PHILADELPHIA – Yesterday, it came to light that the Penn Museum found the suspected remains of Delisha Africa, one of the children murdered in the infamous MOVE Bombing. This comes after the Penn Museum previously claimed to have returned the remains of all the MOVE Bombing victims it quietly had in its possession. In response to this latest injustice, Councilmember Jamie Gauthier (3rd District), who represents the Penn Museum and the community where the MOVE Bombing took place, issued the following statement:
“Yesterday the Penn Museum announced it found the suspected remains of Delisha Africa, one of the children murdered in the MOVE Bombing. It is absolutely unacceptable that we are back in the same situation we found ourselves in three years ago.
“The Penn Museum has demonstrated a profound disrespect for Black life and Black death. Over a year ago, activists alerted museum leadership that the institution still possessed the remains of Delisha Africa. The Penn Museum ignored them.
“If they really cared about repairing the harm they caused, the Penn Museum would have quickly searched their archive when this injustice originally came to light in 2021. Because of their lethargy, the museum has once again traumatized the Africa family and our community.
“The time for mea culpas is over. Penn Museum must make amends with the Africa family and the community. This must include working in a real and authentic way with the descendant community to swiftly review the museum’s full inventory and return additional remains in the museum’s possession to their family or community, so they can finally be put to rest.
“In life or death, it is never ok to use Black bodies as trophies or specimens to enrich an institution.”
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