Who is Delbert Orr Africa (in a snapshot)

by Yvonne Orr on Friday, May 13, 2011

Delbert Orr Africa is a political prisoner who
has been wrongfully incarcerated for over 30
years. Delbert Orr was born June 21, 1951 (this
is the media published date, NOT the real one
which will remain undisclosed...for the record,
my dad is actually 65...do the math =).  As a
young man he joined the Chicago Chapter of the
Black Panther Party, where he met my mom. A
loving relationship ensued with her being a
feisty officer of the BPP and him being a nubuck
in the game of stand-up-for-yourself
revolution.  In 1969 the FBI put forth false
warrants on the Chicago BPP leadership, including
my parents.  They and others then fled to Canada
and birthed One Phoenix Rising...they originally
named me Malaika.  They struggled to get any
financial support while in exile and started
carrying out bank expropriations to sustain
themselves. I was born in a shack, by the water
with no medical personnel, just a young woman (who
had finished high school at 16, college at 19 and
been declared a Mensa member) dead set on ensuring
that I would have a life.

 In October of 1969 Delbert had been back in
Chicago.  As he was driving back to Canada he
crashed and ended up in the hospital. Later, my
mom got word that he was the sole survivor of the
accident and unable to walk. She spoke of
bringing me back to Chicago, but he warned of
raids being enacted against the BPP in Chicago.
In December 1969, Fred Hampton, Sr. was murdered
and they knew we had to head elsewhere.

In March of 1970 Delbert and three other friends
decided to head down to Philadelphia because one
of them was originally from there.  It was there
in Philadelphia that he met members of the MOVE
organization.  He was inspired by their uplifting
approach to revolution and stayed on with them.
My mom stayed in Philly for a few years and
brought me back to Chicago in 1973. Meanwhile,
Delbert ended up becoming Minister of
Confrontation and Security for the MOVE Organization.


MOVE vs. The police

After countless false charges, ongoing harassment
and many altercations, police finally decided
that it was time for MOVE to be vanquished. When
the police raided the MOVE house in August 1978,
Delbert was the one videotaped being beaten
brutally by police.  He suffered a broken jaw and
fractured eye socket from the attack.


Life in Prison

Delbert started his prison sentence out in the
"hole" for 6 years in a Dallas prison for
refusing to break his religious beliefs and cut
his hair. I was not allowed to visit with him
during this time. In fact, on one occasion my
Granny-- who didnt' drive-- enlisted her
girlfriend to drive us from Texas to Philly after
getting word that we could see him. Some 20 odd
hours later, we were denied because my birth
certificate "didn't look right". We traveled back
with me in tears. I did get to see him a year 1/2
later, though, making the same trek as
before.   In December 1989 he was transferred out
of Dallas, they had riots at Camp Hill prison,
which though he wasn't even a part of, the state
prison used as an excuse to send him to the
Federal system. We didn't get word of his
transfer for 11 months! In federal prison he was
under 23 hour lock up, 24 hours lock up on
weekends where they wouldn't even let him out for
yard. He stayed in long-term solitary confinement
until May of that year. Then they transferred him
to another prison (again without informing his family).

At the new prison he was offered a job in the
printing shop. They were mystified when he turned
them down because pay was good for prison work-
$86 a month. Delbert explained the situation,

"I said, 'Naw, I don't want that." They said,
"Wait a minute. This is just starting off, you
can move right on up." I said, "Look, I've been
in the hole for 6 years. I want some air! I don't
want no career in the prison." So they assigned
me to the yard detail. And that was it, I loved
that. I stayed in there a year and they shipped
me back to state. When I got back they put me in
the hole for about 3 weeks, then I got out, they
put me in population.

That "population" consists of repeat rapists,
serial killers, true murderers and gang thugs.
What I have learned through my father/daughter
relationship is that I am loved (despite the
distance & circumstances) by two parents. I've
never heard anything remotely cult-ish come out
of my father's mouth. He's never "strongly
encouraged" me to join MOVE. He's been an
educator, mentor, protector and father as best as
he could given his situation. I love him, have no
shame to claim him and will forever be bound by our blood.

 The May 13, 1985 bombing of the MOVE house
wasn't justice! The bombing resulted in 11
deaths, including 5 children and the group's
leader John Africa. Only 2 occupants survived,
Ramona, an adult and Birdy, a child. In addition,
60 homes were destroyed in the resulting fires.
There does come a time when HUMANITY should take
precedence over political agendas.

 Shame on us all for allowing many others beyond
the MOVE 9 to be wrongfully incarcerated as well.


See
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/92093604.html

for more.

What's Time or Money Got to Do With It? - Bro. Phil Africa, MOVE 9

Sunday, May 8, 2011

What's Time or Money Got to Do With It?

Never forget 1985! Now is the time to free the MOVE 9!

