The pages of the letter I've posted below are from the same letter that I referenced in this previous post. The letter is long, and these are pages I have not previously released. In order to contextualize the letter, I'll quote directly from my previous post: "Written on the top-left corner of the first page is "Copy of info Bert Brought back 12/83" and in the top-right corner, it's dated 2/84. In the 70s and 80s, it was common practice for a MOVE prisoner to talk to Vincent Leaphart on the phone, take notes, and then write out the notes long-form. This "information" given by Leaphart (John Africa) was passed on to another MOVE prisoner who was expected to copy it out by hand (often multiple times) and then pass it along to other members. There are thousands of pages of documents written in this way. These notes were originally taken by Alberta in December of 1983, but this particular copy was made in February of 1984."
As with most inner-circle MOVE documents, this one can be difficult to understand unless you know the multiple names of each person. In this letter, Vincent Leaphart/John Africa is referred to as "The Co.," which means "The Coordinator," and "Baul." Baul is also sometimes spelled "Ball." I've heard many stories about how he came to have this name. The most common is that Leaphart took on the name Bill when MOVE was underground in Rochester, NY and that Ria's son, Tomaso, mispronounced Bill as Ball. "Mama" is one of MOVE's words for God or Mother Nature.
There is a lot to untangle in these pages, and at some point, I'll expand on the strange details in the first few pages. For now, however, I will focus on a section that appears in the last two pages. It's worth reading through the entire document, but for ease of reading I've typed out the section I'm referring to here:
“The Coordinator said when he was young he did everything like an animal, instinctively, he only know one way then - Mama’s way. One day he was in the park with the dogs and he seen these people fishing. It was 2 men and a woman, the Coordinator was about 11 at that time, and when he saw them people hook that fish he went off on em! He attacked em, him and the dogs, but the Coordinator did the most to them. When he got finish, all three of them people was laid out. The Coordinator just left ‘em there. He said they was most likely dead, he didn’t stay to find out. He just left em but he said they was fucked up, and all layed out like they was dead. The Coordinator at that time when he was young didn’t know nothing about why people do what they do. He ain’t know nothin about reconditioning, or this system. That’s why he attacked them three people like that. All he saw was wrong and he dealt with it, and that’s how he was until he got a little older, and something just came over him, and he just knew how he had to handle people. From then on, he understood about this system, the reconditioning in people, and what he had to do to deal with the situation, and get rid of it ultimately. But until that came over him to reveal that to him, the Coordinator was like a wild animal, and he did things like a wild animal. What we see in the Coordinator is what he allows us to see based on our understanding cause we would not relate to him otherwise.”
In the above story, an 11-year-old Vincent Leaphart stumbles upon two men and one woman fishing in Fairmount Park and is so enraged by their violation of nature that he beats them, possibly to death. For my purposes here it doesn't matter whether or not there is a shred of truth to this story, the important thing is that this is a story that is told within MOVE. Keep in mind that for the author of this letter, and for the letter's intended audience, Vincent Leaphart/John Africa is the only perfect being (more information on that here). Within MOVE, it is taught that John Africa never made a mistake. He was born as a perfect channel of Mama nature, completely in touch with his instincts, and sent by God to destroy civilization and return the planet to Edenic harmony.
The fact that this story is told within MOVE, and that many similar stories are told in a jovial and boastful fashion, demonstrates how little value is placed on human life within MOVE. The crime that the God-man, Leaphart, may have murdered three people for was attempting to catch fish. The insanity of this story is typical of the insanity and inconsistency that runs through every facet of MOVE. Contrary to MOVE's curated public image, MOVE has never been a vegan or vegetarian organization. During my 20 years around MOVE, there was never a member who was consistently a vegetarian for more than a year. Vegetarianism isn't even a goal within MOVE.
If one is going to eat fish, then what could be a less destructive, more natural way, than catching it yourself? Yet, this story was widely circulated within MOVE and no one dared to question it. This is important because it demonstrates that within MOVE, justice is whatever Vincent Leaphart said it was. That's a key to understanding how John Africa could intentionally lead his people to die in the house on Osage Avenue on May 13th, 1985, murdering Delisha, Zanetta, Katricia, Phil, and Tomaso, who were children and had no choice. During my time in MOVE, justice was whatever Alberta and Ria said it was. The murder of Alberta's ex-husband, John Gilbride, could be justified in a similar fashion.
It's been many months since I've written here, and I don't plan to resume frequent posting, but the anniversary of the May 13th bombing has caused me to think about this subject even more than usual. I'm aiming to publish a few posts in the coming weeks. In the meantime, this platform is available for guest posts from former members or close supporters of MOVE, or anyone who has been harmed by MOVE. I plan to continue to keep this blog up as a resource, and hopefully a place people will stumble upon as they research MOVE. I can always be reached at leavingMOVE@gmail.com.
