Philadelphia health commissioner forced to resign over cremation and disposal of 1985 bombing victims' remains

Philadelphia's top health official was compelled to resign Thursday after the city's mayor learned partial human remains from the 1985 bombing of the headquarters of a Black organization had been cremated and disposed of without notifying family members. Mayor Jim Kenney said Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley made the decision regarding remains of the MOVE bombing victims several years ago — a decision the mayor called a https://twitter.com/PhillyMayor/status/1392930677574840323

The announcement of Farley's ouster came by design on the 36th anniversary of the MOVE bombing, after Kenney consulted victims' family members. Among the 11 slain when police bombed the organization's headquarters, causing a fire that spread to more than 60 row homes, were five children. A lawyer who accompanied MOVE members to a meeting with Kenney, Michael Coard, described their reaction as "outraged, enraged, incensed, but mostly confused."