Tag: Merle and Phil Africa

The wheels of justice often move very slowly in our country, but we are picking up speed. Chuck Africa is now free! He was the youngest of the MOVE 9 to be arrested after the horrific events of Aug. 8, 1978. The groundswell of grassroots activity in Philly has brought MOVE members home starting with the release of Debbie Africa in June 2018 to Chuck Africa, the morning of Friday, Feb. 7, 2020. Two of the nine members, Merle and Phil Africa, passed away in prison, but the remaining seven are now free.

What happened to them on Aug. 8, the hellistic rain of police gunfire, beatings, rape threats and incarceration, was nothing compared to what they faced in Philadelphia courtrooms, where they were denied their every right, including their alleged right to self-representation, beaten again when they refused to attend their own legal lynchings, and then, the lynchpin – convictions, and common sentences before Judge Edwin Malmed of 30 to 100 years, for third degree murder?!