“Justice for Geraldine and Martin: A Birthday Celebration for Ms. Geraldine Pointer”Event to be held Saturday, November 23rd, at 3PM at the Merriweather Library, 1324 Jefferson Ave., Buffalo, NY 14208
On Saturday November 23rd, at 3PM, the Justice for Geraldine and Martin Campaign will host a birthday celebration for Ms. Geraldine Pointer at the Merriweather Library, located at 1324 Jefferson Avenue. This event is free and open to the public and with food and beverages for attendees. Ms. Pointer’s birthday celebration serves as an opportunity to thank community members for their support of our campaign and to continue building community. Ms. Pointer, (then Geraldine Robinson) along with Martin Sostre, were wrongfully arrested on July 15th,1967. Attendees are encouraged to write to Erie County District Attorney Michael Keane (D) expressing their support for Pointer and Sostre’s exonerations.
Since opening in 1965, Sostre’s Afro Asian Book Shop at 1412 Jefferson Avenue served as an empowering and liberating space for Black Buffalonians. Pointer managed another revolutionary bookstore at 289 High Street. Due to the bookstores’ growing prominence and contributions to Buffalo’s radical Black political consciousness, local law enforcement targeted Sostre and Pointer. During Buffalo’s 1967 rebellion from June 27 - July 1, Sostre’s book shops remained open as residents gained safety from ongoing police violence, further catching law enforcement’s attention.
Arrested on July 15, 1967, Sostre was charged with illegal sale and possession of narcotics, inciting a riot, arson, resisting arrest, and assault. Pointer, who was working with him at the Afro Asian Book Shop, was charged with selling narcotics and interfering with an arrest. Authorities accused Sostre of conducting $15,000 in weekly drug sales and using his basement to manufacture and distribute Molotov cocktails. As Sostre’s trial, arson and riot charges were dropped, and the drug charges were reduced to a single $15 bag of heroin supplied by a police informant who later recanted his testimony. Sostre was sentenced to 31-41 years by an all-white jury, and Pointer to 7-15 years. Pointer lost custody of her five children before being reunited with them after two and half years of imprisonment. Following nine years of incarceration, Sostre was granted executive clemency on December 24, 1975, and released on February 9, 1976.
We would like to thank the Black Love Resists in the Rust, Suny Buffalo State Department of Africana Studies, Burning Books, the Certain Days Calendar Collective, and numerous private individuals for their generous sponsorship and contributions for this event. Thank you to the community that has supported our initiative and that has helped us preserve this significant episode in Buffalo’s Black history.
About the Justice for Geraldine and Martin Campaign: We are a volunteer led, grassroots group calling upon Acting Erie County District Attorney Michael Keane (D) to exonerate Geraldine (Robinson) Pointer and Martin Sostre’s arrests on July 15, 1967 at the former Afro Asian Book Shop at 1412 Jefferson Avenue. We may be followed on social media through Instagram and Facebook.