Outrage as Philly reacts to wrongful cremations

STORY: US Move Bombing Remains - Outrage as Philly reacts to wrongful cremations

LENGTH: 02:20

FIRST RUN: 0052

RESTRICTIONS:

TYPE: English/Natsound

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

STORY NUMBER: 4325755

DATELINE: 13 May 2021 - Philadelphia

SHOTLIST:

RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

++AUDIO QUALITY AS INCOMING++

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Philadelphia - 13 May 2021

1. Wide of crowd singing and marching with placards

2. Mid of crowd gathered near scene of MOVE building that was bombed by police in 1985

3. Wide of MOVE members listening to speeches, UPSOUND (English) Mike Africa, Jnr., activist and a member of MOVE:

Today, (unintelligible) Africa called me and informed me about the meeting that the city wanted to have with us because they had more news. The news was that they had other remains that they just found out about."

++BLACK FRAMES++

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Africa, Jnr., activist and a member of MOVE:

"And again, instead of contacting the family they made the decision to incinerate them."

++BLACK FRAMES++

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Africa, Jnr., activist and a member of MOVE:

"There are a lot of thoughts that are running through my mind but before we get to those we have to say their names."

6. Mid of crowd at intersection, performer playing trumpet

7. Pan of crowd

STORYLINE:

Philadelphia's top health official was compelled to resign Thursday after the city's mayor learned partial human remains from the 1985 bombing of the headquarters of a Black organization had been cremated and disposed of without notifying family members.

Mayor Jim Kenney said Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley made the decision regarding remains of the MOVE bombing victims several years ago.

The announcement of Farley's ouster came by design on the 36th anniversary of the MOVE bombing, after Kenney consulted victims' family members.

On May 13, 1985, the police, after a day-long confrontation with the black radical and naturalist group MOVE, in an attempt to evict their compound on 6221 Osage Ave., dropped an explosive device on the roof of the building.

The roof caught fire.

Committed to achieving "tactical superiority" to his mission, then-Police Commissioner Gregore J. Sambor told the fire commissioner to let the fire burn.

Eleven people, including five children, died, 61 houses burned, and at least 250 people were left homeless as the fire spread to engulf other properties.

In a statement released by the mayor’s office, Farley said that in early 2017 he was told by the city’s medical examiner, Dr. Sam Gulino, that a box had been found containing materials related to MOVE bombing victims' autopsies.

“In the box were bones and bone fragments, presumably from one or more of the victims,” Farley said.

It is a standard procedure to retain specimens after an autopsy ends and the remains are turned over to the decedent’s next-of-kin, Farley said.

“Believing that investigations related to the MOVE bombing had been completed more than 30 years earlier, and not wanting to cause more anguish for the families of the victims, I authorized Dr. Gulino to follow this procedure and dispose of the bones and bone fragments," Farley said.

The decision was his alone, and other top city officials were not consulted, he said.

After recent reports that local institutions had remains of MOVE bombing victims, Farley said he reconsidered his actions and notified higher-ups. Kenney said Farley told him about what occurred late Tuesday, took responsibility and resigned from the $175,000-a-year job he'd held for five years.

“I profoundly regret making this decision without consulting the family members of the victims and I extend my deepest apologies for the pain this will cause them,” Farley wrote.

Kenney said Farley's decision lacked empathy. Gulino has also been put on leave pending an investigation, Kenney said.

Kenney later told reporters that he had a long and difficult meeting with victims' family members and agreed to publicly disclose the matter on the bombing anniversary at their request.

Coard said MOVE, a group that members describe as a family and an organization, plans to respond to Kenney after deliberating among themselves about what they consider to be a just result.

A lawsuit is possible, Coard said.

He called it the “ultimate desecration.”

Kenney said the remains had been kept in a storage room.

The volume of remains was unclear, and Kenney said he hoped to determine where and how they were disposed of.

The city has hired a law firm to investigate and has agreed to include lawyers for the victims’ families in the process.

Late Thursday, a crowd gathered at an intersection near the block where the bombing happened.

Dressed all in white, MOVE members read a minute-by-minute account of the bombing and the confrontation that led up to it: Philadelphia police, attempting to serve warrants on four members and evict the rest of the Black back-to-nature group from its headquarters, bombed it, igniting fuel for a generator.

Some in attendance Thursday shouted “shame,” and “grave robber.”

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