Friday May 13, Join the MOVE organization to watch “MOVE: A Confrontation” to understand the unjust incarceration of the MOVE 9 and how the battle for their release leads to the bombing of MOVE in 1985.
L-13 Gladfelter Hall, Temple University
1115 W. Berks Street, Philadelphia 6-9 pm

Saturday May 14, join us for a rally Broad & Chestnut sts, Philadelphia 12-3 pm

What’s Time or Money Got to Do with It?
Phil Africa, MOVE 9
Ona MOVE!You may have heard about our family going to the D.A. last year to have murder charges filed against city officials and police involved in the murders of eleven of our family members on May 13th 1985. The D.A.’s office refused to carry out the filing of murder charges against its bosses and murderous racist buddies. A situation very familiar to all of us poor folks and people of color who have ever tried to have officials held responsible for crimes committed against us through out history. Nothing has changed from the older days of slavery til’ today. The double standard of how the poor and of color are mistreated compared to Monies & Official people still stands more than ever!

In a system where they still hunt Nazis for war crimes from World War 2, where soldiers are still being killed and killing long after the war created on lies in Iraq is suppose to be over, there are hundreds of people held captive on death rows waiting to be murdered many years after the crimes they were accused of committing have passes, but when it come to going after those who’ve murdered MOVE folks, the only thing of importance to this system is time, dollars and cents. In a system that is well known for its revengeful, violent attitude of never forget/never forgive and drive to hunt down those it sees as responsible no matter how long it takes or how much it cost when something is sees as wrong is done to it, for it to say our charges were “investigated decades ago” and that it is a legitimate policy decision for the D.A.’s office to save resources by not investigating a matter again” is racist and insane. Neither of the issues sighted by the D.A. and upheld by common pleas Judge Palumbo had anything to do with justice or being right. They both were the pattern response to Black and Poor folks complaints when they are against this system and its agents, that time and money are those in office only concern!
Of course both excuses are crap! This state has over fifty-one thousand people locked up in prison and adding more each day! At a time when other states prison populations are going down, this state is sky rocketing! The federal government stated that all crimes are down across the nation, yet Pennsylvania continues to lock people up and keep them locked up to the point where they have to build even more prisons, costing the tax payer more money.

One of the prisons alone is expected to cost $127 million, so three would put around $381 million. This system admits these three new prisons will be filled as soon as they are completed in about three years! And these officials got the nerve to talk about “saying scarce resources” as their reason for not wanting to investigate the murders of 11 move members that includes five children. Everyone should be outrages about this foul injustice.

Like with the case of Oscar Grant out in LA, as long as this system thinks that it can murder Black folks, poor folks at will and get only a slap on the wrist if convicted, they have no motivation to stop. These official criminals that hide behind the labels of Judge/DA/Mayor/Governor/Police Officer and misuse those positions/labels to commit crimes that non-officials go to jail for every day, must be stopped! These officials must be made to realize that they are public servants and when they cease to do the will of the public, the people, when they are exposed as being the same as slave plantation overseers, then they must be removed as any overseer should be removed. Keep in mind what John Africa teach “that just because its legal, don’t make it right”, LONG LIVE JOHN AFRICA! That Judge and DA can talk all the legal crap they want, but it don’t make their rulings right. It is not right that they try to act like “time” has something to do with justice, that money has anything to do with justice, because they do not. 11 MOVE people were murdered on May 13th, 1985 and everyone knows that any honest investigation must be viewed as a accomplice in those murders. That’s how they roll when it comes to poor folks who they claim can hinder an investigation. What’s time or money got to do with justice making sure that those who are responsible for the murders of 11 people don’t get away! Bringing the guilty to justice should be the only concern. Clearly that’s not how the judges and D.A.’s office feels. Now if it were a cop who’d been murdered we all know the D.A. and Judge would be singing another tune! They would be kicking down doors, having Black males face down in the streets, the Mayor would be on the news vowing to capture those they think are responsible, every cop would be towing the Blue Line of saying they will never forgive or forget and swearing to look for the killer no matter how long it took or how much money it cost. Time or money would never be an issue. But when its Black lives we’re talking about, poor people’s lives we’re talking about.

Folks don’t let these people get away with murder! Don’t let these same people who have pulled every lie and trick they could invent to put and keep innocent MOVE people in jail for over 32 years at a cost of well over 5 million dollars for crimes this system know that we did not commit, get away with 11 murders and that the world knows that this system committed!

Like I said, Time and Cost got nothing to do with seeing that justice is done! People must demand that those responsible for the murders of 11 MOVE people including 5 children be made to face the charges like all those they hunt down daily for far less!

Let me make this clear, we in MOVE are not looking for justice from this system, John Africa has exposed this system for being completely corrupt with no justice to give, how could it, when it is founded on the foundation of rape, murder, slave, genocide, lies and oppression. People need to see that there is No justice in this system and need to stop allowing this system to ride hard over people as if it is just, fair, balanced, when all this system is, is a LIE! Each time we expose this system for being the racist, unjust monster that it is, we are doing the work needed to wake people up to stop allowing this system to get away with the crimes it constantly commits. LONG LIVE JOHN AFRICA’S REVOLUTION AND DOWN WITH THIS ROTTEN REFORM WORLD SYSTEM! Free All Political & Class prisoners! Unity is Power!