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![suticin) Prefuttee Hovemser 13, 1967 2 ] £n regard to the court, T sm a0t too outcome. The crack he (Judge Tisher) made money and other statements against ptimistic about the bout the Viet Cong send- Viet Cong, in addition the court below would ads me to believe that I will not g iy preparing my papers for appeal just in In sany cases, they have already decidsd in advance (as aoon s you submit the application) what they are going to do, but 0 and go through the formality of a hearing and argusent @ to make everyone believe that the case was decided on tha basie of the arguaents -- while in reality, it was do- cided before the hearing. S0 let’s not depend on gotting any justice from Fisher. 1 don’t know what kind of 4 man he is personally or how he thinks -- perhaps you know more about him than I do -- but as I said, I’a not optintstic. W should procesd just.as if mothing had happened and of any favorable publicity given the hearing. Noveaber 25, 1967 Aved denial from Judge Fisher. He avoided isaus as to excessive bail and discrinination in imposing excessive bail complete- 1y. He denied me on the grounds that "Two similar applications have been made by petition and both have resulted in a reduotion. The potitioner never appaaled from the previous dscisions to lower the Bail. A further reduction is not varranted at this tise." (Ed. note - Of couras, what they did was set bail so high in the first place, that they could reduce it two or thre tin jailed. Comoerning the ruling by Judge Fi: Court ~- Pourth Judicial District at Rochaster, New York: Hartin had. alresdy been rushed to trial by Judge Prederiok N, Harahall. Judge Marshall began the "trisld in full knowledge of the Appellate Court!s reverasl of Judge Fisher’s denial for further reduction in badlt) " Like a Vit Cong Novesber 25, 1967 I want you and the others to know that regardless of the presmares, abus ‘any other physical or mental force that ‘eneay’ empl. %o make me submit to their frase-up rges or cooperate wAth the legal lynohing they are trying to give](Letters from Prison - Martin Sostre 29.png)
![Sostre fo Remaln S § fa e w.n.w &__ = 3 -] 3 §f Em R R @ B2 o g mw.m.:_mm”_m_mmm_. sl A = m..w. s3ag geEd wS mnt i3 uu“u 2 8 _.E it i g mmm.:, r .mu haw &’ [l _: LT m 59 ity _M it ML £3 “_m_w stz - <8 il m.fiw & & il .mz._r_ 38 ipglitnia](Letters from Prison - Martin Sostre 38.png)
![pending application for removal would not be allowed to leave the prison, He further told me that I was preotising law wi out a lav degren by Bending you ‘the mobion with Geraldine’ Hol insonts mame-on 4t, Although I pointed out to hin that notvomy a8 Kien Rovinson iy o dafertant ({nvolved in ay sape amipe 3t ou unavoldable mentioning her in-all x papers related and facts in the oase) but I Was sending those papers to yot, ny attorney - not Nias Robinson, Even if I had sent them %o her that 8t111 would nob, b & viclation of any penal law, rules.or Tegulations of the prison or the Uorrestion Law, The’Varden 8180.4p1d no that he would not g1¥e me your latest letter and that he would not allow you to Dring a secretary on your pext 4] e "segregation” (see Gorreotion 5. logal papers, law Dosks and T am now all o write to ia you, ’ Only yesterday did I receive some of my legal papers and books baok but they are still withholding important doou- ments and notes which are essentisl to my doing research and prosecuting my appesl and other legal Motions. This obdtruotion of my mail to and from you, my attorney, and the dsliberate cbatruction and confiscation of . that important legal dooument is & violation of’ my oonstitution. al and oivil rights and I will ohallenge this under the Oivil - Rights Aot inasmich as the Teason for the obstruotion was Lo conceal acts of racism and recial oppression being perpetrated upon me and our people, I would 1ike to ses you as #oon as possible so that I 7ay disouss this and other issuss with you and so that I may give you the mimutes of pre-trial proceedings and other doousents that I mentioned in my previous letters, Juy 9, 1968 I an at1) under the saze conditions dasoribed to fou in my 1octerdated Jume 28, 1563 = Tamoly, "veing oppresset Zoi subjsoted to wnnewal punishment wolely bageuse § BALled to you the legal documpnt. dealing with the political and Tacial opecta in my case which the Suthorities here 4id met want to Dedons Imown to you and ‘the NAAGP. Although I regeived a few days ago the order we’wers expeoting from the Appellate Division 4th Depsrtment allowing the appesl to bs prosscuted on Lypewritten briefs (five oapies) and directing the Erie County Clerk to send me & copy of the transoript of the trial and further providing that the appeal e placed on the Court Calendar only when the hriefs and record are filed, I an unable to send it to you for fear that it may -](Letters from Prison - Martin Sostre 64.png)
MARTIN SOSTRE
Martin Sostre Defense Committee
Martin Sostre, Prison Revolutionary
By Lorenzo Komboa Ervin
Even i this jon, many young actvits know of George Jackson
aka “Comrade George,” Black Panther leader,revolutionary prison witer and
‘organizer who was assassinated in August, 1971, in the Califomia
penitentiary, San Quentin.
Yet, in the late 1960's and early 1970's, Martin Sostre (1923-2015) was
‘every bit as well known as a prison activist, revolutionary, and jailhouse
lowyer, who almost single-handedly won democratic rights for prisoners to
receive and read revolutionary literature, write books, worship altemative
religious faiths, to not be held indefiitey n soltary confinement,and
10 obtain legal rights to have access to legalrights a disciplinary
proceedings. He was the one responsible for prisoners being able to
‘organize during the prison struggle 1967-1374. These lawsuits changed
prison conditions nationwide.
He had served a sentence n Attica, New York, during the eary 1960's
and went through a poliical metamorphosis from a Black Musiim (NOD,
Black nationalist, and later an Anarchist. In 1966, he got out of prison,
came home to Buffalo, N.Y,, and started the Afro-Asian Bookstore in the
Black commurity. Sostre’s bookstore became a center of radical thought and
poliicaleducation n that city. A Black “rot” against police brutaity
‘of a Black youth broke out at this time, and Sostre was blamed for this
rebellon since many youth visited his bookstore.
“The city cops and white political establishment chafed at Sostre's
organizing and politcal education, and decided to shut him down. They
amested him on July 14, 1967, along with a bookstore co-worker, and
charged them with *sale of narcotics, rit,arson, and assault” These were
totally frame-up charges, but he was sentenced to 41 years in prison.
Recogrizing this injustice, n international campaign was begun on his
‘behalf by his supporters and fellow activists.
At one poit, he became the best known political prisoner in the world,
and his case became adopted by Amnesty Intemnational,the prisoner of
conscience organization, n 1973. This was a firt for US. poiftical
prisoners and put tremendous pressure on the state of New York and the US.
government.Finally, is worldwide defense organization pressured the New
York state goveror to grant Sostre an executive clemency, and he was
released in 1976.
