Memory, Margins, and Materiality: The Philadelphia MOVE Bombing

Abstract

On May 13, 1985, Philadelphians watched a live news broadcast as a police officer tossed a duffel bag full of plastic explosives onto the roof of an occupied rowhome in a Black, middle-class West Philadelphia neighborhood. The bombing and the decision to allow the fire to burn killed five children and six adults – all members of a controversial group called MOVE – and destroyed 61 rowhomes. This dissertation employs insights from memory studies, critical race theory and journalism practices to examine the ways in which an otherwise little-known event has been described and commemorated in Philadelphia over the past 35 years. It also considers the extent to which public understandings of the event have changed over time, with particular attention paid to which voices are privileged - and silenced - in the official narration of a complicated tragedy. To do so, this dissertation relies on: a series of interviews with journalists, officials, and others with firsthand knowledge of the event; critical discourse analysis of 35 years of local anniversary coverage of the bombing itself; and object studies of a related documentary, real-estate listings from the now-rehabilitated blocks in West Philadelphia; and a vast archive of material related to the city's official investigation into the events of May 13, 1985. It concludes with discussion of the ways in which the bombing is currently being invoked in protests against police brutality in spring of 2020 and an articulation of the ways in which authority over the memory of the MOVE bombing has been constructed to marginalize both MOVE members and the community in order to legitimize an official narrative that benefits city administrators and law enforcement.