Because it’s August—and because there’s always more when it comes to MOVE—I have another
MOVE was a busy-bee kind of cult: every member had an “activity,” and honestly, it would take volumes to get through it all. (📚 Reminder to self: strong book selling point.)
This 3rd post today marking August 4 is from 1978, and in my expert opinion, an essential entry for understanding the depth of Vincent Leaphart’s control and his orchestration of chaos from afar.
What we already know -
MOVE members did not act autonomously.
They did exactly what they were told—from where to live to who to have children with, what to eat, and what to say in court.
Orders were issued verbally and in writing, especially during criminal proceedings involving the MOVE 9 and Mumia Abu-Jamal.
The images I’m sharing in this post are typed instructions from Vincent Leaphart—dictated to a MOVE follower who could type. (Vincent himself never wrote or typed any of his ideas—claiming illiteracy to avoid work and to elevate himself).
At the time, Alberta Wicker Africa was hiding out in Rochester with Vincent and was a trained typist (former City Welfare Department employee - Vincent exploited that skillset in three states and connect to actions taken with regard to the children). Merle Austin Africa, in Philadelphia at 307/309 N. 33rd Street, was also proficient and may have typed these via phone dictation (Vincent was a known “phoneaholic” - if he lived today, he would be the guy clogging your group text chain)
Let’s situate the moment:
MOVE had agreed to vacate 307/309 N. 33rd Street by August 1, 1978, ending a 10-month armed standoff they had initiated on May 20, 1977 (Guns on the Porch)
On August 1st they reneged.
This was Vincent’s plan all along. He needed escalation—he needed a confrontation.
He was a fugitive orchestrating everything from 340 miles away—by phone, mail, and messengers—prepping his followers for the armed showdown he wanted.
Press attention wasn’t the byproduct. It was the point.
Infamy was the goal. The price was human lives. But not his own.
This official report, dated August 4, 1978, describes authorities intercepting and reviewing these MOVE “Instructions.”
Now let’s look at these “instructions” from Vincent. *this has been photocopied and scanned so the image quality is Meh at best so I futzed around with it and inverted the image to make it easier to read.
📄 Page 1
If contempt charge is made the judge is guilty of slavery, kidnap, extortion, violation of our religion.
If anything is out of order, then everything is out of order.
Clear, combative messaging about defying the court, claiming religious oppression, and using “slavery” rhetoric (I wonder if Sue was self-aware enough at that time to realize this might not work particularly well for her as a white woman.)
📄 Page 2: The beginning of several lines was cut off in the copy, but I’ve annotated my best reconstructions in yellow so you can read through the complete intent.
📄 Page 3: Mostly intact, with just a few editorial clarifications in yellow.
To exhibit anything about us in court is prostitution.
The whole court is conspiring to get us.
If the court asks us questions, make them admit they don’t know.
This is a leader training his followers to reject the legitimacy of legal systems, view truth-telling as betrayal, and sabotage proceedings on his behalf.
It’s coercive control reframed as empowerment—and it leaves the individual, who is already in literal handcuffs, with no real agency. Their only options are defiance or disloyalty. Either way, the leader wins and his delusions of grandeur are satisfied as he watches them sacrifice their minds and bodies on his command.
These Vincent Instructions also show premeditation—blueprint for confrontation, escalation to violent crime, and courtroom chaos.
Vincent wasn’t trying to protect his followers.
He was grooming them and setting them up to either die or go to prison.
And now—remember what you know about how Vincent handled his own federal trial in the summer of 1981 when his freedom was on the line.
No defiance.
No yelling.
No contempt charges.
Just strategic silence, legal maneuvering, and a full defense.
He even sent the judge a handwritten thank-you note.
Cooperative behavior and judge ass-kissing are not why Vincent was acquitted.
He was a free man because he designed MOVE to run on two sets of rules:
One for the cult leader, who lives in hiding, avoids risk, escapes consequences, and watches the money flow up.
(Shout out to Bert and the multi-million dollar trust she controlled.)And one for everyone else—followers used as pawns, sent into courtrooms, into prison, or armed standoffs, so he could build his myth and feed his insatiable appetite for power, adoration, and relevance.
So go ahead and file this post—and this internal MOVE evidence—into your critical thinking cabinet.
I’ll be back with more.