(continued,owpage 72)
.. Tdble of-Contents
Lorenzo Komboa Ervin
Introduotion g Gerald Gross
The Struggle, Against Oppression
Report Prom Jail to My
Bevolutionary Friends
An Appeal to the Students
‘Letter Prom Jail-to My Student
Supporters and Friends
Black. L1l
The Strugsle Against U.S. Impertaliem’
Letters Frop:Green-Eaven Prison
ration
"I was born and raised in Harlem and I lmow the methods.of
the streete: the gEavors: of 126th aod 7tk 1n Front of the
African Memcrial Bookshop (upon whiohmybegkshop dAn Betfelo
was patterned) and those;of !lflh'llfl 7%h) the ploketing,.
e T, L
Bigh Sohool on 18th Street in New York Oity,
*Like Brother Malooln X, I tried.te educate myself in prison.
I booame a Muslim-in Abbics Prison beoause 1ts Black Natione
f1s6 enats eppealed uo ue; it was sixilas to the Hlask
onalisn loked up in Harlen.as a stentng to
the speakers in front of the: Black Bookshop on ‘125th Street
and reading about ¥arous Garvey, However, when I got
ridon and saw Ghat the Nuslin Movesent vas not the reval:
tionary Hlack Nationalism that our youth was following and
that the Muslim movement was so alisnated from the Hlack
masses, I gave 1t up.
the
While in Attios Prisom, I beoaxs a student of. law - oonsti-
futional, international and New York State Law,” (Mertin fails
Yo mention here any of the fruits of his study of law but &
partioularly lmportant one recoxmends itself, While he was
111 @ prisoner in Attica, 1t was Hartin:Who waged the legal
sbruggle which resulted in's oourt ruling allowing Muslim
Toligions servives inaide the prisen, Bd,)
¥
4
Letters From Prison
fiafl_‘%_'% the Martin Sostre Defense
382, Ellicott Station, y
Buffalo, New York 14205
a’ compilation of Martin Sostre's correspondence
from Erie County Jail, Buffalo, New York
and Green Haven Prison, Stormville, New York
FERprplbr the Philosophioal Soolety, N
versity of New York at Buffalo, °
P.0. Box 45, Norton Union, 3435 Main Street,
Buffalo, New York 1421k
First Printing - July 1968
Second Printing - May 1969
Compiled by True Leap Press Chicago
® Anti-copyright
2018 Labor Donated
RODUCTION g
This year's edition of the Journal of the Philosophical
Soolsty of the State University of New York at Buffalo is devoted
$o the unfortunately little-known struggle of Martin G. Soatre,
Black booksfore propristor and politioal activist,.who vas vielously
framed by federal, state and local racist law officials during the
Black rebellion of June - July 1967 in Buffalo's East Side ghetto.
Through e compilation of the many letters sent by Martin
from jail to meabers of the Martin Sostre Defense Cosmittes, friends,
and family, the editorial ataff of the Journal has been able to re
construct the essential story of vhat happe:
rebellion, the subsequent months of legal atruggle to fres Martin ant
8180, %o give & picture of Martin's political acusen, his analyses of
the profound social and political iseue of our time.
Martin Sostre operated the Afro-sian Bockstors on Jeffer-
08 Avenus in the heart of the ghetto. Jefferson is the main.drag
where the many yhite-owned shops and stores loot the Black population
day and night as they go up and doyn the Avenuo, fresh from being su-
per-exploited in Buffalo's stesl mills, sweat shops, and suburban
Bomss of the rich. It vas asong these unfortunate and e~
t1e" poople that Martia Sostre became known as & leader aad militant
apokessan for Black Bancipation.
I firet mst Martin sosstise in 1966 when I went to his
o with a friemd. Both of us ere active ix the Philosophi-
ty and in Youth Againat War and Pasoism on campus. At this
time, the Philosophical Society vas conducting & semisar at the com
us oa the philosophy of People's China and we wanted to purchase
s0me books related to this subject. Martin's bookshop was the only
Place in towa where you could get booka on this and other "contro-
versial" subjeots that wers written by other than hostils comsenta-
tors. After visiting the-store on many. cubsequent oooasions - and
after Martin came to understand that We ourselves. were sericusly in-
Yoived in the struggle, especially in street demonstrations against
the war in Vietnan and in support of Black liberation -- we became
go0d frienda with Martin,
Ho alwaye enjoyed disoussing ourrant events, the interna-
tional eituation, Black and Asian history, literaturs snd political
vhilosophy. We thought highly of Sostre as an intelleotual aad 1t
was claar that he was aleo an activist of ususual alertaess and po-
1itical perception. Martin's favorite subject was the bookshop’and
the Afro Freedon , » mimeographed ghetto community newspaper
i Cis foesten Habier, 3 wioegrreriee, Sutts, commnt sy aeveaper
oeived of and vas about to bring into existence. The stor
onondoally a burden, was graduslly besoming known b
pressed Black youth of the comsunity. They wore often in the
talking to Martin or reading a book or just browsing.
very mich about the youth. He wanted to provide thes vith a pers;
tive and a progras, to teach them to think, learn, inquirs iato aad
qubstion sverything.
However, teaching the young to think for thepselve
never been popular'asong those who want to keep things the a:
and Buffalo's Martin ‘Bot to eacape the wrath of thoae who
ra ¢
What you are about to read through the media of his cor-
roapor s the story of a Black political prisoner's inapiring
struggle againht the extrems brutality and cunning sachinations of
the oppressor: \ the entire racist, big-business ruling clique of this
highly segregated northern industrial city. It is a story of the frame-
up techingue of whith so 1ittle is told by the officlal and unofficial
apologista of American soclsty but which - stands
out as perhaps the most ruthless and subtle device of tl
tory of witch-hunt and poli-
tdoal-intellectual persecution by reactionary officials who, fearing
the diasemination of controveraial books and pasphlets that discusssd,
other things, the emancipation of the poor and oppressed of the'
suppressed the answer to poisonous racial fictions spewsd by
the business-controlled sass pedia with KKK style, police state and
fascist tactics. In essence, then, this is the story of atate power
4teelf which - in the handa of racist, white politiciams and. their
big-business bosses -~ means "pig-cop" brutality, frame-ups, legal
1ynchings, kangaroo-style court prosecutions, judictal intimdation
and even nind-destroying drugs to the long oppresaed Black mass:
My aubsequent involvesent as chairman of Martin's Defense
Comaittes has given me & priceless sducation about the system of
ruthless repression which exists i the U. 8. In particular, it has
opened ay eyes more fully to the racist judicial system which I have
s0an to be nothing more than the machinery of state repression con-
those who oppose their lecherous gre
those who sti11 harbor
courta, cops, mase-medis, liberal establishment, sto., to seri
study the letters contained herein. The wraps of liberal bourgeois
demccracy, herein resoved by an angry Black man who has suffersd 45
yoars under this "free" soclety, cover a racist, militarist - that
1s to say, fascist monstrosity.
