Ramona Africa
Ramona Africa is the sole adult survivor of the bombing. Her take on the bombing is, "The first thing I want people to understand is that that bombing did not happen because of some complaints from neighbors. They bombed us because of our unrelenting fight for our family members, known as the MOVE 9, who have been in prison unjustly going on 32 years now, as a result of the August 8, 1987 police attack on MOVE." She remembers May 13, 1985 vividly. After she was released from the hospital, she was charged with conspiracy, riot, and multiple counts of simple and aggravated assault. After being convicted, she was sentenced to sixteen months to seven years in jail.
Ramona was released in 1992 and has continued to advocate for the MOVE 9. In 1996, she won a federal law suit against the city. The eight jury members said the city used excessive force and violated MOVE's constitutional right against unreasonable search and seizure when they dropped a bomb on their bunker. Fire Commissioner, William Richmond, Police Commissioner, Gregore Sambor, and the city of Philadelphia were ordered to pay $1.5 to Ramona and other MOVE members.
Ramona was released in 1992 and has continued to advocate for the MOVE 9. In 1996, she won a federal law suit against the city. The eight jury members said the city used excessive force and violated MOVE's constitutional right against unreasonable search and seizure when they dropped a bomb on their bunker. Fire Commissioner, William Richmond, Police Commissioner, Gregore Sambor, and the city of Philadelphia were ordered to pay $1.5 to Ramona and other MOVE members.
"We felt the house shake, but I can speak for myself here, it never, ever occurred to me they dropped a bomb. It started getting hot, more and more smoke, crackling of the fire. We realized then the house was on fire. We immediately tried to get our children, our animals, ourselves out of that burning building. The adults were hollering, 'We're coming out, we're coming out.'The children were hollering. And the instant we could be seen trying to come out, the cops immediately started shooting at us. You could hear the bullets all around us, forcing us back into the burning building. This happened at least twice. It started getting so bad in there with the fire spreading so quickly and the smoke. You're faced with the situation, you're either going to be burned alive or possibly shot to death." - Ramona Africa