1985 MOVE BOMBING FAMILIES DEMAND RETURN OF KINS' REMAINS

Relatives of 1985 bombing victims who belonged to the US-based MOVE liberation group called again on 9 December for the return of their kins’ remains from the Penn Museum (formally known as the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology), in another case highlighting the structural dehumanisation of Africans in the United States.

On 9 December, John Africa, Jr., told reporters gathered for a press conference that authorities returned some bodies to the family without heads or torsos. A University of Pennsylvania student named Jane Weiss reportedly included an X-ray of 12-year-old Delisha Africa's head in her 2019 senior thesis, ‘Who is Jane Doe?’ raising further concern about the treatment of the remains. @mikeafricajr (X) also stated that his great-uncle, John Africa, a key MOVE figure, was buried without his head because it was removed using a saw rather than authorities’ claim that he had been decapitated by the bombing, ensuing blaze or gunfire. 

Despite the city of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania promising in 2021 to return all remains, MOVE maintains the institutions deny accountability and closure to the family.

At the news conference she helped organise for the family, city councilmember Jamie Gauthier (@councilmemberJG on X), who represents the district that includes the museum and the bombardment site, condemned the institution's ‘profound disrespect for Black life and Black death.’

MOVE was a Black liberation group focused on environmentalism and animal rights. On 13 May 1985, Philadelphia police bombed their home and fired more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition, k*lling five children and six adults as police prohibited firefighters from putting out the ensuing blaze. The attack destroyed more than 60 rowhomes and left 250 people homeless.

Watch the whole press conference here: https://youtu.be/1xOrMC31Dxg

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Family demands MOVE bombing victims remains

https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/philadelphia/news/move-bombing-remains-penn-museum

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/family-calls-on-penn-museum-to-return-remains-of-girl-killed-in-move-bombing/4049143

https://www.phillyvoice.com/move-bombing-victim-remains-penn-museum-mike-africa-jr

MOVE bombing

https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/8/8/20747198/philadelphia-bombing-1985-move 

Jane Weiss

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Dr-Janet-Monge-right-and-Penn-undergraduate-student-Jane-Weiss-in-CAAM-190-Classroom_fig2_375625627

Mention of Jane Weiss senior thesis

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/7ACBDC69D82453DC49FA2FC1A534EF52/S0940739123000127a.pdf/open_access_violence_legacies_of_white_supremacist_data_making_at_the_penn_museum_from_the_morton_cranial_collection_to_the_move_remains.pdf