40 years ago, Philadelphia police bombed this Black neighborhood on live TV

Enlarge this image AP AP We’re coming up on 40 years since the MOVE bombing in Philadelphia, the day a Philadelphia police department helicopter dropped a bomb on a row house. The bombing and the fire it set unfolded on live television. And even though eleven people were killed and hundreds were left homeless by the fires, the MOVE bombing has been largely forgotten. How did we collectively memory-hole an event this big? And what does that tell us about race and policing even today? On this episode, we’re looking back at this forgotten cataclysm with two people whose lives have been shaped by that catastrophe. Sponsor Message Mike Africa Jr. is the author of, On A Move, Philadelphia’s Notorious Bombing and a Native Son’s Lifelong Battle for Justice. Linn Washington is an investigative journalist and a professor of journalism at Temple University. He’s also the host of a new documentary podcast called, MOVE: Untangling the Tragedy. The podcast is a production of Temple University’s Logan Center for Urban Investigative Reporting, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Rowhome Productions. And check out these archival stories from the MOVE bombing. Ten years ago, Gene Demby went back to his hometown to try to make sense of the MOVE bombing. This episode was produced by Xavier Lopez. It was edited by Courtney Stein. Our engineer was Kwesi Lee.