Family calls on Penn Museum to return remains of girl killed in MOVE bombing

Family members and a city councilmember are calling on the University of Pennsylvania's museum to return the remains of a 12-year-old girl who was killed in the 1985 MOVE bombing in Philadelphia.

During a press conference at City Hall on Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, MOVE member Mike Africa Jr. and Philadelphia Councilmember Jamie Gauthier (3rd District) demanded that Penn Museum give back the remains of Delisha Africa. The 12-year-old girl was one of five children and six adults who were killed when police bombed the MOVE organization’s home in Philadelphia's Cobbs Creek neighborhood back on May 13, 1985, causing a fire that spread to dozens of rowhomes.

"We are still being lied to and continuously harmed and outraged by the fact that our family members' remains have still not been turned over to us," Mike Africa Jr. said during Monday's press conference.

Yvonne Malaika Orr-El, Delisha Africa's sister, also spoke during the press conference.

"I want you to take a moment to imagine your daughter, your sister, being cooked and burned alive, screaming trying to get out of a house, balling up because there's nothing else that she can do," she said. "And then when others try to escape being shot back into that burning fuselage. I want you to think about that. Could you live through that? For your own family member? Your blood? I did."

Philadelphia Councilmember Jamie Gauthier (3rd District) -- who had introduced a resolution in 2020 in which the city formally apologized for the MOVE bombing for the first time -- spoke during the press conference as well.

"The fact that we are still here holding our breath, waiting for even more remains to be discovered three years after this initially came to light is a slap in the face to the Africa family and our community at large," she said.

MOVE members, led by founder John Africa, practiced a lifestyle that shunned modern conveniences, preached equal rights for animals and rejected government authority. The group clashed with police and many of their practices drew complaints from neighbors.

Police seeking to oust members from their headquarters used a helicopter to drop a bomb on the house on May 13, 1985. More than 60 homes in the neighborhood burned to the ground as emergency personnel were told to stand down.

A 1986 commission report called the decision to bomb an occupied row house “unconscionable.” MOVE survivors were awarded a $1.5 million judgment in a 1996 lawsuit.

In 2021, Penn Museum officials acknowledged that the university had retained bones from at least one bombing victim after helping with the forensic identification process in the wake of the bombing. A short time later, the city notified family members that there was a box of remains at the medical examiner’s office that had been kept after the autopsies were completed.

In November 2024, Penn Museum announced they had found Delisha Africa's remains during a comprehensive inventory they conducted to prepare thousands of artifacts, some dating back more than a century, to be moved into upgraded storage facilities.

The museum said it's not known how the remains found in November were separated from the rest, and it notified the child's family upon the discovery.

“We are committed to full transparency with respect to any new evidence that may emerge,” Penn Museum said in a statement on its website back in November.

"Confronting our institutional history requires ever-evolving examination of how we can uphold museum practices to the highest ethical standards. Centering human dignity and the wishes of descendant communities govern the current treatment of human remains in the Penn Museum’s care.”

Civil rights attorneys Bakari Sellers and Daniel Hartstein -- who represent Lionell Dotson, whose sister Katricia was killed in the 1985 MOVE bombing -- claimed that Delisha Africa's remains turned up "despite repeated assurances" that all the remains from the bombing were returned to families.

“For nearly 40 years, the City of Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania and the Penn Museum have refused to treat the MOVE Bombing victims or their families with the even most basic level of respect and decency and this latest revelation is just the most recent in a long line of atrocities Black folks in America have had to live with," the attorneys said in a Nov. 14, 2024 statement from the Strom Law Firm. "We are disgusted and disappointed but, unfortunately, we are not surprised.

“The damage Penn has done is absolutely appalling and unforgivable. It’s time they did the right thing so these children can finally rest in peace.”

Penn Museum released a new statement following the Dec. 9 press conference.

"The Penn Museum's Director has been in direct contact with the Africa mothers since the information about the additional MOVE remains was immediately shared with them on November 12," a Penn Museum spokesperson wrote. "We are waiting to learn more about their wishes."

The museum also released an additional statement on its website.

Janet Africa -- who identified herself as Delisha Africa's mother -- released a statement to NBC10 in response to the Dec. 9 press conference.

"This is Janet Africa from JOHN AFRICA’s MOVE Organization, there was a press conference this morning speaking about my daughter Delisha’s remains," she wrote. "I want it made clear to everybody that Michael Davis does not speak for me or on behalf of my daughter’s remains and he does not speak for JOHN AFRICA’s MOVE Organization! On The Move!"

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