for about 10 minutes,

and then you get
stuck in traffic.

And you're just like stuck,

gridlock, parking lot.
That shit'll drive you crazy.

Like, what the fuck? Why are
these cars not moving, right?

Imagine being stuck
like that for 40 years.

Forty years.

First time I seen Mike,

he was maybe six months old.

At that time, down Holmesburg,
there was no contact visits,

so I was tapping on
the window. "Hey, man.

Hey, Mike. Hey, hey."
And he was just looking.

It was just before
we got sent upstate.

He's 3. I asked him
what his name was,

and he said Michael.

I said, "You know
what my name is?"
He said, "Yeah, Michael."

I said, "You know why
we have the same name?"
I said,

"Because you're my son."
And he asked me,

"Can you sneak home
with us?"

It seemed that as soon
as he could comprehend

that they had held his parents

and that he could

do something about it,
and he tried.

Yesterday was a culmination
of his efforts.

You know, as well as
a lot of people's, but.

You know, of course
I wanted to be free.

But, uh...

knowing what it
would mean to him,

to our family, you know...

knowing how much effort,
you know,

he put his whole...

Wait a minute, stop.

He has such a good heart, man.

And I didn't want his
whole life to be...

um...

just something
that's wrapped up...

in...

trying to free us, man.

I was so glad for
Mike yesterday.

You know, of course
I wanted to be free,

but I was so glad that
he didn't have that...

that burden on him anymore, man.

I'm glad me and his mom is out,
you know,

not just because we're free,

but, you know, it freed him.

-It's finally here.
-Yep. And I'll tell you,

I can go through the rest of
my life like this, really.

-I bet you can!
-I ain't got that much
long to live though, so...

What? Why would you say that?

-Why... Why would you say that?
-I'm just playing.

This cake has got
to be good.

Did you count
your 10 eggs?

I got at least 25.
Shit, that's a long time.

Why would she say that?!

Maybe he can still
teach me some things.

I'm sure I'll be teaching
him a lot of things.

Hey, Dad! Did you ever
see one of these before?

What
the hell are you doing?

-Are you trying to pose?
-I don't know.

Look at Grandma there.

We met when
we was about 14.

Who wouldn't love her in
this hat? Look at this hat.

Only a husband
who loves his wife

would love her in
this hat.

Oh, um, well I remember
when I was born, right?

- You remember when
you was born?
- I mean...

-No, I don't remember
when I was born.
-I know what you mean.

♪ I told my mama
she was priceless ♪

♪ She told me she
wanted the good life ♪

♪ I told my mama
I'ma give you that ♪

♪ She said she wanna live
her best life, no strife ♪

♪ I said yo, Mama,
you deserve it all ♪

♪ She said she really
didn't want much ♪

♪ I asked her what you want
for me to do? She said ♪

♪ You gave me what I want
because I'm home with you ♪

♪ Hey! Fly, baby... ♪

Forty-two years of this thing,
and I said...

I hated to see

-them still there,
you know? But...
-Right.

-It's good to be home.
It's good to be home.
-Mm-hmm.

It's good to be with
family, with friends.

And put that, that activity,

that prison
activity behind me.

I'm glad. I'm ready.

You'll never be
back at Dallas.

Ah! I told, I told, uh,

Chaplain Hoke, I said,
"I'll be back
to free somebody else."