Who was John Gilbride?

In all of this, it's easy to become focused on all of the strange and scandalous details (I'm well aware as I have at times been hooked on true crime and cult podcasts) and lose touch with the humanity of people who are most affected. One of my greatest fears in all of this is that John Gilbride, the human being, will be lost in all of the lurid details of life inside MOVE, or that Pixie, Whit, Josh, Sara, Salina, and others will disappear into the spectacle. 

It’s for this reason that I'm happy to see that Teaser number 4 of "Murder at Ryan's Run" focuses on John Gilbride and the people who knew and love him. I only met John twice. I saw him many times (unfortunately) when we, MOVE members and supporters, were picketing in front of the custody proceedings. The two occasions when I met John were uncomfortable as he was well aware that I was deeply involved in the campaign against him. The first time I met John was in the parking lot of the Montessori school in Cherry Hill, NJ. It was during a lull in the custody case, likely sometime in the late winter/early spring of 2002 (though I could be off by a few months in either direction). Things were obviously quite tense between Alberta and John and I believe that visiting with their son Zack in the parking lot of Zack's school may have been John's only opportunity to see his son. I occasionally drove Alberta around at that time and I accompanied her that day. 

Despite the fact that John knew about all of my actions against him he was kind to me. He introduced himself and shook my hand. We kept things very civil. I remember having a tinge of doubt in my 18-year-old brain, thinking "what the hell are we all doing? If they can be civil like this in the parking lot then why is she publicly claiming he's a government agent on a mission to destroy MOVE and the Mumia movement?" The next time I met John it was at Alberta's house in Cherry Hill (which had also been John's house). It was around the same time of year, and Alberta offered that day as a time that John could come to see Zack. Looking back I can't imagine John going to see his son and arriving to find a random 18-year-old who had spoken out publicly against him. Despite this he was cordial and we sat at the same table and had pancakes. 

I wish that so many things had worked out differently. I’ve shared so many experiences with John, and I think that if I had gotten to know him, we may have gotten along very well. John sounded the alarm about many of the abuses within MOVE long before I, or many others, were ready to grapple with them. I hope that in this process we can all come to better understand who John really was.

John Gilbride

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