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MOVE: An American Religion
What is a religion? That is the question that Richard Kent Evans attempts to answer in this book. He does so through the story of MOVE, a little-known group with a fascinating story.
MOVE emerged in Philadelphia in the early 1970s. It was a small, mostly African American group devoted to the teachings of John Africa. In 1985, the Philadelphia Police Department -- working in concert with federal and state law enforcement -- attacked a home that "MOVE people" as they preferred to be known, shared in West Philadelphia. Hundreds of police officers and firefighters laid siege to the building using tear gas, ten thousand rounds of ammunition, and improvised explosives. Most infamously, a police officer riding in a helicopter dropped a bomb containing C-4 explosives, which he had acquired from the FBI, onto the roof of the MOVE house. The bomb started a fire, which officials allowed to spread in hopes of chasing the MOVE people out of the house. Police officers fired upon those who tried to escape the flames. Eleven MOVE people died in the attack, including John Africa. Five of those who died were children.
In this book, Richard Kent Evans tells the story of MOVE -- a story that has been virtually lost outside of Philadelphia. What was MOVE? Many MOVE members thought of themselves as belonging to a religion, and they sought legal recognition. But to others, including other religious groups like the Quakers and, more importantly, the courts, MOVE was anything but a religion. Evans dives deep into how we decide what constitutes a genuine religious tradition, and the enormous consequences of that decision.
MOVE emerged in Philadelphia in the early 1970s. It was a small, mostly African American group devoted to the teachings of John Africa. In 1985, the Philadelphia Police Department -- working in concert with federal and state law enforcement -- attacked a home that "MOVE people" as they preferred to be known, shared in West Philadelphia. Hundreds of police officers and firefighters laid siege to the building using tear gas, ten thousand rounds of ammunition, and improvised explosives. Most infamously, a police officer riding in a helicopter dropped a bomb containing C-4 explosives, which he had acquired from the FBI, onto the roof of the MOVE house. The bomb started a fire, which officials allowed to spread in hopes of chasing the MOVE people out of the house. Police officers fired upon those who tried to escape the flames. Eleven MOVE people died in the attack, including John Africa. Five of those who died were children.
In this book, Richard Kent Evans tells the story of MOVE -- a story that has been virtually lost outside of Philadelphia. What was MOVE? Many MOVE members thought of themselves as belonging to a religion, and they sought legal recognition. But to others, including other religious groups like the Quakers and, more importantly, the courts, MOVE was anything but a religion. Evans dives deep into how we decide what constitutes a genuine religious tradition, and the enormous consequences of that decision.
300 pages, Hardcover
Published June 12, 2020
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September 13, 2023I’m taking a moment to use this platform as a digital diary: the grad student (MA and PhD!!!) members of my seminar today were really doubling down on their complete lack of empathy for the MOVE people. Their crudeness, their smell, their “dirtiness” all contributed to an explicit apathy from many students around the table, saying that they found it hard to feel bad for MOVE people, as they supposed their purposeful, corporeal, confrontational, “other-ed” identity was beyond comprehension and sympathy for their fate. But I have to ask, DOES THEIR RELIGIOUS IDENTITY AND “PRIMITIVE” DOGMA MEAN THAT THEY DESERVE TO BE POLICED TO THE POINT OF MILITARY GRADE WEAPONS AND BOMBS (!!!!!!!!) BEING UTILIZED TO TERRORIZE THE ENTIRE HOUSE TO COMPLETELY MASSACRE THE PEOPLE BY SETTING THEM AND THEIR ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD LITERALLY AFLAME WITH THE INTENT TO LEAVE NO SINGLE MEMBER ALIVE? I find myself confused and shocked!
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