Toward the end of “The Lord of the Rings,” in “The Return of the King,” Sam and Frodo are on a quest to throw the Ring of Power into Mount Doom in order to destroy it. Many have possessed the Ring and believed themselves strong enough to hold the power of the ring to use it for good. However, the seductive allure of the ring has destroyed many, and transforms Smeagol, a humble creature, into Gollum, a power addict made pathetic and treacherous by his desire for control. In the end, even Frodo doesn’t have the strength needed to destroy the ring, and Gollum, in his fiending for his precious ends up destroying the ring as he falls to his own demise.
In my experience, MOVE has a similar hold on people. You can love MOVE or hate MOVE, but it’s hard to deny that there is a power in the narrative that’s been woven. There’s an internal logic in the Guidelines (MOVE’s scriptures) that is compelling, and the small minority of them that are available publicly (at this point) contain a great deal of beauty and wisdom.
People are sucked into cults for as many reasons as people do anything else, but in my observation people stay in for six primary reasons. The simplest one to understand is that people are born in. Cults are worlds unto themselves and if born into one it can be incredibly difficult to fully leave. When one’s neurological wiring has been formed within a cult structure it can feel impossible to think outside of that structure (the same could certainly be said about other things as well; religious belief, culture, political affiliation, etc). People also stay in cults because they’ve been made dependent. Cult members are commonly financially dependent on the structure of the group or are emotionally dependent on the relationships within the group even if they are abusive.
A third reason that some stay is due to having loved ones who are still true believers or are staying in the group for other reasons. The risk of potentially losing everyone you love is very steep. People also stay in cults for fear of the leader releasing vulnerable information about them. Maiga, some of the MOVE abuse survivors, and I have speculated about a few people who have likely stayed in MOVE because Alberta holds information that could put them in prison. Many hesitate to leave due to their fear of being “fair gamed”. This was one of the obstacles that I thought about deeply when I decided to go public. The last reason I’ve observed that people stay in cults is that they are addicted to power.
Power within MOVE is a steep pyramid. Alberta is at the top, Ria (Sue) gains power through being her defender, and then people like Pam and Ramona have their own sources of power within the movements in which they operate so long as they don’t expose what’s happening internally. Weirdly, many supporters (especially white supporters) have more internal power than many born into the Organization. They’re used as buffers between the kids who know the reality of what MOVE is and the leaders who are good at keeping up appearances. As supporters, it was regularly suggested that Maiga and I tell the kids in the Organization how lucky they were to have been born into MOVE. Now that I understand what some of them were experiencing behind closed doors I shudder at those memories.
The people within MOVE with the least power are the children. Light-skinned children within MOVE have significantly more access to power and privilege than dark-skinned children (if you have a hard time believing this please listen to Maria Hardy), but the power that the children have is negligible. Within MOVE children are used for many purposes, primarily to present themselves in a way that will attract others to support the group.
In specific situations; in 1978, 1985, and 2002, children are used as human shields. Every time MOVE has known a confrontation with authorities was imminent they have brought more children into the house in the days leading up to the confrontation. In 1985 all of the children who died were children of imprisoned MOVE members (their parents were not in the house) and the children were brought into the house just days before. According to Birdie, the only child who survived, he only lived because his mother Rhonda forced him out of the house. He was the only child there with a parent to protect him.
Alberta holds most of the power, as Leaphart (the man they call John Africa) did before her, but many people who are publicly associated with the group become used to the allure and mystique they gain from association. After I intellectually left MOVE in 2007 I had to be especially careful of this. Because Maiga (my wife) was still very closely connected to Ria and Bert through interpersonal relationships I had to try not to make too many waves and to still present myself as a MOVE supporter. When I began attending Goddard College in 2008 I was intellectually no longer a MOVE supporter but I couldn’t be too public about that. At times I gained a great deal of power, credibility, and cool points through my association. Thinking about that makes me uncomfortable, but it is certainly the case.
Many of MOVE’s public figures gain a great deal through association with the group. This isn’t to say that that’s their sole motivation. I believe that Pam, Ramona, and Mike Jr. have done some very important and impressive things, and there’s a lot about the work that I did with them for which I have no regrets. However, I firmly believe that that’s why those in public positions within MOVE have done nothing to stop the abuse that they knew full well was occurring. The dynamics of MOVE were structured in such a way that challenging Bert and Ria (Sue) could potentially have destroyed the entire project. Uncovering the control and manipulation that is embedded in MOVE’s structure immediately calls into question the legitimacy of any of their endeavors; Mike Africa Jr. instantly transforms into Mike Davis Jr, Ramona Africa becomes Ramona Johnson, and Pam Africa returns to being Jeanette Knighton.
I certainly have a lot to answer for and contemplate in all of this. I’m a 38-year-old white guy who’s spending an inordinate amount of time publicly critiquing a predominantly Black group that holds a significance and a deep meaning for many people of color, and activists all over the world. I’m also a white guy who became deeply involved with a predominantly Black group and stayed, for many complicated reasons, for years after I began to understand that the inner-teachings of the group had a white supremacist structure. I gained credibility and trust from many through my association with the group, and now I am writing this blog.
