Join us for a screening of Let the Fire Burn, a powerful documentary chronicling the 1985 MOVE bombing in Philadelphia. The film will be followed by a discussion led by Dr. Robin Wagner-Pacifici, author of Discourse and Destruction: The City of Philadelphia Versus MOVE, alongside Professors Ronald Brown and Jalila Jefferson-Bullock. Moderated by Professor Brad Roth, this event will explore the historical, political, and legal implications of the incident. Dinner will be available starting at 6pm.

On May 13, 1985, the Philadelphia Police, amid a confrontation with the dissident group MOVE, dropped a bomb on a row house in a Black working-class neighborhood, setting a fire that killed 11 of the house’s 13 occupants (including five children) and burned down 61 residences; the fire’s spread resulted in substantial part from an initial decision to withhold firefighting for some 45 minutes, in a vain attempt to force the house’s inhabitants to flee the building.

Documentary:              “Let the Fire Burn” (Director: Jason Osder)

Lecturer:                        Dr. Robin Wagner-Pacifici, Professor Emerita of Sociology, New School for Social Research;

Author, Discourse and Destruction: The City of Philadelphia Versus MOVE ((The University of Chicago Press, 1994)

Discussants:               Professor Ronald Brown, Wayne State Political Science Department; Professor Jalila Jefferson-Bullock, Wayne State Law School

Moderator:                    Professor Brad Roth, Wayne State Political Science Department & Law School

Sponsors:                      Detroit Center for Black Studies

                                           Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights, Wayne State Law School

                                           Wayne State Political Science Department

                                           Wayne State Office of Multicultural Student Engagement

                                           Juneteenth Planning Committee