Of spocial interest La the discussion of the payohiatric
o
Gommittee uants to share the
manifold object lessons of the case with all partisans of the oppre
88d everyvhers. The financial situstion, hoveve:
firet printing of this edition of the Journal will have to be a 1L
mited one. We hope that you will utilize the experie
4n Martin‘s words and that you will show it to frie:
ia-arms who may benefit from the
touchstone case from the very bey 3
s mentioned above, the betrayal of Martin by the'white middle-class
Liberals and pseudo-radicals and by the blishasnt ais-leadors of
e Black community is extremely significant. Nembers of the Defenss
Comaittes have, {rom time to tise, been confronted by the unofficial
of the opp
1y shoots down the Black paople and poor whites who seck to better
their siserable lot —- wh
“hen they dare
aughters the poor of the world by the
£y his authority, 7
Our position has alvays bean the unconditional defense of
any Black aan, Woman or child being iynched by the racist seb oo sven
though that Bob be the very same men Who own and rule this souniry.
Ve uphold evary can's right toa fair trial by his o Beople o Bie
Boers — and wooes damn the meciat o, urther e phola
the baslc right of the oppresasd Black pecple o rebel ageinas Anhusen
conditions, e Know thet no oae aan o onuae & Febeiad esthar
#in vas; originally charged —- not even as drilliant and dyngate a
deader as Martin Sostre. In blaming individusle1ikeTHereiy, che
ruliag ravista’are only seeking to'aover their own orises of looting
the very1ives of Anerisa’s Black people. To theiliberals,
radicals and pasudo-gosialiste thess: slesentiry.principle:
decency must forever ‘Temain a' hook "with seven. seal:
On the other hand, &0 those who havs contributed to tl
Dafenge Pund and whohave. supported.the ma inge, - fund-raising
affails, strest demonstrations, sio., andreho contines. their pertisen
aupport for Martin through the. thick and-thin of 1t all v vistory,
shall be ours! "Xk 1a ‘our gouviction that'the oppressor san only be
defanted 17 people are-wiliing to pull itogether and sacrifice for
one another. This iaith true meaning of-solidarity —- sad this is
what you have s meaningfully showa. Let ug contimus to verk to-
Sother and fight for the 1iberation of 1L the oppressed of the
Vorldi
DEPEND BLACK LYBSRATION WITH DEEDS!
NO MORE FRAME-UPSI FREE MARTIN SOSTRE NOWI
Genahl roes
Gerald Gross, Chairssn
Martin Soatre Defense Comsittes
+ Martin Sostre And The Fight Against Soiitary Confinement
MAY 16, 2016 BY GARRETT
FELBER htip://www.aaihs.org/martin-sostre-and-the-fight-
‘against-solitary-confinement/
DEDIOATION 7
The Philosophical Sootety 1s deeply honored and most proud
%o dedicate its Journal of 1968 to Hartin Sostre, revolutionary Black
tionalist liberation fighter and victis of a rasist fraze-up in
£2alo, New York.
t a “professional philosopher of the offictsl
Amerioan Univeraities, Martin Sostre is a phi-
osopher in the tiuest sense of the word. In fact, he i & phil
Pher in the only sense that has ever had any vital'significance
4 professional revolutionary.
Like Socrates of Athens, who taught.ths youth to inquire
into the "how and why Sostre showed the Black youth of the
Buffalo ghetto how to question and analyze the vorld and "tell it like
1t da.0
of America and the poor of the world. Fe hus fol-
otatepa of Malcoln X and stands beside Robert F. Wil-
Ldams and other Black dilitants atraggling for the complete
Pation of all modera-diy ‘slaves and serfe.
And, at this very
chanbera whers they pursue
he idea of ele-
all over the vorld
cast their lot
hired apologiats
ove bistory for-
ward and be honored by the future generations of man.
- Biitorial Star
Philosophical Soolety
report from jail
to my
revolutionary friends
Beport Fron Jail bo My Reyolutionary Friends
Pirst let me thank you for your moral and finane
o181 support without which We == Geraldine Robinson and I -
Sould not survive this framewnp by the enemy, Since paper is
very scarce and space is therefore limited, I will dispense
with some of'the details of the frame-up which you sre al-
ready familier with. 10
Seyeral weeks ago the enemy oppressors -- who
viewed with slarm the growing mumber of youths hanging out in
the Afro-Asian Bookshop and their suddenly increased interest
in Black nationalist and sooialist literature (which I gave
free or on oredit to those Who laoksd the momey o purchase
it) evidently deaided that the increased youth activity
around the Bookshop posed & large threat to require
inmediate aotion; and o they made their Gestaposlike raid
on the Bookshop, beat me up, pushed Geraldine around, framed
us with & sale of narootics, wreoked the Bookehop and stole
everything of value.
raresd itk Sesch ok SEACEICE. Lhe Teoemn A e dr
@ ‘arson and s rece: . n
Buffalo, in addition to the above said marootios chargs, I
1ad en Unexpeoted visitor with ¢ strangs messugs. This Visi-
tor was an Tom lawyer-politisian who was aspiring to
‘become one of the sccommodating Negro leadera, He inforned me
that there was talk in the Black community of another “riot"
during the weekend (this visitor oame on July 27th, Thurs~
day) and the power etrusture had sent him to request that I
send this Unole Tom to the main “leaders® so that Uncle Tom
could find out from them their demands or grievanoces and pre-
Sent them to the power strusture, In this Way, he said,
Tloodshed oould be avoidsd beosuse the city oifiolals had
inforned hin that mext time they would show the “rioters" no
meroy; that his sole interest was to avoid bloodshed snd loss
of property by interposing himself between our people and
$he power’ strusture® to ses if the issue could be nesotisted
pescefully, I replied that assuming the untensble hypothesis
That I would send him to the “gang leaders®, they would mot
et hin act as their spokesman becsuse he Nas not ome of us
at the grass-rosts; we did not trust him, I reminded him that
until recently (vhen he lost his County job) he had been
most zeslous in proseouting our people on behalf of the op-
pressor and that he had semt to prison some of the same
youths that he now sought to sent, Moreover, I continued,
%o divulge the pames and addr of ghstto militants, if one
Imew them, would only insure their arrest by police offioisls,
Undaunted by what he probably considered my stubormess in
view of his repeated probestations of inoerity and honesty,
he then suggested & mesting in oourt on the following day
[ *HUAC There wee,three, ccording o Police Commissioner Frark
Felceta
2 Frame Up, at 10:30. The frst was al 1412 and a halfJeferson Ave. A
‘second was o289 High
Ond xyself ---if any of, the
Ho 881 ‘thatshe had notioed
-87exy .oourt prooesdi;
; of Chen ners Lenders ang
iou13, Do present at the hearing soheduled for the Tallowims
gay. e further stated that he could arrangs & private wens
The next day (before I went bo-oourt) I had another
s the Jall. Mr. Boooio, the public defender, ocame
fo relterate Unsle Ton'a’offer.and to volunteer Mis:sroeny
aorathe ‘conferance. Tuat afternoon Boooio. maderthe neseasary
Arranguments %o use his Gffice and he-asked me an soen eo s
gntered the ‘eourtroom if any of the young: "gans leaderss were
Jresent? I told hin'no, Others were present, however. sho .
