BY LAURA ANAYA-MORGA & KRISTAL SOTOMAYOR ON MAY 20, 2021

Mike Africa Jr. sits in his mother’s old prison cell. His mother Debbie Sims-Africa and father Michael Davis Africa Sr. were incarcerated and convicted as members of the MOVE 9 one month before he was born. (Courtesy of HBO)

Born in the Philadelphia House of Corrections just one month after his parents’ sentencing in 1978, Mike Africa Jr. has spent most of his life trying to free them. His mother Debbie Sims-Africa and father Michael Davis Africa Sr. were both members of the MOVE Organization (MOVE), a revolutionary, back-to-nature, predominantly Black organization, founded by John Africa in the 1970s. Members of MOVE adopt the last name “Africa” and their mission, to this day, continues to be to encourage others to protect life, people, animals and the environment.

A woman taken from MOVE house after the shooting shouts out at a officer as she is placed in van. (Courtesy of the Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, PA. Photographer Jon Falk)

In his new film, 40 Years a Prisoner, director Tommy Oliver follows the journey of MOVE and chronicles the massive Aug. 8, 1978 police raid on MOVE’s Powelton Village headquarters that resulted in a shootout between the group and the Philadelphia Police Department. Officer James J. Ramp was killed in the crossfire and prosecutors alleged that the deadly shot was fired from the basement where MOVE members were taking cover. However, MOVE members maintain that Ramp was fatally wounded by friendly fire. Nine people were charged with third-degree murder for Ramp’s death, including Africa Sr. and Sims-Africa, who was 8 months pregant at the time. All nine members, known as the MOVE 9, were sentenced from 30 to 100 years in prison.

Growing up in Philadelphia, Oliver heard about MOVE, but never understood much about the group. It was not until he conducted his own research on the organization that the deeper story of MOVE’s origins, and the 1978 police shootout, began to reveal itself. “I went through as much as I could find… seven books, 65 articles, I went to the Temple University's Urban Archives where there are 72 boxes of content and sort of went from there,” said Oliver in an interview with ¡Presente! Media. Through his research, Oliver was connected to Africa Jr. and learned about his decades long struggle to free members of the MOVE 9. Through his film, Oliver hopes to bring to light the issues within the prison, policing, and criminal justice system in the U.S.

MOVE supporters marched from City Hall over to the court house then back to City Hall where they broke up. (Courtesy of the Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, PA. Photographer Albert F. Schell)

40 Years a Prisoner lays out the details of the 1978 police shootout while also examining the tensions between MOVE and the Philadelphia Police Department led by Mayor Frank Rizzo. Rizzo often compared the Philadelphia Police Department’s ruthless tactics to Attila the Hun.

Rizzo’s time as mayor is juxtaposed by an era of white supremacy, police harassment and brutality toward Black communities and communities of color. “Philly was a hard place [in the 70s] and Rizzo started as a beat cop,” said Oliver. “He made his way up to Police Commissioner from 1968 to 1971 then as a two-term City Mayor (elected in 1972 and 1976), and if I had to boil his way of operating down, I'd say... you could have civil liberties or safe streets, pick one. He came from a quite tumultuous time in the 60s and he vowed as the Commissioner to not let that happen in Philly. He would do what was necessary to stop that. In many ways that meant quelching rebellion even if it was a peaceful [protest].”

Police officers subdue a MOVE sympathizer. (Courtesy of the Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, PA. Photographer Salvatore C. DiMarco)

In June 2020, the City of Philadelphia removed the statue of Mayor Rizzo located across from City Hall after protesters had tried to do so during demonstrations in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. Throughout the film, interviews with former law enforcement officials, journalists and MOVE members uncover a history of anti-Blackness and racism in Philadelphia with uncanny similarities to today’s fight against police brutality, systemic racism, the faulty prison system and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Both Oliver and Africa Jr. stated that Rizzo left a mark on Philadelphia that can still be felt today. “[Rizzo] said that the Philadelphia Police Department was so well equipped that they could invade Cuba and when you have this person at the top, leading with that sort of [aggressive] demeanor and attitude it permeates everything,” stated Oliver. “It permeates the decisions that the Police Commissioner's making, that the individual officers are making. For MOVE, who questioned their interactions with police, who challenged things, who didn't take things just as a given, it was probably the worst thing possible [for the police] because, for the police, [the norm was] accept what you're given.”

