The bombing of Osage Avenue

On May 13th, 1985 the City of Philadelphia executed an serial bombing of a row house on Osage Avenue, a small street in a working class Black neighbourhood. The assault, intended to force the surrender of members of a political group known as MOVE, resulted in a fire that killed 11 people, destroyed 51 homes, damaged hundred more and left 250 people homeless. The bombing of Osage Avenue is a lyrical recounting of that event through the voices of the men and women who live in that neighbourhood. It is also the history of the building of a Black community and the attempts of its members to deal with crisis. In the opening narration, novelist Toni Cade Bambara says, “When you are part of a community, at home with the rhythms and rituals of the place, it’s hard to imagine that you’re living on the edge of hell.” The documentary tells the story of Black people working to create a stable, secure community for themselves, and finding themselves betrayed by social forces they had thought they understood. Themes of the documentary include the meaning of “home” and the balance between community control and trust in government structures. The bombing of Osage Avenue was produced for local broadcast in Philadelphia in 1986 and was aired nationally on PBS in 1987. The documentary has won several first place awards in documentary festivals (National Black Programming Consortium, The Global Village, Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.) For its powerful documentation of a modern American tragedy and its analysis of aspects of Black life in contemporary America, The bombing of Osage Avenue has been screened by community groups nationwide, universities and media arts centres.