This post is by Maiga Milbourne
In Philly, MOVE has been central to leftist organizing. It’s unlikely that you went to a demo or program without seeing a MOVE member or supporter. And there are still MOVE people doing activist organizing.
Kevin and I have heard from a few different organizers asking us our perspective on how to handle organizing with MOVE going forward. I don’t want to speak for Kevin and I want to be very clear that I am only speaking for myself-- not the MOVE survivors or any collective or anything like that. Just me. Maiga Milbourne. My limited perspective.
I think we should keep doing good work and we keep survivors and others who have been victims of MOVE (like the Gilbride family) centered.
Kevin and I have tried hard not to become de facto arbiters of these decisions. We don’t know the various organizations and individuals who are engaged in projects with MOVE as an organization or individuals within it. We don’t know the implications and histories that affect these decisions. As fellow activists, we trust you all to investigate your own ethics and make decisions that align with your missions and goals.
And we trust that you can do that without obscuring the survivors.
I’ve heard of really great decisions that people are making-- doing Mumia support work but getting clear on mutual decision making so that there isn’t covert enabling of MOVE. When a group that published some books that included the history of MOVE approached Kevin about whether or not to continue, Kevin’s thought was why not add a sticker in the publications that links to these allegations. That way, MOVE’s version of their history is still told along with the whole story, which includes the survivors. A longtime organizer who manages a venue asked about whether or not to host MOVE going forward. My personal thought is that if people are doing good work, allow the good work, but make sure that everyone knows about the survivors, especially right now when June is still in hiding and there are still minors in MOVE.
In early August BlackStar held their annual film festival. My feed was full of activists celebrating this beloved event. And, there was a panel on family repair that included Mike Africa Sr, Debbie Africa, Mike Africa Jr. I know of activists who alerted the festival founders about the allegations of abuse within MOVE. I looked on the site on the premiere date and didn’t see any acknowledgment of the abuse (I recognize that I might not have seen it-- but about 20 minutes navigating the main pages both on their site and Facebook, including this event specifically, yielded nothing obvious).
I later learned that a few statements did go up-- one that was lukewarm (in my opinion) and a statement that was listed on the site at the time of the event Friday night that centered Mike Sr, Debbie, and Mike Jr “as survivors themselves” and a lot else that was significantly troubling given the active, current danger and harm to those speaking out against MOVE in this moment.
I want to take a moment to acknowledge that obviously Mike Jr, Debbie, and Mike Sr are survivors. Mike Sr and Debbie both served 40 years in prison. Mike Jr was born in prison, separated from his parents, among other harms suffered.
In this context, they’re using the term “survivor” to align with the currently recognized MOVE survivors— at this moment, publicly: June, Michelle-Whit, Josh, Sara, Salina, Maria, and Rain— who have taken a huge public stand at tremendous personal risk. While I don’t at all pretend that this current period is easy for anyone affiliated with MOVE, to date, Mike Jr, Debbie, and Mike Sr have not spoken as transparently as the named survivors, they haven’t put as much on the line, and they haven’t taken responsibility for their complicity through silence and beyond.
To return to the BlackStar film festival and the workshop including Mike Jr, Debbie, and Mike Sr, by midday Saturday, you could no longer watch footage from the panel so I don’t know what was said nor if the abuse was acknowledged.
I know BlackStar is a vibrant, valuable organization. I’m singling out this event because it happened recently and it’s an example, to me, of a situation that should have been handled with more depth and complexity. Many of the survivors do not feel that those who were on the panel have been transparent about accounting for their own role in allowing the abuse within MOVE to continue for decades, or that they have been clear in explaining how things like the terror campaign against John Gilbride were allowed and participated in by every first-generation MOVE member.
I originally wrote this piece right after the BlackStar film festival. A lot has happened in the intervening time— WURD has hosted survivors, the Inquirer printed a front-page story on their journey, and the activist group Food Not Bombs Solidarity (FNBS) posted a statement no longer endorsing MOVE due to lack of accountability or response from leadership. I was truly impressed by the action from FNBS and grateful that their words demonstrated an understanding of the burden of survivorship and the responsibility of being accountable. In the context of this piece, I want to acknowledge their clear ownership of their involvement with MOVE and their stance to no longer endorse a group that will not account for its own wrongdoing. Thank you, FNBS.
So that’s my feeling. Pam is a tremendous organizer and Mumia is not yet free. Personally, I believe we should work alongside her for his freedom. And, I also want Pam to publicly disclose what she knows about abuses within MOVE so that those abuses cannot continue and that there is justice for survivors. I want her to publicly acknowledge and reconcile her active role in the war against John Gilbride and his family. Mike Jr and his parents have aspirations to continue doing organizing work. They should do good work. And first and foremost, they should support the survivors by telling the truth themselves. Every adult in MOVE knew a lot more than most of them are acknowledging. Every adult knowingly took part in the campaign against John Gilbride despite knowing that Alberta was waging a war against him based on lies. All of these things need to be acknowledged in order for there to be the kind of healing that allows people to do the work that they are doing with any degree of integrity.
We need a new model of organizing, one that doesn’t shield offenders. We need a new model of transparency that acknowledges all of our humanity and capacity for wrong. That’s the only way we make ourselves safe.
Maiga Milbourne was a dedicated MOVE supporter from 2002-2018. She distanced herself from the group as she began to note troubling patterns within MOVE. In 2021, June Stokes AKA Pixie Africa disclosed severe abuse suffered within MOVE. Together with Maiga’s husband Kevin Price, “Murder at Ryan’s Run” podcast producer Beth McNamara, podcast researcher Bob Helms, and former MOVE members Josh and Whit Robbins, a plan was crafted where June publicly left MOVE with her 5 children and went into hiding. Publicity from both the podcast and this blog has been used to keep her and her children safe.
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