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They themselves were perhaps too young to remember it; the state’s blitzkreig the heavily—armed armada of murderous cops who came to their communal home, to kill them. Do they remember the thousands of bullets zinging through the air, hungry for their young, dark flesh? Do they remember the foggy clouds of choking gas that drifted as far as the eye can see? Do they remember the oceans of raging water that crashed through basement windows, rushing, crashing, threatening to drawn them? Do they remember being ripped from their mothers and fathers by the cold, clammy white hands of men in blue shirts who claimed to ‘care’ for them? Men and women who ripped their knotted hair out from their tender heads, caged and cursed their parents, tried to fill their bellies with the sickeningly sweet rot of candies, all in the name of ‘saving’ them? These were children of August 8th, 1978; they were young refugees of an urban Armageddon; the children of MOVE, who were ripped away from the House that John Africa built. The outrageous police assault of August 8th, was 20 years ago, and still the veterans of that titanic struggle are encaged in rural dungeons, I innocent of any crime, guilty only of resistance to a deadly and arrogant system that calls itself a ‘justice’ system. 20 years after, and the children, now grown, many now parents themselves, have re-kindled John Africa’s Revolution, as they quote and Live his anti-authoritarian Teachings. Recently they demonstrated at the Philadelphia Zoo, against the rape and encagement of Life held in animal prisons for profit. Recently, they have demonstrated around the nation for political prisoners and for their still imprisoned parents, the renowned MOVE 9. One young MOVE child, Mike Africa, Jr. (literally born in a prison cell, and then snatched away from his mother’s breast after a few days of life!) has organized a rap group actually named by John Africa, many years ago, the Seeds of Wisdom. They sing the Teachings of John Africa, in rap form, chanting down Babylon, singing, in the sweet voices of youth, "Just becuz it’s legal, don’t make it right!" The children of MOVE, are still Ona Move ! Young, strong, beautiful, brilliant, creative, brave children of the storm, children born in the fire of revolution; children, as Kabul Gibran once said, of "Life’s longing for itself." In one of the wondrous glories of Nature, cicadas sleep in the bosom of the earth, unseen, unheard, seemingly no longer alive, until their season comes, and lo! they come, brilliant, lustrous, with wings of flame! They are everywhere Like life's precious seedlings, watered by the floods of August 8th, they nestled close to Mama's earth, and now , they come They are the children of the spirit of John Africa, and they are On the Move! Like a wondrous glory of nature---they are here!! Saying, as did their fathers and mothers: "Ona Move! Long Live John Africa! LongLive the Power that Pulls All Things Together! Free All MOVE Political Prisoners!" Long Live the Seeds of Wisdom © 1998 MAJ |
Children of the Storm