SACRAMENTO - On Wednesday, April 27, 2005, from 7-9 p.m., Ramona and Pam Africa of Philadelphia’s MOVE Organization will visit Sacramento and will give a special presentation at K.I.N.K.S. International, 629 15th Street (corner 15th & G in midtown). Admission is FREE, all are welcome, and light refreshment will be available.

Ramona Africa is the only adult survivor of the May 13th, 1985 bombing of the MOVE family by Philadelphia police and city officials which resulted in the death of 11 people, 5 of whom were children, and the destruction of 60 homes on Osage Avenue. Ramona was immediately taken into custody and eventually convicted of riot and conspiracy. She spent the next seven years in prison. Immediately upon her release in 1992, she rejoined her family's struggle to free the MOVE 9 and Mumia Abu-Jamal. In April of 1996 Ramona headed a civil lawsuit against the City and its officials for the May 13th bombing. On June 24th of the same year, the jury rendered a verdict in her favor. She has spoke at numerous colleges and universities throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Pam Africa is the President of International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal. She has recently hosted a weekly TV program in Philadelphia focusing on Mumia’s struggle on Pennsylvania’s death row. Pam’s energy and fervor as a community organizer is unmatched. She is a very sought after speaker both here and abroad in the campaign to save the life of Mumia Abu-Jamal.

The MOVE 9 have been in prison since 1978 serving 30-100 year sentences following a massive police assault on their home in Powelton Village, Philadelphia where a police officer was killed by an unidentified bullet. MOVE supporter Mumia Abu-Jamal, a journalist and former Black Panther, is a political prisoner known worldwide as the "voice of the voiceless." Abu-Jamal was sentenced to Pennsylvania's death row in 1982 for the killing of a Philadelphia police officer.

On July 15, last year, the NAACP passed an emergency resolution calling for the overturning of his conviction and death sentence, demanding he be granted a new and fair trial. Pam Africa was the spearhead behind the passing of that resolution.

Pam and Ramona are powerful speakers and tireless community activists whose belief in the teachings of their coordinator John Africa has sustained them and other members of the MOVE family through their grief and numerous hardships through the years. Their belief is in life.

Also on the program will be poetry by mother/daughter poets and long-time friends of MOVE, V.S. Chochezi and Staajabu, known to Sacramentans as Straight Out Scribes.

This event is organized and coordinated by Bro. RaKwon Muenda of R.E.M. Productions. For directions, contact KINKS International, 916-443-2713.

For more information about the program, contact Brother Raekwon, raekwon@aol.com - 916-752-1114, or staajabu@yahoo.com - 916-452-1290.

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