Let the Fire Burn Page #3

Rizzo is talkin' about

religious persecution.

Don't question the person

tellin' the truth.

Question the person

that's tellin' the lie.

All right!

Only in a democracy could they get away

with what they're getting away with.

People are people regardless

of their color, their skin,

their religion, their race or nothin'.

They're still people.

They can bleed. They can die.

They can catch diseases.

We can all go through the same situations.

It's unnecessary for all of that.

I really think it's unnecessary.

And it's all going to

boil down to a bunch of

people getting hurt and

killed over nothin'.

Over nothin' that doesn't really

make any sense.

At 6:
10 a.m., Mayor Rizzo finally,

after 15 months of confrontation,

used the force he threatened all along.

The police will be in there to drag

them out by the backs of their necks.

They're going to be taken by force

if they resist.

If police come in there with their hands,

we'll use our hands.

If they come in here with clubs,

we'll use clubs.

But if they come in here shootin' and

killin' our women and children and our men,

we will shoot back

in defense of our lives.

I've learned one thing as a policeman.

You never underestimate your opponent.

You always get in there faster with more

than is necessary, and you overpower them.

Stakeout personnel, using body shields,

cover fireman as they position a portable

deluge gun closer to the compound.

Shots have been fired!

Officers and firemen are

wounded by gunfire.

First deluge gun goes out of control.

Other officers and firemen

move in to pull the wounded personnel...

out of the line of fire.

Officer Ramp, shown here

lying on his back,

has now been mortally wounded.

Officer Hesson, also wounded,

crawls over and attempts

to shield officer Ramp.

Mr. Rendell, um,

did you consider the MOVE organization

to be a terrorist group?

They had demonstrated

a past history of violence.

Uh, they had demonstrated

a willingness to use violence, force...

or the threat of violence or force

to achieve their objectives.

It was almost difficult,

if not well nigh impossible,

to deal with them

in any rational basis...

that their stated goals

as a group that was a

back-to-nature group were,

frankly, a bunch of bull.

People who have killed one person,

injured several others, people who

threaten to blow up people's houses,

people who threaten to shoot and kill

neighbors, police, elected officials-

I think that's a pretty adequate

description of the word "terrorist."

With every step of the way,

including the final act today,

the police used commendable restraint,

uh, and it was done for many reasons.

Most of all because of the children

who are present today.

There had been much concern

on the part of many people...

that the police would make

a violent assault on the MOVE members.

As it turned out, the police

acted with precision and restraint.

When one of the MOVE

members came out of the

window with a cartridge

case in one hand,

a clip and with a knife in the other,

he was hit on the top of the head

with a steel helmet...

and was taken into custody.

That's what you're referring to.

He's hittin' him. He's hittin' him.

Hittin' him on the head.

Kickin' him on the head!

I have no idea. I couldn't see.

- Cops, you're makin' a mistake doin' that.

- Your ass they are.

The police probably would have been

legally within their rights...

to have killed all of the 12 people

in that basement.

Do you believe

this is a symbolic gesture,

tearing their house down at this point,

the very day of the shootout?

I think behind it is

the question we gotta ask is why.

There's a suspicion that some shots

had come from elsewhere.

Walt Hunter from WCAU,

by the way, swears that

a shot was fired going

in this direction.

People who know us

know that we're not terrorists.

We fight cops because they're dirty.

They're filthy. They're criminal.

The sad part of it is

that this incident is not yet over.

There will still be misguided voices

in the community...

seeking clemency

for these criminals.

Long live MOVE!

Long live revolution!

Long live John Africa!

it's the MOVE organization.

What they should have done

is shot that goddamn bum,

and then there would have been

no trouble today.

This police department in Philadelphia

could invade Cuba and win.

What I'm saying, Tom Snyder, is that we are

now trained and equipped to fight wars.

Four more years, hell no!

No more Rizzo! Got to go!

Four more years, hell no!

All of us, from all neighborhoods,

from all walks of life...

can solve the problem

facing our city.

Leapheart was asked how he felt

when the verdict was read.

What are your plans in

terms of staying in

Philadelphia and trying to

continue the MOVE cult?

It's not a cult.

It's an organization.

When you appear to be different...

you become angry,

and you will do things

out of the norm.

Did you ever think about leaving MOVE?

Yeah.

- Uh, when was that?

- A long time ago.

A long time ago?

Why did you want to leave MOVE?

'Cause we couldn't do

what other kids do.

You couldn't do

what the other kids did?

Uh, what were the other

children allowed to do

who were outside of MOVE

that you couldn't do?

Uh, play with toys and stuff

and ride bikes and watch TV.

Did you tell anyone

that you wanted to leave?

Who'd you tell?

Oh, we told-

We told each other.

This is a blue-collar neighborhood.

And any given summer day

you have the children,

uh, playing in the streets.

You have a mother

maybe sitting on the steps.

Neighbors talking to each other.

And all of a sudden

on their loudspeaker,

you'd hear a voice

would come out and say,

"You motherfuckers.

What the f*** are you doin' out here now?"

Do you know

what's going on here?

You son of a b*tches around here

f***in' everybody up.

"What the f*** is goin' on?"

Anything that was vile,

they would go into it.

The filth-it was-it was...

unbelievable that something like this

could be in someone's mind.

It's one thing to be two blocks away

and hear it.

But to live right next door,

full blast in our bedroom.

I watched my wife many nights

lay there in that bed and cry.

Wasn't nothin' else she could do.

I think that, uh,

what we really hoped for...

was that some kind of way...

the city would find a way

to deal with the situation.

The only thing that was happening

is that MOVE was taking a stand...

against the injustice that has

been dropped on them...

by this administration

and the Rizzo administration.

MOVE'S principle has never changed.

MOVE'S mood,

I'm talking about bitterness now,

did change.

They made, in my view,

a conscious decision...

to aggravate residents to the point

was that the residents would, in fact,

demand for the city to take actions

to provide them with relief.

And in that regard, the city would be

forced into doing one of two things,

to engage in confrontation

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