Many have questioned my motives and credibility. I understand this. I get why there would be a great deal of distrust for what I’m doing. One of my Facebook friends expressed the concern that “It sets off alarms like a white infiltration and takedown of what we've all thought of as a revolutionary Black organization.” I get it. This is a very bad look. I’m not in any way comfortable right now, but I’m made more uncomfortable by the thought of allowing the inner patterns of MOVE to continue.
When June (Pixie) reached out to Maiga in March and disclosed what she, and others have experienced (I will emphasize again that only a very small percentage of that information has been released) we were both in shock. June was aware that Josh and Whit had similar feelings but she was not sure if they had come to the same conclusions about what needed to happen. I began having long conversations with both of them, they were on the same page and agreed that the only way to stop this nearly fifty-year-old pattern was to expose it publicly and to prevent the pattern from continuing. By making all of this public we are hoping to throw the ring of power into the fires of Mount Doom.
Once we knew what was actually happening Maiga and I were in an impossible situation. We could either be two white people who were silent, and thus complicit, in the face of the exploitation and abuse of Black children, or we could try to work alongside June, Whit, and Josh and publicly expose the abuse. Maiga and I like to write and many in MOVE have been systematically denied an education, so Maiga and I have done a lot of writing. June, Josh, and Whit also endure a tremendous amount of trauma in discussing these things publicly and so Maiga and I have been most vocal. Now that Maria, Sara, Salina, Mario, Oon, Ellie, and Bob have come forward it helps to balance the equation, but still, I’m currently in the best position to write. Maiga and I can either be the people who learn about horrific abuse and remain silent or be viewed as arrogant white savior opportunists. I’ll take the latter if I have to choose, and I’m trying to be very careful in this role.
Some have also loudly accused Maiga, me, and Beth McNamara, the producer of the “Murder at Ryan’s Run” podcast of profiting from this grievous situation. No one has yet been able to explain to me the mechanism for this profit as I’m doing this blog without ads, and Beth McNamara is doing the same from the podcast. I do not speak for Beth or the podcast, but I know firsthand that she has spent thousands of hours researching and working on this project. I wouldn’t begrudge her at all for trying to earn back her time and investment at some point. In a phone conversation with Josh recently he said “I wouldn’t care if Beth earned a billion dollars off of the podcast, she’s the first person who believed us and tried to help.” Some have been skeptical about me starting the GoFundMe for June. As I’ve mentioned on Facebook when June first went into hiding she was not comfortable using her bank account so I started the GoFundMe and transferred the money to her through undetectable means (you can also send her money directly through CashApp and Venmo - June's CashApp - $sheaganics, June's Venmo - @JuneS202). June is now working on transferring the GoFundMe into her name. Anyone who knows June knows that if I was taking money from her or exploiting her in any way you would hear about it.
None of this means that I think that I’m immune from criticism or that my actions have been impeccable. I’m really trying my best, but I know that months from now I’ll see major missteps that I’ve made (possibly this post). I know that I’m not immune from the pull of the ring and that doing what I’m doing now is still gaining attention and recognition for my association with MOVE. This all feels very messy and complicated, but the only other option that I saw was remaining silent, and doing so would have caused me to distrust myself over time-- it would have eaten away at my soul.
Based on many conversations I get the impression that some feel that I’m being too harsh and that I should give some in MOVE a graceful way out of this mess. I understand this thinking but there are reasons that that doesn’t feel like the responsible route to me. Maiga and I are continuing to check in with the survivors of MOVE abuse daily and as soon as my actions are out of sync with their wishes I will alter my course. The reason I think this is the best course goes back to the lesson from “The Lord of the Rings.” The allure of MOVE is too strong to be handled responsibly. The destructive patterns that have allowed abuse to continue for decades are baked in.
Many within the Organization share the concerns that we are publicly airing. Mike Africa Jr. deeply understands how destructive Ria (Sue) and Bert are. They attempted to convince everyone that he and his parents were traitors for attempting to actually get the MOVE 9 free. When Mike began challenging Ria and Bert and started his own version of MOVE I supported him. I had hope that he could restore the Organization to what it was supposed to be. However, once Maiga and I began talking to June, Whit, Josh, and others, we realized that restoring MOVE to its origins would just be restoring it to another abusive structure.
In my opinion, there is nothing solid to build a new foundation on. The history of MOVE is too filled with lies, manipulation, and child sacrifice to be redeemed. My biggest hope is that those who wish to restore MOVE can instead begin to publicly acknowledge the real history of MOVE, take responsibility for their complicity in silence (or worse), allow healing to occur, and build something new and healthy in the spirit of all of the good things that MOVE is supposed to stand for. However, in order for this to happen a lot of identities have to die so that rebirth can occur.
In conversations with many of the survivors of MOVE’s abuse some of us have mentioned that other than anger, fear, and frustration, a common emotion we’re all feeling is grief, like mourning the loss of a loved one or mourning the loss of our former selves. I’m confident something healthier can grow after this difficult experience, but in order to get there, I believe that all of us who have gained so much through protecting the destructive patterns of MOVE must voluntarily fall into the abyss of the fires of Mordor. At this point, I really don’t think there’s another choice.
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