Wold Telate the mesgage of nesctiation to the-leaders. Beosio
poked 2o o piok out thode wioT yanted in the oonference
Joom. I ploked out, elght; o nine friends inoluding a spavesman
for my Defenss Comaittes: and Geraldine, Unole Tom did mos
tEPey in the oourtroom that day, Befois the conference got
earlier, had asked the.
gtuck hia head "tn: the Foon and anasunced.
he'would not object if my bail was redvos
Boooto Teplied that he would make,
gonference —'this being an induo
geoperation,” However, they were, o beidiss;
his onference to my advantags'‘tosexshangsinews,
¥ith mw friends and to expose thal rwiioh
Sommuntty ot deeomes o pieeeb et |
o a o prevents
of revolt that weekend, CYE
and &
¥ould be easy to - the, sudden’ z
and eale ofmy 1iterpture by.saying. thati
DAtiTel oonsequence or cumlativesrfestof thotn
of Karzisteoriented and Black
pamphlets and leaflets whioh I old, loaned out and given
T s, Sy B ane? CroTeery, L volad S tyfng 17"
ou that, my friends, misleading:you
e oo, Tow this s not %o say that T wam't making say” S
3 The Alismalive Commurity in Bufalo, 1968-76 B. Marin Sostre
Booksaller Tumad Black Revauiionary (1967). The Bufalonian, 2001, Retrioved 7
Sy 2011,
. 1 Powel, Elwin 8. Mriin Sostre Bcoksetlr Tumed Blsck Revolutonary
(1967)". The Ateinative Communty n Buftalo, 1965-76. The Eufsonian.
Retrieved Decomber 20, 2011.
headvay in spresding the word beoause I was, But the pace, | &
though steady, was very slow, In comparison, tha smdden wpturn
ogvering the period of June i, 1967 througn July 14th (the day
of the Gestapo attack) equaled or bettered the yravious sir
month period, I believe I imow the Teason for this phenomenon.
It just so happened that during the month of June
there provalled in the Afro comminity in Buffalo an impending
revolt, There had already been several minor skermishes with
the poitce in which neighborhood orowls Sook arvested persons
out of the handsof the police, Tension built up which finally
exploded at the end of June when the police supplied the needed
spark -- as usual, During the three nights of the revolt, when
11 the shops in iy area — both Hlack and whits owned o
olosed early, I stayed open until J A,N,, thereby providing a
refuge (from the tear gas being indiseriminately sprayed in
the streets by the polics) for many passers-by and freedom
fighters, The shop stayed and the oops cutside didn't
1ike 1t, tut there was nothing they oould do, I had the right
%o atay’open - as long as I wanted to, Nesdiess to mentien: T
made political hay in “zmlu the police brutality going on
outaide to the large orowds in the stors, Then, after a rousing
speech, I would go to the shelf and pick up an appropriate book
or pamphlet, 1ike Robert P, Williams' Negroes With or Pre-
Sivi) ¥ar Blaok Nationalisn or & 9 oola X or
bera s sto, and
o ’ . SRR femnine, ot A
ing or read an appropriate
passage, With interest stim-
wlated § would make several
sales and oreate several mew
fresdon righters, Now even
provious to the Tevolt, T
have alvays agitated, d1sous.
80d and dobated the Surrent
Ppolitical issues in the same
manner. But during the revolt
(and £or the nezt two veeks
¥hen the images of the many
brutal acts were still fresh
1in people’s minds) I had
something oonorete that was
ouwrrently happening right out-
8ide for everyons o 5eo o
namely, the invasion of the
Black community by droves of
White armed police who
indisorininately shooting tear
&ms and tullets, beating up
and arresting Black men, women eud children and oomaitting obier
depravities, ALl that wis Rissing were the cattle prods, jo one
©0n1d argus againet thess concrete Tactal
The two weeks following the revolt (until I was
framed on July 14th) were the best I ever had —- politically,
s * Churchit, Ward: Wi, Jim Vander (2002). Agents of Regression: The.
FBI's Socret Wers Against the Black Poniher Pary and the Americon ndien
Movement. South End Press . 1. IS8 978-0.09608-646.3
[ > Gross, Geraid . (March 23, 1972). “Lter o the ERor The Case of
Martin Sosire. The New York Reviw of Books. Retieved September 3, 2015.
- even'despite the fact that the. firemen, in collusion
‘Police, broke -out my windows and.played two high pres-
sure fire hoses inside the Bookshop under the.pretext of putting
out a fire which ooourred in the tavern mext door -- and hever
g0t near my shop, Although I suffered extensivo water damage,
my good friend Jerry Gross helped restock my shelves by domating
several hundred new and used books, magazines and pRmphlets.
e plyvood emergency enclosures oovering the front of y /3
store ag well as the other three stores in the same building
(one. was vacant and the othier two olosed because of the fire)
gave me an ides which proved very effective, In the fashion
of the wall posters put up by the Red Guards in Red China, T
started pasting thought~provoking articles and photos of the
revolt, anfi-Vietnan War artioles and photos of the atrociti
comnitted by the U,S., eto, Imnediately passers-by began to
stop and read and disouss the articles, cartoons and photos;
many would. come into the store to buy books and magazines and
diacuss the articles, What I had done was to convert the entire
front of \the building-on the Southwest corner of Woodlawn and
Jefferaon into a huge community bulletin board and each day I
Would paste new articles and photos out from newspapers, maga-
zines and pamphlets on the board to keep public interest alive.
A few days before the cops raided the bookshop several people
paper and magazine olippings which they them-
oted. Acoording to my recollections, one Was on
of the Uetts "riot", one on Estevanico, a Black
with the Span-
iards, another on Stokely Carmichael and seversl others the
subjects of which I can't recall. This -- to me -~ Was tangible
Proof of the approval of the bulietin board by the commumity.
The oops, however, did not 1ike 1t one bit and their
angry glares at me and at the Eroups of people who were reading
the bulletin board left no doubt that they considered this
Red_Guard wall posters a threat to
1 noticed also during:this period
of uneasy 1ull following the revolt (June 30th to, July 1bth)
that, in addition o the inor ‘mimber of Police oars patrol-
2ing'the area (with their windshields, back and side windows
taped to prevent their shattering when struck by brioks and
Vottles), more cars appeared carrying police hrass and white
oivi1ian high officlals and these would slow down upon approach-
ing the area of the Bookshop and &11 their atbention would
foous on the Bookshop and the entire length of the bulletin
board, It became evident that our activity had come to the
attention of the high officials. One morning when 1 came to
opon the stors I noticed that some of the posters had been
Tipped off and that unsucosssful attempts had been mede to Tip
the others off (they were too tightly glusd td be ripped off).
