‘Purged out of local memory’
Washington Jr. said he had covered MOVE as a journalist for more than four decades and was on the ground when the bombing happened. He told WHYY News that day has been “conscientiously purged out of local memory and thus national memory.”
“The coverage has been a mile wide, meaning there’s been a lot of coverage, but it was only an inch thick,” Washington Jr. said. “It was stopped at a superficial level.”
He said that no one really gave context to the MOVE story, the organization and the dynamics within and outside.
“I mean, like when we’re talking about Aug. 8, 1978, there is clear and convincing evidence that the bullet that killed the officer did not emerge from the basement,” he said.
Yvonne Orr, the daughter of Delbert Africa, one of the nine convicted, attended Thursday night’s event. She reflected on her memories of what happened in Powelton Village on that day 46 years ago. She was attending grade school in Chicago when a teacher tried to pull her aside to tell her the news.
“I caught the flash on the black-and-white TV,” Orr said. “I was just like, ‘That’s Daddy!’ And I just remember screaming. For me, today is the 46th anniversary of the very first time he was taken from me and that’s exactly how I look at it.”
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