During the 70s and 80s, the radical African American organization had several dramatic meetings with the police.
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During the 70s and 80s, the radical African American organization had several dramatic meetings with the police.
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On May 13, 1985, after a long confrontation, the municipal authorities of Philadelphia threw a bomb in a residential in row house. The House of Oseej Avenue was the headquarters of the African-American radical group, which has encountered the police many times since the founding of the group in 1972.
As a result of the fire, 11 people were killed, including five children and the leader of the group, John Africa, destroyed 61 houses and broke the community.
IN Let the fire burn New film showing at the Afi Docs festivalDirector Jason Opder leads the chronicle of the years of tension between the police, movement and neighbors that ended in tragedy.
The name of the film refers to the decision of the local authorities to allow the fire to absorb the connection without intervention.
Osder, Associate Professor of the Department of Media and Public Relations at the University of George Washington, grew up in Philadelphia and was about the same age as the children who were killed in a fire.
“Those of us who are lucky, that, like a traditional childhood, we grow in a certain way. And for most people there is a moment when this shelter is broken, ”says Opder Neil Conan from NPR.
“The generation of my parents will always remember where they were when they died, but for me it was fire.”
The catalyst for this incident occurred eight years ago, in 1978, when the confrontation between the police and the movement led to the death of a police officer. Nine members of the organization were imprisoned for shooting; The show said that death was the result of a friendly fire.
After this incident, the movement was regrouped and prepared the surroundings to attract the attention of the authorities. The group switched to a connection to Osiege -Avenue. A few months before the fire, the group members built a very frightening, bunker structure on the roof.
As a result of the 1985 fire, 11 were killed, including five children, and destroyed 61 houses.
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As a result of the 1985 fire, 11 were killed, including five children, and destroyed 61 houses.
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“He has holes from which you can shoot, and they have a high platform on the block,” says Osder. “And the police conclude that they are in real danger.“
The police began a mass operation aimed at removing the group from its connection. After a multi -year confrontation, when thousands of rounds of ammunition were released, the police threw explosives in the Oseej’s house from a helicopter.
“I think that there is a certain point of view, which actually says that they wanted to provoke the police and demonstrate the true nature of the system when they were from above.
“They expected them to go to the top so much?
The organization of movement was sometimes characterized as a cult, as a group with an inscription, it was known to demand a vegan diet, sometimes as an addition to black panthers.
Osder says that in his study he discovered that the true nature of the group was much more complicated.
“In the early 70s, when they started, it seemed a rather successful description back to the“ nature ”, but everything gradually became more warlike,” says Osder. “And in fact, to a large extent all these descriptions, the group would reject. They will reject back to nature, as well as liberation from blacks. ”
“They were what we were talking about, but they are also a family.”
The film exclusively uses archival personnel from local television lighting and court hearings to gather history together without comment or interviews. Osder talked with Michael Ward, the only child who survived the fire; in Ramon Africa, surviving an adult; And one of the police officers. In the end, he decided not to use personnel.
“There was a combination of the realization that at these hearings we had a huge potential to make something else and unique,” says Osder. “And this, in fact, what you want to do with a documentary interview, were not so strong in an interview that we shot.
