Let The Fire Burn (2013) Soundboard Edit

A long time ago? Why did you want to leave MOVE?

A lot of times.

After she was trying to pat him and hit him on his back?

All the answers are in the guidelines, their bible left by John Africa.

And asked John Africa if he wanted you to be cycled or killed...

And he described his men as, quote, taking a break now

And he stood up and aimed a rifle up in the direction of officer Bariana's position...

And I cannot explain it.

And I said John Africa was the founder of the MOVE organization.

And MOVE put up resistance

And now I declare these public hearings...

And Rad and C.K.

And she either let go or slipped or whatever.

And she would wave with her hand like this.

And so based on what you believed they had, then you went prepared to match?

And that was never a consideration nor would I ever use it as a consideration.

And then there would have been no trouble today

And they're all scattering between 62nd and Osage and 63rd.

And using that philosophy,

And very discouraging...

And what did the other children do? Did they do the same thing?

And what else did they say about your wives?

And what else did they say?

And what I've heard from officer Berghaier

And, Casey, some of the neighbors, as they were leaving, said to me...

Anything that was vile, they would go into it.

As of today,

At City Hall this afternoon,

At one point did I start out to get Birdie,

At the same time that I seen that, officer Tursi's right with me.

But I had a lot of dealings with them,

But I think to the layman,

But I was told to leave...

But it appears that it's still there

But mainly, it was... just the absolute truth

But police have now apparently advised those

But we don't know if the guns you're hearing

But when you have anything like that,

But you are not animals. I mean...

By this administration and the Rizzo administration

Can solve the problem facing our city.

City officials met today for the second straight day to discuss strategy.

Did change.

Did it bother you? Did it burn your eyes or anything?

Did they appear to you to be violent at all?

Did they ask you anything about whether or not

Did you approve the plan to use an explosive on the roof?

Did you ever sit in on Were you ever in any of their meetings?

Do you know how many rounds were fired that day?

Do you know what's going on here?

Do you know whether or not the automatic weapons fire you heard...

Do you recall what your reaction was to those statements?

Do you remember who it was who was still in the house?

During an altercation that occurred with Delbert Africa

Every one of us knew that there was an extraordinarily high likelihood..

Except what I've read about officer Berghaier...

Fellow officer, James Ramp, was killed seven years ago.

From its house on the 6200 block of Osage Avenue.

Gestapo oriented cops out there that day

Guided by our own attitudes and beliefs.

Guiltless, and under the circumstances, vulnerable child and youngster.

Had used their children, uh, as if they were hostages?

He got I believe one foot, maybe two, I don't know,

He grabbed my left shoulder. He said, Don't go out there, Jim. It's a trap.

He said to me, Don't shoot me. Don't shoot me.

He was throughout, an absolutely innocent,

Here comes a police car racing in right now at this moment.

Here comes some more tear gas down Addison Street.

I came in contact with MOVE back in 1974.

I categorically deny that

I have no idea. I couldn't see.

I just felt something was incorrect or not right about that situation

I just think they went back into that fire...

I remember Birdie just laying there, not doing anything.

I remember him taking a few steps and went down in the water

I said, Mike, I'm getting the kid,

I stopped him from going out right at that time. That's all.

I think behind it is the question we gotta ask is why.

I think you've done such a good job.

I wanted to get the bunker.

I'm calling it a bomb. But did it ever occur to you...

I'm Dennis Woltering with Harvey Clarke at 62nd and Vine...

I'm gonna stop my questions now,

If it is found inside of the house or not found

If you look carefully, by the way, if you can

In essence, in communication

In my view, it seemed to suggest a turning point.

In the beginning, MOVE people...

In their vigilant effort to maintain close contact with mother Earth,

Injured several others, people who threaten to blow up people's houses,

Inside the house and it is brought out...

It appeared that things had gotten calm

It doesn't feel right

It is found not to work at all,

It was a

It was one of the most devastating days in the modern history of the city.

It's easy to equate explosions and explosive materials with fire.

It's just that simple.

It's not done that way.

It's the same thing,

John Africa was the founder of the MOVE organization.

John Vincent Leapheart is my brother.

Just bear with me, please.

Let's come closer and use and crouch down behind the Eyewitness News truck.

Like the bunker was halfway over the roof like this, and you could look down.

Looking in the trunk of this car right here.

Miss Sims, can you describe for me what the philosophy of MOVE was?

Most of all because of the children who are present today.

MOVE'S building at 62 and Osage was fortified...

My brother, Vincent Leapheart, was my brother

My priorities at that time were the kid.

No question about that.

Officer Cresse, directing your attention to approximately March 30 of 1976,

Officer D'Ulisse, I understand that in 1978, you were present on August 8..

