The Penn Museum announced last month that it had discovered human remains matching records for Delisha Africa, a 12-year-old girl killed in the 1985 MOVE bombing. Members of the Africa family said Monday that those remains still haven't been returned, and that they believe the University of Pennsylvania institute has the bones of another victim in its possession.
Mike Africa Jr., the grandnephew of MOVE founder John Africa, said at a press conference that he has evidence the museum also retained the remains of Zanetta Dotson, another 12-year-old who died in the bombing. That would make her the third MOVE bombing victim lost to the Penn Museum archives. The museum discovered and returned the remains of Zanetta's sister, 14-year-old Katricia Dotson, in 2021.
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Africa said his documentation indicates that Zanetta's remains potentially "had been studied and processed to the point where they possibly were ground down to dust."
Penn Museum would not confirm nor deny its possession of Zanetta Dotson's remains. A spokesperson, however, said the museum "has been in direct contact with the Africa mothers" about Delisha's remains since Nov. 12 and that staff "are waiting to learn more about their wishes."
"We have promised the family and our community to investigate reported information about additional MOVE remains at the Museum," the spokesperson added.
The institution's latest discovery has kicked up renewed controversy over its mishandling of the MOVE bombing victims' remains. Penn Museum pledged a "comprehensive inventory" of the university's biological anthropology section after finding Katricia's remains in 2021. But it also insisted it did not have any of Delisha's remains up until their Nov. 12 discovery, despite activists' claims to the contrary. The girls were two of the 11 men, women and children killed on May 13, 1985, when the city dropped a satchel bomb on the MOVE headquarters on the 6200 block of Osage Avenue.
Councilmember Jamie Gauthier (D-Third), who represents the West Philly district that includes the Penn Museum and the site of the bombing, condemned the museum's "profound disrespect for Black life and Black death" at the Monday conference.
"There is absolutely no possible justification for the museum's barbaric treatment of a Black child's body or their dismissive behavior towards those fighting to give Delisha some semblance of peace and death," she said. "We understand that the Penn Museum is a research institution and is used to slow, methodical studies that take years. But they need to realize that this is not an academic project. There is real trauma and pain here that needs to be taken seriously and addressed quickly."
Africa singled out former Penn anthropology professors Janet Monge and Alan Mann, calling their handling of the remains "criminal behavior" and calling for their arrest. Monge and Mann worked as private consultants for the city's Medical Examiner's Office to help identify the MOVE bombing victims. The Medical Examiner's Office transferred the remains to Mann and Monge in 1986. When Mann joined the faculty at Princeton University, he left the remains in Monge's possession. According to an independent report Penn Museum commissioned in 2021, Monge kept them for the next 20 years and "showed the remains to different individuals and groups on at least ten occasions."
Africa emphasized there are still more remains missing. The heads of multiple victims killed in the blast never were recovered, and some reports indicate there were "saw marks" on the neck of John Africa. Those markings have never been explained "due to improper methods used to excavate the scene and the inadequate documentation of the search and initial examinations of the bodies," a 2022 city report concluded.
Yvonne Orr-El, the sister of Delisha Africa, remembered her sibling as a sarcastic and playful child who shared her smile.
"I cannot express properly the anger that I have, so I smile my way through it," she said. " ... Remember my smile. It's hers."
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