MOVE Children Deserve to Rest in Peace! Return our family's remains NOW!

The University of Pennsylvania, The Penn Museum, Princeton University, and Coursera

MOVE Organization

After decades of enduring state murder, police terrorism, and the political imprisonment of our family members, it has come to the attention of The MOVE Family that Penn Museum and Princeton University have held hostage the remains of our children, Tree Africa and Delisha Africa, without our knowledge or consent.

Delisha Africa and Tree Africa were savagely murdered by the Philadelphia Police on May 13, 1985, when they dropped a bomb on our home, burned down two city blocks, and took the lives of FIVE OF OUR CHILDREN: Tree Africa (14), Netta Africa (12), Delisha Africa (13), Little Phil Africa (12), and Tomasa Africa (9); and SIX ADULTS: Rhonda Africa, Teresa Africa, Frank Africa, Raymond Africa, Conrad Africa, and John Africa.

After believing that we buried our beloved children in 1985, it is now clear that the remains of Tree Africa and Delisha Africa were unethically obtained and kept by Penn faculty members, who are forensic anthropologists.

Not only were our children abused and mistreated, bombed and burned by the police, now we find out that they have not been allowed to rest in peace.

We are appalled and demand justice NOW.

University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University must provide answers to The MOVE Family. How were the remains of Delisha and Tree Africa unethically obtained while their families were politically imprisoned? Why were the remains not returned to us 35 years ago when they were first discovered and even now? Why have they been carelessly passed around, stored in a cardboard box, and handled in such an inhumane and exploitative way? Why were they used for scientific research and teaching to profit university professors without our permission or knowledge?

The MOVE Family has been ceaselessly brutalized, criminalized, and dehumanized by the Philadelphia Police Department, held as political prisoners, and murdered. Now we see clearly that the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University have perpetuated this racist violence by defiling the remains of our children in the name of research.

We will stop at nothing short of justice for our beloved children, Delisha Africa and Tree Africa, who were murdered in life and exploited in death by the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University.

WE DEMAND:

  • The immediate return of the remains of Delisha Africa and Tree Africa to The MOVE Family.

  • An immediate apology by the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, the Penn Museum, and Coursera to The MOVE Family and the Black community of Philadelphia for this racist and abhorrent behavior.

  • Financial reparations to The MOVE Family for the continued harm and trauma caused by Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, the Penn Museum, and Coursera, for the profits made by the use of our relatives as teaching tools and research objects.

  • The immediate removal of all online content in which these remains are used, including the online course Real Bones taught by Janet Monge.

  • The termination of Janet Monge from her role as curator at the Penn Museum and faculty in the department of anthropology.

  • The creation of a transparent, public investigation led by a MOVE-approved investigator and funded by the Universities, into how these remains ended up in the Museum’s possession over the past 35 years.

Onamove!

The MOVE Family

Petition by
Mike Africa
Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania

To: The University of Pennsylvania, The Penn Museum, Princeton University, and Coursera
From: [Your Name]

I demand:

The immediate return of the remains of Delisha Africa and Tree Africa to The MOVE Family.

An immediate apology by the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, the Penn Museum, and Coursera to The MOVE Family and the Black community of Philadelphia for this racist and abhorrent behavior.

Financial reparations to The MOVE Family for the continued harm and trauma caused by Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, the Penn Museum, and Coursera, for the profits made by the use of our relatives as teaching tools and research objects.

The immediate removal of all online content in which these remains are used, including the online course Real Bones taught by Janet Monge.

The termination of Janet Monge from her role as curator at the Penn Museum and faculty in the department of anthropology.

The creation of a transparent, public investigation led by a MOVE-approved investigator and funded by the Universities, into how these remains ended up in the Museum’s possession over the past 35 years.