A taxi driver who works on the night shift case to the shop an
hour after I opened to inform me that he had observed the looal
cops Tipping the postera down after I closed the shop at 2 or 3
T immediately put up more articles and photos to replace
‘the ones Tipped off or damaged, I used more glue to paste them
to make 1t harder to rip off. A Sort of battle developed
between the cops and me during the five days preceeding the
raid and framing of Geraldine and me on the dope chargs. !4
Another significant fact which, no doubt, reached the
ears of the high officials and further alarmed them was word of
the AfTo Freedon Pighter (AFP), & mimeographed newspsper which
'ts pre-publication stage, Two weeks befors the revolt
a used Gestetner mimeo machine for $100. I had
porsonnel (writers, reporte
the paper became Self-supporting
cartoonist). Bad 1t not bsen for the fire the AFP would ha:
been in print before my arrest. Befors the fire nd fust
ous'to the Tevolt I was proudly displaying the machine
{imich I had in the shop) to many people and informing the
thet the AFF was going fo be & genuine grass-roots community
newspaper completely Tun and published by the militant youth of
the community -- by us "115t1e" people; that unlike any other
Who are
Grunbs which the Tuling white oppressors dole out to thes. I
Vould Biss no opportunity to let the psople know (in the above
Language) what the policy of the APE was to be. The overwheiming
2ajority of the people to whom 1 talked were gisd tnat such &
newspaper was to be published, Many stated that this type of
Rewspaper was long overdue in Buffalo.
As for the so-called Negro leaders in Buffalo, the
revalt of June and 1ts aftermath showed them up for What they
Teally are: @ group of parasitic opportunists who oomsand
neither a following, Tespect nor prestige in the Black community
and are merely traitors, handpioked by the White ruling oppres-
sors ¥ho sppointed thea “leaders for the sole purpose of having
the injustices and depravations daily heaped upon the Black
community, legitimized by their sanotion and approvel, During
June and July these "leadsrs® - preachers and politicians --
Tan around the neighborhood 11ke chickens with their heads out
off, pleading with the youths, begsing, promising, but to no
aval, The youth would not listen to them, Every time they
opened their mouths, they put their feet in. They promised the
youth Jobs, but the youth Answered them, "Who the hell said we
were-fignting for jobs? You miss the whole point, mant We can
always get one of those hot and dirty, low-paying jobs.We don't
want jobs, we want justice!"
The fact 1s that none of the established Black pol-
1tioal groups, religious lsaders or other organizations command
the allegiancs of the youth who o ‘the largest and most
gyneao sogasnt of the Black commnity. If this 18 true then
he next question should bei What mist & Black revolutionry
o o command the allegiance of the militant Black youth? I
believe I have the answe:
In xy two years as ‘owmer of the Afro-Asian Bookshop
I vas contimuously plagued by two main-protlensy i) how ve
Jako the shop self-mutfistent and 3) hov to somvert the. mhop | o
into a political center for the Afro-Amerian youth,.I was : /
working alone, without any experience, politioal comsotions,
noney, friends’ (I way a stranger in
Buffalo, having mads Lt my hose when
Teleased from Attics Prison in Ootober
196k), or sponsors,.I had to play it ky
ear, {hrough the. tine-oonsuning rrocess
of trial and error in the blenting of
different types of 1iterature with rhythn
and blues and jass records, Afrioan oarve
ings’ and 1ithogrephs, Africen
rings, eto, Vhen I first opened the Book-
chop. 1t as aclely & bockepe
B St
story, oulture thos,
Soms’of ' the books were by
18t writers, some by Marxis
Ty ‘treditional Negro writers, they did
not sell, I then Sought to diversiry my
meager stook by sdding a few novels, I
inoluded the works of Eichara Wrignt,
Jomes Baldwin and LeRot Jones, These bosks sold better than'the
ones on history and politics, but mot at_the: voluss required to
make the shop self-supporting, Luckily, I'Was working at Bethle-
hen Steel and able to pay the rent, 1ight and phone bills out
of my pay oheok,
Casting about: for
some means of attracting’ oustom-
y I deotded to adorn my walls
with large 1ithographs of African
subjeots. I aldo displayed a few
in By windows, They attracted a
few customers’who usually' also
purchased: a book or magazine when
I brought them to their atten-
tion, Shortly: therearter, I
atooked some’ African woodoary-
ings, s doon as I put thes in
the Window ‘they began attrac
ing ourious passers-by who' would
oome in to ask what the carvings
represented, who made-them, whers
414 they oome from, how mich did
they 0ost? It was surprising that
many had never seen African Sarv-
ings before, While the many ine
quiries did 'mot result in the
sale of many oarvings, book sales did increas
The Bookshop was still not self-suffiolent, but after
a yoar of experizentation with above-said stook and the addi-
Si0n of many different titles, the store at least began to pay
Yte omm rent, 1ight and phone bills, I still had to use my
Bethiohen Steel pay oheck to buy stock each week and put in |
oLght hours at the store without pay <. but at least the goal
of‘making the store self-sufficient and self-supporting was in
Signt. I reasonsd that if keeping the store open only elght
Bours daily abhieyed such & Tesult, would not the fiml goal be
chieved in hALf the time if I quit the Steel Plant end put in
95'or 16 hours a day at the shop? To be sure, quitting a $135
a vaek 3ob to depend on & store which vasn't'paying for itself
Was vory risky Dusiness, Several days later, while mtill unde-
ided a8 to what step to take, the problem was resolved for me
by something I saw in the street,
Wnile walking down Jefferson Avenue, I passed &
group of youths standing in front of one of the local Tecord
shops istening to the loudspeaker (all record shops in the
Afro community have loudspeakers outside) blaring out a popular
Jazz mumber, The idea struck me as I watched them stomping
Their feet with the beat and enjoying the msio, This was 1t1
Why not add a Tecord departmént to the Bookshop? Sell jezz
and Thythn and blues records and place s loudspeaker outside.
Husic is the best form of advertisement in the Black community:
Yt attracts attention becsuse everyons loves music —- especial-
1y youths, The following pay dey I went to a pawnshop and pur-
Shased & used Tecord player, bought a ten inoh television
Joudspeaker at & TV repair shop and set up my own misic System
By placing the loudspeaker outside the shop and wiring 1t to
the Tecord player. The next day I went to the local record dis-
tribuor on Main Strest and purchased $50 worth of the latest
Tacords, Sowith an investment of about $70 I was in the record
‘tusiness.
e resotion was instantansous. As soon
the fizet record, heads turnd toward the shop, Even ped:
ans across the street would turn to look, People started
Soming in the stors to purchase records, Some Would browse and
oy & magaine or Dook o cATVIng. A lob of youths, including
Cotnagers, started hanging out in the shop. Some Toqueated
that I play certain Tecords which I did. In conversstion, I
vourd ebpladn to them the temsts of Black nationalism, socialis
And AfrocAmerioan history, I Would illustrate my points by
showing them photos and cartoons from books and magazines on
‘the shelves, I taught continually -- giving out pamphlets free
£6° those ¥ho had no Boney. I let them it and read for hours
Tn the store. Soms ould come back every day and read the sase
ook wntsd they finished it, This was the opportunity I hed
Evenned bout - to bs sble to help Gy peopis by increasing the
political awareness of the youth, A month later, I quit my job
at, Bethlenen.