Officer Ramp, shown here lying on his back,

Okay?

Once the MOVE members started firing,

Onto this corner is where I finally came to a stop.

Paul,

People had plans for today.

Philadelphia is a tortured city.

Philadelphia needs Frank Rizzo as mayor.

Police did not enter the house, and no arrests were made.

Police say there has just been a huge explosion here.

Powelton Village area of West Philadelphia,

Pretty much concerned about the issues...

Right here is a line of stakeout squad officers,

Seeking clemency for these criminals

Sergeant Griffiths, could you just by rapping on the table...

She had started to walk down, stopped.

Shots have been fired!

Situation that arose with regard to an infant?

Six, five, four, three...

So I don't think you can just logically conclude...

Society in which you found yourself living?

Stakeout police have just taken position.

Stay in the house. Stay inside.

Subsequent to that, I introduced the resolution to the city council,

Tearing their house down at this point, the very day of the shootout?

Thank you, sir.

That it was the police that were firing at that time.

That standoff lasted less than two hours.

That there was something wrong in the way Ramona went down.

That was commonly referred to as the bunker,

That was going to be my next statement, Mr. Mozenter

That you observed either with your eyes or your ears...

That's as to the adults.

That's pretty good. How about a little bit louder than that? Yes.

The filth it was it was..

The gunfire is as close as it's been since the shoot out happened this morning.

The officer was tried and found not guilty of that offense.

The pieces of the tree was falling down.

The police began a deluge, which you can see here.

The police probably would have been legally within their rights...

Their status changed radically in the eyes of the law.

There is no one that I know in city government...

There was about a 15 second delay, then an explosion.

There were any kids still in the house...

There were no automatic weapons found in the MOVE house

There's just too many things are going on, to sit here and just say how you felt.

They at that point became forcible felons,

They knew very clearly up front that we could not guarantee that, sir

They named the game. And I assure you, they lose.

They said that our wives would be sleeping with other men before the end of the day.

They seem to be waiting for something to come out of that house.

They wanted to take a look at the top of the bunker.

They were in an enviable tactical position

They're running around like something's going on around here.

This device that was used You're calling it a device.

This woman We can't determine...

To have bodies strewn every which way.

To my knowledge, there was only one that young.

To prevent such a terrible thing from ever happening again.

To whom?

Uh, and ran out.

Uh, I was indoctrinated with a philosophy in the Panthers...

Uh, what were the other children allowed to do

Wasn't nothin' else she could do.

We can say there's been at least a or 20 minute break in the gunfights.

We felt l thought about the kids in the house.

We intend to evacuate from the house, and we intend to seize control of the house.

We was under the blanket with our heads.

We went downstairs.

We were jailed many, many times.

We'll go live right away to Harvey Clarke at the scene.

We'll push and try to get a little tighter shot of it

We're trying to get him to come to us.

We're trying to say to him, Son, come over here. Come over here.

Wearing a hooded mask and carrying a shotgun

Well, fire Commissioner Richmond,

Well, Larry,

Weren't you concerned that there might be some revenge motive..

What happened next is the beginning of a

What is in this house is the strategy of John Africa that is very explosive.

What kind of holes did they have in the bunkers?

When Reverend Audrey Bronson wants to practice her religion, nobody beats her up.

When the cops come and stuff.

When we smelled all that smoke, and we couldn't breathe,

Where is it written that we could not have a religion of our own?

Where it's obvious to everybody, the whole world, that I did not riot,

Which ls in the area.

Which was put the fire out

Who'd you tell?

Whole truth and nothing but the truth...

Window with a cartridge case in one hand,

Without sacrificing any lives, if it were at all possible.

Yeah.

Yes, ma'am

Yes, the big story on Action News tonight is the effort to evict MOVE..

Yes.

You are aware that the mayor has testified...

You can call the group reactionists, revolutionaries, terrorists.

You saw fire? Where did you see the fire?

You were concerned that there may be physical harm..

You're going to have children killed, and you're going to have adults killed

You're watching it live. They are restraining her.

You've said they came out holding their children up as shields.

Your brother, Vincent Leapheart was John Africa, is that correct?

And Mr. Shrager, of course. Thank you.

Can you tell us what else they said? That they would kill us all.

Cry. They would cry?

Did they describe what other kind of men? Yes, sir.

Did they Did they say they loved you? Yeah.

Did they ever holler at you? Yes.

Don't lie. Don't lie. That's right.

Including the children? No.

Isn't that right? When you talk about a weapon,

Thank you very much for your cooperation. You're quite welcome.

What's going on, Harvey? Larry, behind me you can probably see right now

'Cause I think we've all seen buildings

'Cause we couldn't do what other kids do.