40 years ago, Philadelphia police bombed this Black neighborhood on live TV

By Gene Demby,

Xavier Lopez, Courtney Stein, Jess Kung, Christina Cala, Dalia Mortada, B.A. Parker, Veralyn Williams

Published May 7, 2025 at 9:30 AM EDT

We're coming up on 40 years since the MOVE bombing in Philadelphia, the day a Philadelphia police department helicopter dropped a bomb on a row house. The bombing and the fire it set unfolded on live television. And even though eleven people were killed and hundreds were left homeless by the fires, the MOVE bombing has been largely forgotten. How did we collectively memory-hole an event this big? And what does that tell us about race and policing even today?

On this episode, we're looking back at this forgotten cataclysm with two people whose lives have been shaped by that catastrophe.

Mike Africa Jr. is the author of, On A Move, Philadelphia's Notorious Bombing and a Native Son's Lifelong Battle for Justice.

Linn Washington is an investigative journalist and a professor of journalism at Temple University. He's also the host of a new documentary podcast called, MOVE: Untangling the Tragedy. The podcast is a production of Temple University's Logan Center for Urban Investigative Reporting, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Rowhome Productions. And check out these archival stories from the MOVE bombing.

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Gene Demby

Gene Demby is the co-host and correspondent for NPR's Code Switch team.

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Xavier Lopez

Xavier Lopez is a producer for Code Switch. He came to NPR from CNN Audio, where he helped produce shows such as Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta and the inaugural season of Tug of War. Prior to that, Lopez worked at NPR member station WHYY in Philadelphia, where he worked on shows such as The Pulse, Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane and the daily news podcast, The Why.

Courtney Stein

Courtney Stein comes to NPR from the New York Times, where she helped to create the weekly podcast First Person. Prior to that, she spent over a decade at WNYC's Peabody Award-winning Radio Rookies, teaching young people to report radio documentaries about issues important to them. While at WNYC, Courtney also helped to pilot the podcast Nancy and was on the team that created the dupont-Columbia award-winning podcast Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice, which began as a radio workshop she started in a juvenile detention center in Queens.

Jess Kung

Jess Kung (they/them) is a production assistant on Code Switch. Previously, they interned with Code Switch and the podcast The Document from KCRW in Santa Monica. They are a graduate of Long Beach State University.

Christina Cala

Christina Cala is a producer for Code Switch. Before that, she was at the TED Radio Hour where she piloted two new episode formats — the curator chat and the long interview. She's also reported on a movement to preserve African American cultural sites in Birmingham and followed youth climate activists in New York City.

See stories by Christina Cala

Dalia Mortada

See stories by Dalia Mortada

B.A. Parker

Veralyn Williams

Veralyn Williams (she/her) is a Peabody and Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist who has been asking hard questions about our world since she picked up her first microphone in 2004. Now she brings her skills (and ears) to her role as executive producer of programming at NPR.