Being forced now by my decision bo quit the Plant,
to make the store not only self-supporting but also SUppTt me,
I kept 1t open,an average of fifteen hours & day, seven daya-a
Woek, Thua I was able to wring from the shop about $60 a veek,
in silary, So sotually, the dsolsion o quit the plant 2.
» §75 por week pay out, I didn't-mind that, The 2
a3 to pass the' knowledge ‘and political ideas which
1y paopie to, them via the 1iterature. in the Bookshopind ‘this:la
wWnat I was doing, True, I was always pinched for moneycand I
Was alvays behind on a bill o a publisher or the.landlord ' /7
P
(sometines I paid an overdue billwith the Tent mopey/on vice
Vorsa), and my shelves were mever fully stocked)pbusd:did
anage " to. stay. open., Slowly but surely, the A fan ‘Bookshop
Was bacoming the mecoa for politically mobivatedilooal youth,
Also, people came from Rochester, ‘Syracur , Erie
and foronto to obtain 1iterature vhioh ves'ungbtajpatls. in
ose clties, I
By the oareful blending of revolitionary literature,
protest novels, traditional Negro historiod,.paintings by lgoal’
artists, Africsn carvings, tikis and 1ith . jazz and.
rhythn ‘blues records, earrings, eto., andndigenous soul-
athosphere was created and projeoted whichwhsteo'oompletely in
Gune with the conscicusness and soul of the’Afroiyouth that
they instinetively identified themselves Withiit. Even 8o, I
found that there ¥es @ further réquirement..I"bave seen ‘that,
& person not in tune with.the mentality of:the street yonth:
Geh Greate a’ gulf between him and thes andisutralize the‘soull
olimate, This situation arose when I allowed's k
‘friend tovopernt
the shop for a few weeks, Although a politically soj \vxu‘;;:hi'
Black nationaliat. with pienty of revolutions e
antagonized the youths with his r.mé% het ey
and inflexible, He was driving avay,
t
Sasmpen
1%,/on the mimeo’ ¥
Although the stfect of the indige
fully menifested itself in May 1967, oi:
Be from taking advantage of i, I put a
{for the commnity newspaper) in May,
every week quring Way ‘and June, Which p
able financial strain, When I had just fnll
the riremen‘s hosing caussd me extensiveiyal
eeks later I vas fromed by the police. ‘-
of tho thousands of titles whish Bt oPALRS.R'. <,
another paseed on v And Off of By shelves, mfi,&fifi-gmgmh
‘the Afro_youth more than all the YiHa2 ooTmix: HnetheRzat’
was his autobiography, his speeches, the pamphlersiand magaziine
articles about him, his-L,P, records, his-was’the’ Loal'
which made ‘them respond, His books would sell so fast that I
hed & hard time keeping my shelves stocked with his words,
Eis books -- particularly his pamphlets which, selling for
only 25¢ or 35¢ were within the fimanoial reach. of everyone --
s o e S eusbony samiais, 1nto Feverusion-
ary thought, the only philosophy which will free us from our
&
o ——_
Brother Malools becauss he was one
of them, he talked their language -~
the language of the ghetto street
where the Black youth are freely
able to express themselves —- relieve
their frustrations -» tell 1t like
it is -~ without biting their
‘tongue: the
Black youth are in tuns with. After
reading and absorbing Malooln's pam-
pilete, they then becass receptive
o the writing of other politioal
thinkers 1ike Rob Willisms, -Nirumah,
they were
therefore sasily peroeive that their
struggle for fresdon lies squarely
within the framework of the world
11beration strugel
The sua of the above iz
thisi In order to command the alle~
glance of the Affo-Americen youth,
militant Black leaders must orgsnize,
in their totality, 11 of the indig-
nous oultural foroes that have
meaning for and give substance to
the outlook of the Afro youth,
Through sheer necessity and trial
and error, I gained enough experience
1in my two years of developins the
Afro-Asian Bookshop to bs able to
sstablish a bookshop similar to mine
for about $600 and make it pay for
itaelr, Now I know how, ut gaining
the knowledge took the better part
- of two years
My only regret 1s that
arter so many sacrifices and being
80 Glose to Teaching my goal, I was
opped by the police, Although my
Defense Comittee is working hard to
Taise the bail monsy (I am being held
under §25,000 which requires $1,000
sash plua ooliateral to cover the
$25,000), they may not be able to do so, Should I be freed on
tail, I jmow I shall susceed in helping to orgsuize the Black
youth, Bverything is in readiness awaiting xy return: the East-
West Bo 767 Jotforson Avenue (being managed by my
Bate and so-defendant, Miss Geraldine Robinson) whers the re
nants of the Afro-Asian Bookshop were moved, the Gestetner mimeo
machine for the publishing of the Afro Preedom Fighter, snd a
sizable following of youths from the Bookshop. 19
I feel helpless sitting idle here in jail, for if
1 were out on bail I oould, in addition to organizing, get
my o1d job back at. Bethlehem Steel, Since I still belong to
the Stealworkers' Union, they would get me the job and take
the pressure off my frienda in the Defense Comalttel
But should I not be freed and should our enemies
4 in putting me away for thirty years,
if T knew that this report has
ontributed in any degree toward & knowledge of how to
organize the Black youth of this country. The burden of &
long sentence would .be lightened by the satisfaction of
inowing that the mission set out for me, that of helping my
pecple free themselves from the Oppressor, 18 being aooome
Pliched.
Thanking you, I am your Afro Fresdom Pighter,
Brother Martin
Erie County Jail
Buffalo, New York
ot 3, 1567 Martin Sostre
ko of Mt Sostr sa young o by Jery Ross (piner)
"I greet you from prison and thank
all of you who are supporting me
in my defense against the frame-up
designed to destroy me and the book-
shop which some of you are familiar
with which they, the power structure,
say is inflammatory and Marxist, etc.
My position is that, although the
literature may be objectionable to
some, and I have had threats to
cease the sale of this type of lit-
erature, I have the constitutional
right to sell all literature which
promotes freedom of thought and dis-
closes facts which are hidden from us
by the controlled news media.
If this is a crime, then I must al-
ways be a criminal because as a book-
seller who believes in freedom of
thought in this so-called democracy,
I feel that it is my duty to always
bring this literature, not only to
my own people who need it the most, but
also to you students of the white commu-
nity and to all people who are seeking
knowledge and other opinions, other
than those projected by the controlled
press."
-- August 1, 1967
Letter Fros Jail To My Student Supporters And Frisnds
z !