Delbert Orr Africa carries a bag as MOVE members arrive at House of Correction. The four MOVE members did not appear in the courtroom during their hearing. (Courtesy of the Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, PA. Photographer Richard Rosenberg)

The MOVE members disrupted the “norms” of that time by organizing against anti-Black racism and discrimination in the city. “In 1972, people looked at us like we were aliens, because we ate raw food, wearing our hair in locs. That didn't exist in America and Philadelphia like it does now,” explained Africa Jr. “The outward [resistant] behavior of MOVE members; that’s how they talked to the police and they didn't have any respect for the wrong treatment of Black people. A lot of that was definitely before its time.”

The legacy of MOVE has impacted Philadelphia greatly. The tactics MOVE members implemented to protest inequality have contributed to the backbone of community organizing in Philadelphia. As Oliver stated, “What it really comes down to is that they were doing things before they were popular. And they were doing them, not because they were popular or unpopular, but because they were right. It has a lasting impact and I think that, in many ways, this film may reignite those things, because more people will be familiar with who [members of MOVE] really were and what they did.”

According to Africa Jr., 40 Years a Prisoner is a timeless film because “nothing has changed.” This story will continue to be timeless unless the system is changed from the inside and individuals continue to be vocal about what is unjust. “People talked about the film, 40 Years A Prisoner and how timely it is but the fact is, if Tommy Oliver made this film 10 years ago, it would have been timely. If he had made it 20 years ago, it would have been timely. If he had made it 30 years ago, it would have been timely. If he makes it 20 years from now, if people don't make that real active change, it's going to be timely then too,” said Africa Jr. “This film should not have needed to be made but it did, because this is happening to so many people. Everyone, every Black person, every Brown person… knows somebody that is in prison and that's tragic. And all of these rich industrialist people who put these prisons here for us to land in; you don't see them and their kids in prison, but they're more criminal than any prisoner in prison.”

At the bottom of the film poster there is a line that reads, “He will never be free until his family comes home.” But, for Africa Jr., there are still members of the Black community that face similar circumstances as the MOVE 9 and should be treated like family as well. The fight continues for incarcerated or exiled political activists such as Mumia Abu-Jamal, Fred “Muhammad” Burton, Russell "Maroon" Shoatz, Mutulu Shakur, Assata Shakur and Sundiata Acoli, who are all currently facing persecution across the globe. “While I may have had the luxury and the luck of my parents coming home after 40 years, there's a lot of people that are still in those prisons that need their families to have that same luxury and same luck,” explained Africa Jr.

Series features members of MOVE at their headquarters on North Thirty-third Street in West Philadelphia. Member Ishonso Africa is shown in photo P403027. (Courtesy of the Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, PA. Photographer Tinney, Jack)

When Oliver began filming, he had no idea that Debbie Sims would soon be released in June 2018, but was pleased to capture the moment on camera. According to Africa Jr., his parents have been adjusting to the speed of life outside of prison and learning how to use modern day technologies like cellphones and computers. One thing that remained the same throughout those 40 years was the love that they had for one another. When his parents came home, Africa Jr. told them they could have whatever they wanted and he recalls his father replying, “‘Mike, the only thing I want is to marry your mom like I should have done forty years ago.’” To Africa Jr. “that's a testament to the type of love that they have for each other and that they maintained all these years. That is the love that kept us together and gave us the strength and energy to persevere and fight through all of these challenges that we were faced with.”

Now he is working on bringing the story of MOVE to more audiences. Recently, he began a podcast called On a Move with Mike Africa Jr., where he interviews other activists and discusses pressing topics. Africa Jr. encourages others to organize, research and write letters to their elected officials urging them to release people who have been convicted unjustly and to join in on the projects and planning to continue the fight he has spent his entire life working on. Africa Jr. mentioned, “One thing that we’re having people do is write letters. Write to your elected officials, reach out to me, come to my website, send me a message—at www.MikeAfricaJr.com—and I can help point you in that direction. We've got a lot of our projects and planning going on right now that we really could use as many hands as possible to get these projects completed.”

40 Years a Prisoner is available to stream on HBO Max.