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The remains of two Black children killed in an infamous 1985 Philadelphia police bombing have gone missing, with two Ivy League universities unable to confirm their whereabouts. [...] In May 1985, after attempts to evict the group from its home in West Philadelphia, the city flew a helicopter over it and dropped a bomb. The explosives resulted in a raging fire, which the fire department refused to control. Various accounts suggest that police began shooting at members attempting to flee. Only two people escaped, and six adults and five children died in the blaze. A forensic pathologist produced reports on the human remains found in the debris, including two sets of bones identified as belonging to Tree Africa, 14, and Delisha Africa, 12. Mike Africa Jr., a current MOVE member who spent his childhood with the group, remembered Tree as fearless, someone who would find the tallest tree in the park and race to its peak. "No one could climb higher than she could," he said in an interview this month. "She never feared the way up." Delisha, he said, was always right behind her.

After an investigation into the bombing, the remains were given to anthropologist Alan Mann by the city Medical Examiner's Office, according to the MOVE Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission letters, for further analysis. At the time, he worked at the University of Pennsylvania. When Mann transferred to Princeton University in 2001, he reportedly took the bones with him. Researchers connected to the schools also used the girls' bones in an online forensic anthropology teaching video, without permission of the relatives' families. That the MOVE bones were still being held by the universities was not widely known before revelations published this week by online news site Billy Penn. It has led to public outrage as controversy builds over American museums' display and study of human remains. Just last week, the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology pledged to repatriate another group of problematic human remains known as the Morton Collection.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said Thursday that he was "extremely disturbed" by the mishandling of the girls' remains and that the city is reviewing its internal records from the time of the bombing. On Thursday, MOVE member Pam Africa told The RemiX Morning Show her organization had never been contacted about the remains. "None of these monsters have called one MOVE person," Africa said. "Tree has a mother, Consuela Africa, who did 16 years in jail." Where are the bones now? It's unclear.

In its latest statement, the University of Pennsylvania said the remains "were returned to the care and stewardship of Dr. Mann at Princeton University." Princeton then denied it had them, saying via spokesperson "no remains of the victims of the MOVE bombing" are on its premises. Mann, who is 81 and retired from Princeton, has not responded to calls about the situation. Current members of MOVE are demanding that Tree's and Delisha's remains be returned to them. They want apologies from the universities and an investigation into how the girls' remains were handled.

(April 2021)

The Penn Museum has discovered additional human remains in its possession associated with the 1985 MOVE bombing in West Philadelphia.  The remains are believed to be those of 12-year-old Delisha Africa, who was one of five children and six adults killed as Philadelphia police firebombed the Africa house during a standoff. They were discovered during a comprehensive inventory that the museum conducted of its Biological Anthropology Section to prepare thousands of artifacts, some dating back more than a century, to be moved into upgraded storage facilities.

In a statement, the museum said it is not known how this set of MOVE remains were separated from the rest, and it notified the Africa family immediately upon the discovery. The human remains recovered from the destroyed house on Osage Street were turned over to the Penn Museum for analysis as part of an investigation. In 2021, some of those remains were discovered to still remain at the museum, used as instructional material by an anthropologist at both Penn Museum and Princeton University, which led to protests. Those remains were ultimately returned to the Africa family, at which time Penn Museum apologized and promised to conduct an ongoing comprehensive inventory of its biological anthropology section. According to a statement by the Penn Museum, another set of previously unaccounted for remains were discovered on Nov. 12 which are believed to be those of Delisha Africa.

(November 2024)

Members of the Africa family — part of the Black liberation group MOVE — came to Philadelphia City Hall Monday morning, renewing calls for their family remains to be returned, along with their ancestral home. Last month, the Penn Museum announced that an ongoing inventory uncovered more unaccounted remains believed to be those of 12-year-old Delisha Africa. Mike Africa Jr., who has taken over leadership of the group, accused the museum of continuing to hold the remains of other MOVE bombing victims. “I’ve learned, with my team, that the Penn Museum is not only responsible for stealing the remains of Katrina and Delisha,” he said. “We know that they’re not being honest and forthright because our documentation indicates that there is a third set of remains.”

On May 13, 1985, Philadelphia police dropped a military-grade bomb on the home of the MOVE Organization at 6221 Osage Ave. Authorities let the fire burn, leaving 11 people, including five children, dead. The 1985 bombing also destroyed 61 homes across two blocks of a predominantly Black neighborhood. Those killed were Tomaso “Boo” Levino, Delisha Orr, Zanetta Dotson, Phil Phillips, Katricia “Tree” Dotson, Theresa Brooks, Frank James, John Africa, Raymond Foster, James Conrad Hampton and Rhonda Ward. Mike Africa believes the additional remains are of Katrina Dotson, Africa’s sister. “Potentially her remains have been studied and processed to where they were potentially ground down to dust,” he said.

The human remains recovered from the Osage Avenue home had initially been turned over to the Penn Museum for analysis as part of an investigation. An anthropologist with ties to the museum used some of those remains as instructional material for an online forensics course, WHYY’s Billy Penn reported in 2021.This revelation, and the descretation of the MOVE bombing victims’ remains by the city Medical Examiner’s Office, led to widespread demonstrations. Africa said he thought it was wrong that the family has been unable to have closure after nearly 40 years because the remains were being studied. “This type of discrimination and defamation is why these things are allowed to happen and people get away with impunity. I mean, it is criminal,” he said.

In addition to the return of all bombing victim remains, the MOVE Organization seeks possession of 6221 Osage Ave. to create a memorial. Africa said the city of Philadelphia should also teach about the incident in schools to show students what happened on that May day in 1985. In a statement to WHYY News, Penn Museum officials say “Penn Museum’s Director has been in direct contact with the Africa mothers since the information about the additional MOVE remains was shared with them on November 12. We are waiting to learn more about their wishes.”