Mugust 1, 2967
Those of you who case to the Afro-Asien Bookshop to pick
up your sopy of the LIBERATOR or the PECTND REVIDW.or the PARTIOAN
‘or Ghairoan Mao Zae. Tung (until
7 fong Kong and
denied ay. application to release thes), know that maay of the books,
aagatines aad paaphlets o0 our shelvas vgre not cbtainable oa Nain:
Btrest or et your own student and caspus bookshops. The purpose of
ay. bookahop. £rom ite husble origin two years ago. when sl T had was
Zorty bookn on my shelves and five empty racks vhich T had made -~
vas two-folds
1. to provide the Afro cosmunity (vhich was without a
bookshop) with our first bookshop whers books about our
history, culture and the writing of all our Black free-
dom fighters and thickers could be purchased, and
2. to make available to the Black and white communities
(in addition to the aforesaid books) the. so-called sontro-
versial or leftist literature: the voice of protest and
the other side of the
hop, I.had.two vieitors
vhe after some carsl browsing, oam to the counber; idsatified thes-
ves:as FBI agents and asked ue if I.was. the propristor..’ Upon get-
“ing an acfiraative, they same right to the pointi the giet of it
being < vas I affiliated with any Socialist or Comsunist group and
why Vas I selling that type of literature? My answer was that 1-was
not affiliated with any group and that as owner of the bookshop, I
ned what bocks were sold in my shop -- that this right
ent to the Conatitution. They
obriously didn't like my reply , but they left without any further cos-
zent.
Two months later, two city detectives from the Subvers:
Squad vieited my shop. They wers not.as polite as:the federal ageit
Thy identified themselves and one of them said, "Nice place you got:
here, Marty. You'rs doiug alright for yourself since you got out of
prison. Vhat are you doing:now behind this bookstors. front?" I told
his this vas no front, that I was working at Bethlehem Steel and oper-
‘bookahop, that 1 paid my debt to socisty for' the mistakes I
w 1iving the 1ife of a law-abiding citisen
' law-abiding citizen dossn't
in hate 1iterature and comminist propaganda.” I then repeated what
1 told the federal agents regarding my constitutional right to sell
Litarature of my choice. One of thea replied, “O. K., Marty, have it
our way.
Last month, as 411 of you knowy the polics invaded and
ked the Afro-Asian . They accused Geraldine Robinson and
e reons Tiot, possession and sale of narcotice snd aseasie:
i
i
3
¢k
that we are
was foroed to leave town and
testify to the truth, Another witness was bea
wore jailed and int:
intend to make the
yoars - the amount
¥nile under ayrest
Back to_the Bookshop
and stole everything
the trial by jury - makes 1t virtually impossible to overaoms
by myself the' oombined weight of all the poverful foroes mobil-
1200 against me. Only with your massive support will Geraldine
and I be able to overoome,
Today, when vital lasues ani palioles affesting our
and other people’s 1ives are being arbitrarily resclved amd ime
plenented without our consent and against our wishes by.those
motivated sclely by greed and profit, when we are being asked to
sacrifics our 1ives and to destroy other pecple’s 1ives in a war
which we imow 1s not just - when we are being asked to aoquiesoe
in the contimed oppression of the Afro-Amerioan - to name omly
two vital lssues - must we go to slaughter 1ike mheop? Must we
e oun whon the rogzen of oppressins and BratAlifing other
humans, Those dissenters who read this know as I do that dissent
- carries risks, but the risks of silence or assent are even
groater - for'it is your own lives that will be sacfificed, Even
Theep 107 out 4n oshsional “baat in protest wpon teing 1ed v
80 16t us not be intimidated into spineless silemve;
2st'a close ranks amd combine our voloes of protest until the
Tising volume overwhelms those who would uss us for their own
selfish ends, As for me, far from being oowed by the vioious
‘beating inflioted on me by the police, you have my assuramce
that upen getting out on bail, I shall strive to make my book-
thep the min 11brary of dissént snd protest litersture in
Butfalo,
I an desply grateful for your genercus moral and
finanotal support without which we would most certainly be
orushed, I thank you,
Martin Sostre
+ The Prison Letters of Martin Sostre:Documents of Resistance
Warren L .Schaich, Diane S.Hope Joumal of Black Studies,
Volume 7, Issue 3 (Mar.,1977), 281-
300. http:iiwww.freedomrchives.org/Documents/Finder/Black%2
OLiberation%20Disk/Black%20Powerl/SugahData/Essays/Schaic
h.S.pdf
Beil ang Witnesses 23
Auguat 30, 1967
T I
povesaper L TGN o L izl e pustine
e G A e B, etild S ot
the shop when the alleged =ale was
e goourred. Everyday that
chances:6f proving my 1nnoos
rush the hearing evem withou oquld have hidt
the hearing, all my witnes: stified, all ‘the ones
S tetnag; oL 5 nbotihe ot B et o W ey
them, we have lost key witnesses,
Although Kr, Pahringer was ‘upposed to apply for .
Tedustion in BA1l, he has not.yet done so. I oantt understand
this delay, I wrobe him.about b, Could you see him and have nim
ake: the @pplication as soon 88 possitle? The $25,000 1 TEILL
unreasonably Migh (Bail was originally set at $30,000. Ed.)
‘trying . -
Hartin Sostre has opened up-a new fora of
strusgle in the fignt against injustice by
Tefusing to be sold out by those lawyers and
“public defendera* who are more interssted
1n their ovn positions and advanoement than
'in defending liberation fighters, As he says
1n n letter, “Though thers are those Tew who
{are oourageous -and have Sontimued to fight
itor ‘the oppressed, one should be very wary
of putting one's 1ife in the hands of & pro-
Cosatopal Who has agreed to: be, sa Jexyers
have o, on, tfficer of the pourt:®
utionaries, unlike most lawyers, are not en-
[langred of tne bourgeois. aysten of law whtch
has orushed seversl generations of ailitant
[ifaghtera in this country, Wartin has made his
" frame-up very expensive, time-consuming and
‘telling for the recist establishment, and his
battle ta far from over. These exoerpts tell,
ohronologioally, the story of the first eight
months of his struggle Ea,
Ootober 3, 1967 27
I have been in jail now for thres months which is
%00 long to 81t idle while the palice prepars to lynoh me. The
finanoial buiden which the Blood-susking lawyers have imposed is
%oo mioh, espeoially if we have to pay them that fantastic amount
%o 8811 he out, through their inactivity 8o that the white rulers
can Sucosed in putting me away for thirty yesrs, ALl this time
and they haven't even gotten me a reduction in bail which is
Disinly 111egally gzcessivs. The money We gave them oould better
Fave been applied for my bail.
