1985

Under Mayor Wilson Goode, Philadelphia police drop a satchel of C-4 and Tovex explosive from a helicopter onto the roof of 6221 Osage Avenue, home of the Black liberation group MOVE. The resulting fire kills 11 people including five children: Frank Africa (12), Conrad Africa (12), Tomaso Africa (9), Delisha Africa (13), and Phil Africa (26). Sixty-one homes burn. Ramona Africa is the only adult survivor. No criminal charges are filed against officials.

In spring 1985, anti-apartheid protesters at Columbia, Berkeley, Cornell, and dozens of other campuses erect shantytown protest encampments demanding university divestment from companies doing business in South Africa. Columbia University divests $39 million in holdings in June 1985. By 1988, over 150 universities have divested some holdings, cutting off capital from firms propping up apartheid.

By mid-1985, crack cocaine markets are established in Harlem, East New York, Bed-Stuy, and the South Bronx. The New York Times reports on crack houses in June 1985. Addiction rates climb steeply in communities already weakened by deindustrialization and Reagan's social spending cuts. Homicide rates in Black neighborhoods begin a multi-year spike.

Edmund Perry, a 17-year-old Black student who had just graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy with a scholarship to Stanford, is shot and killed by plainclothes NYPD officer Lee Van Houten near his Harlem home. Van Houten claims Perry mugged him; no indictment follows. Perry's death symbolizes how even academically successful Black youth face lethal police violence.

On the 20th anniversary of the Watts Rebellion, media coverage documents that Watts remains one of the poorest neighborhoods in California. The arrival of crack cocaine in 1984–1985 accelerates gang violence and addiction. By 1988, Watts and Compton see over 300 gang-related homicides annually. Federal disinvestment under Reagan has eliminated most job training and community development programs.

Philadelphia's Special Investigation Commission, known as the MOVE Commission, condemns Mayor Wilson Goode and Police Commissioner Gregore Sambor for unconscionable decisions in the May 13 bombing. The commission's 1986 report finds the decision to drop the bomb was reckless and grossly negligent. However, a grand jury declines to indict any official.

Cheap crack cocaine floods urban neighborhoods, met with mass arrests rather than treatment.

Philadelphia police drop a bomb on a Black liberation group's home, killing eleven and burning a block.