Declaring May 13th, 2025, the 40th Anniversary of the MOVE Bombing, as a day of reflection and remembrance in the City of Philadelphia.

Declaring May 13th, 2025, the 40th Anniversary of the MOVE Bombing, as a day of reflection and remembrance in the City of Philadelphia. WHEREAS, On May 13th, 1985, the City of Philadelphia, as part of an effort to forcefully evict MOVE, a Black liberation group, from their home at 6221 Osage Avenue, fired over 10,000 rounds of ammunition in under 90 minutes at a rowhome containing children; and WHEREAS, City officials then made the unconscionable decision to drop a military-grade bomb on the home, the first and only time an American police force bombed those they are sworn to protect and serve. The resulting explosion sparked a fire, which the authorities let burn; and WHEREAS, By the time the decision was made to fight the fire, it was already out of control. Five children between the ages of seven and thirteen, along with six adults, perished in the MOVE house. Two full City blocks were burned to the ground, destroying 61 houses and leaving 250 Philadelphians homeless; and WHEREAS, An investigatory commission set up by Mayor Wilson Goode concluded that the City of Philadelphia’s decision to bomb the MOVE house was "reckless, ill-conceived and hastily approved;” and WHEREAS, Five years ago, 35 years after it occurred, the Council of the City of Philadelphia formally apologized for the first time for the decisions leading to the devastation of May 13, 1985, and acknowledged the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of the MOVE Bombing; and WHEREAS, Even th…