John Africa (July 26, 1931 – May 13, 1985), born Vincent Leaphart, was the founder of
MOVE
Move may refer to:
People
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, a
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
-based, predominantly black organization active from the early 1970s and still active. He and his followers were killed at a residential home, which served as the headquarters of MOVE, in a fire after the
Philadelphia Police Department
The Philadelphia Police Department (PPD or Philly PD) is the law enforcement agency, police agency responsible for law enforcement and investigations within the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The PPD is one of the oldest municipal police a ...
bombed the house with
C4-explosive, and deliberately let the fire rage until it was out of control following a standoff and firefight between MOVE and police.
Life
Born Vincent Leaphart on July 26, 1931, in the
Mantua
Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name.
In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...
neighborhood of
West Philadelphia
West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Alhough there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the nort ...
. His father, Frederick Leaphart was a handyman while his mother Lennie Mae was a homemaker. He was one of ten children. Lennie Mae died suddenly in her early 40s, and Africa would later blame the hospital for her death. As a child he was "painfully thin" and underweight. At age 9 he was transferred to a school for slow learners to learn simple trades. He would continue to struggle in school and drop out at age 16.
Drafted by the US Army during the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
, Leaphart would serve over a year in an infantry unit. He would later remark on the contrast between the sunrise over the Korean mountains and the ugly gunfire of war.
Upon his return he met Dorothy Clark and they were married shortly thereafter at the age of 29. She would later describe their marriage as ordinary and friends described Leaphart as levelheaded and dependable, also noting that Dorothy would help him with his reading and writing skills.
In 1971 he moved his family to
Powelton, a
polyglot
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingualism, monolingual speakers in the World population, world's pop ...
neighborhood in West Philadelphia, close to the University of Pennsylvania. Community Housing Inc., was a cooperative in which members pooled money together to buy a handful of buildings to live in with an idea to rebel against an oppressive society that bulldozed homes to make way to build more academic housing. Although the area had a large majority of academic residents, Leaphart was seen as eccentric yet tolerable as the area was diverse. Faced with foreclosure, the co-op stepped in and purchased his home so he could remain living there.
In 1972, Leaphart changed his name to John Africa to represent the continent where life began.
Africa managed to attract people in Philadelphia area who were willing to believe in his ideologies. He later met Donald Glassey, a
social worker
Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...
from the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
, who was so intrigued by Africa's teachings that he volunteered to write and compile the illiterate Africa's thoughts into a book. Glassey's notes were eventually the basis of a document called "The Guidelines".
With Glassey, Africa moved his new organization to a house on Pearl Street in West Philadelphia. After parting ways with Glassey due to differing ideology, Africa made "The Guidelines" the primary source for his teachings and the principles of MOVE, founded in 1972 as ''Christian Movement for Life''. The Guidelines articulated teachings such as strict vegetarianism and the inherent value of all living things.
MOVE accepted members regardless of their past and taught lessons on corruption, racism, and the need for individuality in an increasingly technological society.
Further, the organization protested animal cruelty in zoos, the education system, and police brutality. Consequently, the police engaged in heavy surveillance around members of MOVE. According to ''
Let the Fire Burn
''Let the Fire Burn'' is a 2013 documentary film about the events leading up to and surrounding a 1985 stand-off between the black liberation group MOVE (Philadelphia organization), MOVE and the Philadelphia Police Department. The film is directe ...
'', a documentary released in 2013, a member of the Philadelphia police revealed that between 1972 and 1978, 193 arrests of MOVE members and 93 subsequent court cases occurred.
[Osder, J. (Director). (2014). Let the Fire Burn ]ideo file
IDEO () is a design firm, design and consulting firm with offices in the U.S., England, Germany, Japan, and China. It was founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1991. The company's 700 staff uses a design thinking approach to design products, serv ...
United States: The George Washington University.
On August 8, 1978, the Philadelphia police attempted to evict the MOVE organization from their home on Pearl Street. A standoff occurred, resulting in an eventual shootout, and the death of one police officer, James J. Ramp, as well as several injuries. Nine MOVE members were arrested and the organization was removed from their home on Pearl Street. The home was immediately demolished and the "MOVE 9" were convicted over the police officer's death. Merle Africa and Phil Africa died in the Pennsylvania prison system. The last of the remaining members were released in February 2020.
Glassey, after being found in possession of weapons, was later arrested. He implicated Africa and other MOVE members in various crimes. On July 23, 1981, in a Philadelphia federal court, Africa and his co-defendant Alfonso Africa (representing themselves) were tried and acquitted on weapons and conspiracy charges by a jury that deliberated for almost six days.
After MOVE, John Africa moved to a new location on Osage Ave. in West Philadelphia, law enforcement officials obtained permission from the Mayor's office to evict members of MOVE due to neighborhood complaints of obscenity and arrest warrants. On May 13, 1985, they attempted to evict MOVE and execute arrest warrants. Non-compliance by MOVE developed into an armed standoff and firefight.
Eleven MOVE members, including John Africa, five other adults and five children died in the resulting fire. Although the members were all huddled in the basement with access to a back alley, the alley was under police gunfire. The lone surviving woman described bullets flying all around during her first escape attempt, and the lone surviving child described hearing the sound of automatic gunfire when they tried to flee from the fire. Police officers at the scene denied these claims.
Only Ramona and Birdie Africa survived, though both suffered severe burns. Birdie was released but Ramona was convicted and sentenced to serve the maximum sentence of 7 years in prison. She served the full time. Despite the fact that the Philadelphia Police and Fire Departments were found guilty of negligence by the
Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission (MOVE) no criminal charges were ever filed against any of the perpetrators of the bombing, arson, and resulting deaths.
Teachings
John Africa has been classified as an
anarcho-primitivist
Anarcho-primitivism is an anarchist critique of civilization (anti-civ) that advocates a return to non-civilized ways of life through deindustrialization, abolition of the division of labor or specialization, and abandonment of large-scale or ...
. His teachings emphasized the importance of all life and the ways in which capitalism, war, racism, and other social forces serve as direct opposition to this reality. He encouraged strict vegetarianism, raw food, and communal living. According to MOVE's website, "John Africa despises prejudice, despised the man-made standard of inferior-superior," and "John Africa teach MOVE people to believe in and love life, to understand the absolute necessity of life and protect all life equally, meaning all living beings (people, animals, water, soil, air)".
Influence on others
Philadelphia activist
Mumia Abu-Jamal
Mumia Abu-Jamal (born Wesley Cook; April 24, 1954) is an American political activist and journalist who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1982 for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. While on death r ...
has followed the teachings of John Africa,
Letter from Mumia: Long Live John Africa!
NoDeathPenalty.org, July 4, 1998 and was a supporter of the MOVE organization. During Abu-Jamal's 1982 murder trial for the death of a police officer, Abu-Jamal made repeated requests to be represented by Africa. The judge denied these requests as Africa was not a licensed attorney.
See also
*Black nationalism
Black nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that black people are a race, and which seeks to develop and maintain a black racial and national identity. Black nationalist activism revolves ar ...
*Development criticism
Postdevelopment theory (also post-development or anti-development or development criticism) holds that the whole concept and practice of development is a reflection of Western-Northern hegemony over the rest of the world. Postdevelopment thought ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Africa, John
1931 births
1985 deaths
Activists from Philadelphia
African-American anarchists
African-American United States Army personnel
American anti-capitalists
American environmentalists
Anarcho-primitivists
Deaths from fire in the United States
Founders of new religious movements
Political activists from Pennsylvania
United States Army personnel of the Korean War
United States Army soldiers
African Americans in the Korean War