Let’s start with an audio clip from a short documentary film that premiered three days ago—August 1, 2025— at BlackStar Film Festival in Philadelphia.
That’s the voice of 69-year-old Debbie Davis, formerly Debbie Sims, more commonly known as Debbie Africa—a lifelong MOVE member, niece of MOVE founder Vincent Leaphart, and mother of the “group’s” current spokesperson, Mike Africa Jr. (Michael Davis).
The audio comes from A New Voice, a 16 minute documentary directed by Debbie and her now-legal husband Mike Davis Sr. (aka Mike Africa Sr.).
The film bills itself as “a firsthand look into the upward journey of citizens returning to communities after incarceration.”
But the first four minutes? They’re all about Debbie and Mike—on screen, narrating, centering themselves throughout the film more than any of the so-called “featured” subjects.
Full Main Character Syndrome.
What is worth our attention is Debbie’s claim about her incarceration:
“I was sentenced in 1978 for a crime I did not commit. For being a MOVE member is why I really spent 40 years in prison.”
Debbie repeated this on stage after the screening during the Director’s Q&A.
Some in the audience responded with finger snaps.
Let’s break it down. Use a little critical thinking—or just common sense—and ask:
Wait... is being a MOVE member a crime?
The answer is simple and obvious: No.
Not in Philadelphia. Not in Pennsylvania. Not in the United States. Not anywhere.
Debbie and Mike’s MOVE beliefs or affiliation didn’t get them arrested.
It was what Debbie and eight other MOVE members—including her now-husband—did on August 8, 1978.
Crimes they committed at the direction of her uncle, and cult leader, Vincent Leaphart (aka John Africa). Or, as I like to call him: Debbie’s Cuncle Vincent. (Get it? Cult + Uncle = Cuncle.)
And he didn’t just orchestrate the criminal activity. He also directed the legal strategy:
All 9 defendants insisting that as MOVE members they are “a family” and so their cases must be tied together.
No jury trial. They waived it in favor of a bench trial—verdict solely by a judge.
They represented themselves in court and refused to cooperate with the backup counsel - 9 in total.
It was a sadistic setup. A loyalty test crafted by a sociopath posing as a prophet. They were told that Vincent had chosen them for this very special MOVE “activity” and that they’d only be in prison “for a little bit”—two to three years, tops. They could recruit more followers inside, and then Vincent would “use his powers” to get them out.
On May 8, 1980, Judge Edwin Malmed delivered the verdict:
GUILTY.
One count of 3rd Degree Murder (Police Officer James Ramp)
Seven counts of Attempted Murder, Aggravated Assault, and Simple Assault (targeting first responders)
One count of Criminal Conspiracy
Debbie’s mother LaVerne Sims and her Aunt, Louise James—both MOVE members and Vincent’s sisters—spoke to the press after the verdict.
Sentencing came 14 months later, on August 4, 1981—today’s date in MOVE history.
Here’s what they got:
10 to 20 years for the murder of Officer James Ramp, age 52, married father of 4
2½ to 10 years each for seven counts of attempted murder of police and firefighters
2½ to 10 years for conspiracy
All sentences to run consecutively—stacked, not concurrent
Parole eligibility wouldn’t come until 2008.
Meanwhile, just 10 days earlier, Uncle Cult Leader Vincent had beaten federal bomb-making charges.
It’s good to be Cuncle Vincent. Everyone else does the time for his crime.
So next time you hear Debbie Davis, Mike Davis, or any MOVE mouthpiece claim they went to prison just for being MOVE members—do me a favor.
Send them this link. Thanks.
And if Debbie and Mike Davis land a three-picture deal at Universal,
I’ll cry “Cuncle!” and throw in the towel.
Until then, I’ll keep showing up with my hand raised, ready to say:
“I have a fact check on that.”
Thanks for reading. Would love to hear your comments and questions - hit subscribe and you can join the free subscriber chat.
Big thanks to Bob for pulling receipts from our archive at warp speed.
Couldn’t do it without him. Wouldn’t want to. Ride or Die.
I think it's important to understand when looking at MOVE's history that there were people "caught up in a drama bigger than themselves or conscious decisions". Obviously children brought into these confrontations as "human shields" of sorts had very little input or say so. Even for adult members there was Obviously a great deal of compulsion and coercion to go along with these kinds of scenarios or face different types of threats and so on. I feel like the MOVE 9 and Debbie and Mike in particular merit some of this nuance. Obviously 9 people couldn't shoot one single officer, and it was a complete travesty of justice that this verdict went through on that basis, lacking the ability to identify the actual shooter. The position of the Judge that they be "tried as a family" because "they say they are a family" is also a very bad legal precedent because it potentially implicated culpability in such incidents to others simply based on blood relation.