Jubilee's Historical Marker Story
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Songs of the Children Campaign
We are Ishtar, Ella, David and Nigel. We're members of a campaign against violence by the police called Songs of the Children. Songs of the Children is a campaign that fights for social justice. We formed it when we were fifth and sixth grade students at Jubilee School to stop police brutality. Last year we met with two police commissioners, organized a march, and presented a list of demands to the District Attorney showing what we want the City of Philadelphia to do about police brutality. It frightened us to see that people of color were getting shot and killed, and the government didn't seem to care.
We decided to study about the 1985 bombing of MOVE, because it was an extremely traumatic case of police brutality. MOVE was a mostly African American back-to-nature organization that protested against the system. They got into conflicts with the police, and on May 13th, 1985, the Philadelphia police used advanced military weaponry to try to get them to surrender. The police dropped a C4/tovex bomb, provided by the FBI, from a State helicopter on the MOVE headquarters on Osage Avenue. The bomb created a raging fire, and firefighters were told by the police commissioner not to stop the flames. The flames spread, and sixty one homes in an African American neighborhood were destroyed. Five children and six adult members of MOVE died. Two hundred and fifty people were left homeless.
After learning about this tragedy, on May 13th of last year we decided to go to Osage Avenue, and left flowers and read poems we had written about the bombing. We noticed there wasn't a marker to commemorate the event, so we decided to apply for a State Historical marker. We eventually got the marker, and now we are responsible for raising funds for the installation of the marker, and for the unveiling ceremony.
We want to make a documentary about all that we accomplished in our Songs of the Children campaign to show that children are more powerful than people assume. In the film, we want to share a part of history that has been forgotten by our city. People need to see that this part of history cannot be hidden forever. We believe that our campaign, Songs of the Children, taught us how much we could accomplish by sticking to what we believe in, and working together. We hope that we can continue working together for justice, not just for our city, but for the world.
We are asking for$11,000 in donations. $1,000 will be for the unveiling ceremony for the historical marker for the MOVE bombing, which will take place on June 24th at the intersection of Osage Avenue and Cobbs Creek Parkway, at 3:00. $10,000 will be used to create a documentary about our Songs of the Children Campaign.
We are Ishtar, Ella, David and Nigel. We're members of a campaign against violence by the police called Songs of the Children. Songs of the Children is a campaign that fights for social justice. We formed it when we were fifth and sixth grade students at Jubilee School to stop police brutality. Last year we met with two police commissioners, organized a march, and presented a list of demands to the District Attorney showing what we want the City of Philadelphia to do about police brutality. It frightened us to see that people of color were getting shot and killed, and the government didn't seem to care.
We decided to study about the 1985 bombing of MOVE, because it was an extremely traumatic case of police brutality. MOVE was a mostly African American back-to-nature organization that protested against the system. They got into conflicts with the police, and on May 13th, 1985, the Philadelphia police used advanced military weaponry to try to get them to surrender. The police dropped a C4/tovex bomb, provided by the FBI, from a State helicopter on the MOVE headquarters on Osage Avenue. The bomb created a raging fire, and firefighters were told by the police commissioner not to stop the flames. The flames spread, and sixty one homes in an African American neighborhood were destroyed. Five children and six adult members of MOVE died. Two hundred and fifty people were left homeless.
After learning about this tragedy, on May 13th of last year we decided to go to Osage Avenue, and left flowers and read poems we had written about the bombing. We noticed there wasn't a marker to commemorate the event, so we decided to apply for a State Historical marker. We eventually got the marker, and now we are responsible for raising funds for the installation of the marker, and for the unveiling ceremony.
We want to make a documentary about all that we accomplished in our Songs of the Children campaign to show that children are more powerful than people assume. In the film, we want to share a part of history that has been forgotten by our city. People need to see that this part of history cannot be hidden forever. We believe that our campaign, Songs of the Children, taught us how much we could accomplish by sticking to what we believe in, and working together. We hope that we can continue working together for justice, not just for our city, but for the world.
We are asking for$11,000 in donations. $1,000 will be for the unveiling ceremony for the historical marker for the MOVE bombing, which will take place on June 24th at the intersection of Osage Avenue and Cobbs Creek Parkway, at 3:00. $10,000 will be used to create a documentary about our Songs of the Children Campaign.
Organizer
Karen Falcon
Organizer
Philadelphia, PA
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