May 15, 1985
Bizarre Mixture of Philosophies
Guides The Lives of Group's Members;
Descriptions of MOVE Range From Primitivist
To Terrorist
By Kathy Sawyer, Washington Post Staff Writer
Members of MOVE live by a bizarre medley
of philosophies that translates to the outside
world as foul-smelling, unsanitary and violent.
Difficult to label, they have been described
variously as a radical primitivist or back-to-nature
sect and as armed anarchists and revolutionaries.
The little group was founded in 1972 by
handyman Vincent Leaphart, a black third-grade
dropout, and Donald Glassey, a white college
teacher with a master's degree in social
work. Their first home was a ramshackle
Victorian mansion in Powelton Village, a
university bedroom community of west Philadelphia
known for its tolerance of counterculture
movements.
Leaphart, who did odd jobs in Powelton Village
in the early 1970s, apparently captivated
Glassey, who was living in a commune there,
with preachings about the dangers of modern
technology.
Much of what is known about the group reportedly
has come from Glassey, who turned federal
informer against MOVE. In testimony in 1981,
he tearfully described "how a group
of people came together to make the world
a better place and became suicidal terrorists."
The MOVE philosophy opposes electricity
and other forms of technology. Yet members
used an electric bullhorn to taunt or shout
obscenities at police and others and, according
to authorities, assembled an arsenal that
included pipe bombs, shotguns and high-powered
rifles. Authorities told The Philadelphia
Inquirer that MOVE even tried to acquire
an atomic bomb.
MOVE ruled out the use of soap for bathing,
preferring a mixture that included garlic.
In the belief that food should be recycled,
members routinely threw their garbage on
the ground around their residences, but
kept so many dogs that they could plant
nothing. They allowed animal as well as
human feces to accumulate, creating a stench
and attracting rats, which they welcomed
as natural.
MOVE women reportedly delivered their babies
without medical assistance -- the mother
biting off the umbilical cord and licking
the infant clean.
Most of those who joined the group -- estimated
at a few dozen -- are black. They wear their
hair in dreadlocks, the braided style of
the Jamaica-based Rastafarians. All adopted
the surname Africa. MOVE apparently is not
an acronym, and its meaning is unknown.
Even in broad-minded Powelton Village, which
The Inquirer called Philadelphia's answer
to San Francisco's Haight Ashbury, the neighbors
began to complain. One group that did so
reported that MOVE members threatened to
retaliate by killing or castrating them
and their children. Beginning in 1975, MOVE
had a number of run-ins with Philadelphia
authorities.
Under the guidance of Leaphart, who had
changed his name to John Africa, the group
fortified its house, stockpiled weapons
and became increasingly militant, authorities
say. In May 1977, after a nine-hour confrontation
with MOVE, authorities began round-the-clock
surveillance of the group's headquarters.
In March 1978, during a snow squall, police
acting with court approval laid siege to
the house, sealing off a four-block area
and preventing the group, which included
children, from bringing in food and water.
MOVE members kicked away food provided for
their children and nursing mothers, saying
that they would accept food for all, including
dogs and cats, or none.
Fifty days later, the members agreed to
surrender but did not. Early on Aug. 5,
1978, hundreds of police and firefighters
converged to enforce a judge's order to
arrest 21 MOVE members. Shots were fired
from the house. Policeman James Ramp was
fatally wounded.
Before the confrontation ended, four other
police officers, four firefighters and a
MOVE member were wounded, and the city had
bulldozed the group's house.
Then-Mayor Frank L. Rizzo, a former policeman
with a tough law-and-order image, emerged
as a major antagonist of MOVE members, calling
them "animals" and declaring that
he would pull the switch himself if any
of them were sent to the electric chair.
Pennsylvania did not have capital punishment.
Then, as now, controversy swirled around
the city's handling of the situation. Some
charged that the confrontation was racial,
strengthening Rizzo's support among blue-collar
whites. Demonstrators compared the mayor
to Adolf Hitler.
Nine MOVE members were convicted for their
part in the shootout and were each sentenced
to 30 to 100 years in prison.
Three years after the shootout, the group
set up a new base at the house on Osage
Avenue in west Philadelphia where this week's
violence occurred.
In May 1981, after years as fugitives, John
Africa and eight followers were arrested
in Rochester, N.Y.; they were later acquitted
on conspiracy and weapons charges.
Violent encounters with authorities continued
sporadically, involving MOVE members in
prison as well as those outside. Then, two
weeks ago, 50 of MOVE's neighbors held an
emotional news conference criticizing Mayor
W. Wilson Goode, who defeated Rizzo in 1983,
for not evicting the group.