This is & political lynohing which was oonoeived, plan-
ned_and exeouted by high political ciroles for the purpose of con-
Gealing the true chuse of the Tebellion - which far from being
caused by "outeide agitators® or "lack Pover fanatios” - the two
stook phrases of white bigots, both Northern and Southern, who to
hear them tell 1t, think oppressed Black pecple are happy and Gom-
tented Ty the troatment acoorded them in the ghetto by the white
power struoture and were 1t not for these "outsids agitators® and
Efanatios*, everything would be just lovely - was oaused by the
acoumilation of injustices and unredressed grievances endured by
B omrenned peopls for mich oo long, Vhen Folice ommissioner
Follcotta told those lies in Washington, he sounded 1ike a sheriff
from Burfalo, Mississippl.
1 an facing years in prison and the white op-
prosucrs who are doternined to give me & legal Jymohing - North
orm style = Will not hesitate to give Geraldine fifteen years any
more than they hesitate in pouring death and destrustion upon the
innocent people of Vietnam and in killing and oppressing my Black
‘rothers. in sountry,
1 an sending & copy of this letter to County Court
with the enclosed motion for & speedy trial. The bigots in judges'
Fobes are holding me in jail under an illegal, exceasive bail
higher than snyone else oharged with a similar orime, in order to
‘suppress ne, They camnot also deny me a spesdy triali
Xoze on the Sell-out
catober 5, 1967
1 recetved a letter from Attorney Fahringer today in-
forming me of his having informed the Sourt of his Tesiguing from
e oasa Soosuss ¥o wers unatle co meet *the very minimus fiman-
oia Tequirenente" fized for the haniling of uy case, Eo said
that the momies Teceived were used to compensate for the sppear-
ances made in oourt for me, (The Nartin Sostre Defense Committes
had, up until the case was'dropped in October 1967, paid the law
firn §550 toward the $2500 fee which it had agreed to have paid
in full, ty the end of December 1967, The Grievance Committes of
the Erte County Bar Assoolation foud that total oourtroom tise
devoted to Martin Sostre’s case was approximately 4 hours!i Fd,)
7 Jump up o Schach, Warren L (March 177). “The Pison Lelers of
Marti Sosire: Documents of Resistance” (P0F).
w: ooments (POF. Jourmal of Bisck Stuctes.
The Tight for Reasonable Basl s
October 11, 1967
A8 you saw, the racial bigot Latons had to tersinate
the hearing on the reduction of bail applioation by avoiding the
itire esus and usiag ay previous record, partioularly & warreat
dssued for my arrest in 1951 -~ sixteen years ago -- whem I aid not
appear in court because of my lawyer's failure to notify me when my
cRBe cams up for u hearing. Although from the very begimning in
July the District Attorney made my entire record available to Latona,
ho How acted as if it was new information and used it as 4 basis to
1 wan not surprised bocause the hearing
80 Well in my favor when I prosented to him twelve cases far more
serious than mine whose bail was such lower. Some of the defend.
23t in those oases were second and third falomy offenders. More-
over, I told him that of 270 inmates in Erie Gounty Jail, T was the
only one with such excessive bail for the clase of orime charged.
Siace the D.A. could not refute any of this evidence, the judge —-
had T boen gotting an ispartial hearing -- would have had to grant
36 & reduction of bail. However, you and I know he coulda't ds
this 60 on the pretext of having the D.A. check on the list of
Dames and asounts of bail whioh I submitied, he adjourned the hear-
ing until Vednoaday. No doudt during this. tise his boss,
bin to stop ae and silence
bail hearing toward & aif
1 3
ded this off, he then
tried to got mo in hia chambers to have a secret hearing bo silence
me. I refused his offer. Then finally, he used the fiimsy excus:
of &y record of sixdeen years ago to arbitrarily deny ny application.
T really had two District Attorneys to contend with:
the Judge -~ inatead of at least pretending to play the role of
4 Judge and similating impartiality -- opposed me even more than
the actual D.A.!
Semplatat £o the Brie Oousty Bar Assccistion
Octover 24, 1967
Dear M. Gage,
In further support of my complaint to you dated October
1, 1967, here is additional information which proves heyond any
doubt 1ot only that the firm of Lipeits, ot al, abandoned the case
a0d miahandled it, but that they used duplioity in order to Keep
the fas which they stole from me.
1.) Mr. Blumberg, a member of the fira, stat:
£14avit to County Court dated August 7, 1967 that:
ponent was not aware until Monday, July 3
OF Lipsits. . -had boen retained fo repre
and. - .on July 31, 1967 bafors your depor
Fetenticn, deponent reportdd to the City Gourt
ent the defendant Sostre."
. that ay case was grossly mishandl
‘Svare that his law fira vas Teprevent
laused snother one of the series of ad-
o ny being deprived of the preliminary
learly shows that the
from July 18, 1967 wntil
v Vhen I vas indioted,
e 14ga) repressntation during that perfo
The law firs had asple u-* trom July 18, 1967 to July 31, 1967
1967 that the law
graph (A13) reveals,
in that Blumberg wasn't eve
(vesore the case was submi{ted to the Grand Jury) to condust th
preliminary hearing bad it|been ailigent and properly safeguarding
&y inter Now, my key|witneas, vho vas then villing to testify,
s been intimidated by the police and left town. Flease raqusst
from Mr. Lipeits a copy of |Mr. Blusberg's affidavit, eince no in-
Vestigation of the facts by your Association can be complete and
lpartiel without it. | 2L
20 Gouty Goupt's recerd vill revesd that after 1 way
indicted on August 8, 1967 no further motions or any other attempt
Yo dafend the case vas madp by Lipsits's lax firs. They completely
abandoned the case. Nor did the attorneys interview say of the Wit~
Mesaos aor did they come th interview me. Ask Mr. Lipsits vhat
move was made by his firs ko prosecuts the case during the two
onthe froa August 8, 1967 to Octobbr 2, 1967 when they wrote me
Saformiag me of thei discharging themselves from ay case.
cher, Mr. Gage, is the duplicity em-
Floyed by the Lipsits law[fira to cover up the fact that it sold
Zi7ut by subaitving to te political pressure applied by the o
Tabiishmant. Request coplies of the following letters from Mr. Lip-
sits as part of your investigation and have hi
vergent 8 abirin
Sotover 2, 1967 gave the following reason for withdraving from the
“An you aay kagw by now, those interestad in your ase
T onte) CoTuoet the'very inimws fissncial Tequir
Hemtathet we Had fixed for the haadling of your case.
pisrances Dads ia court for you
A pariioniarly the Grand Jury investigation wkich
vas Doniucted 3 Bris County Court. 1 have on this
At netitied fho Brie County Court that ve Bave &
st gy nd suggost to the Court that otber
Soungel be. to you. « "
Yt two days later, Mr. Lipeits gave the Chairsan of my Defense
Gonattves, Mr. Gerald Grops, a 4iffersnt story, for by letter
dated October b, 1967, Mrl Lipsits said thati
1 am writing ko you to infora you that Mr. Fahringer
. 3ump up t:+* *How One iniats Crengeq The Prison Sysiem From The
nside”. NPR org. Retived 2017-04-15.
- Yinds: it impossible to represent Mr..Sostre. His iavelve-
ment 4n other. matters which will preempt his. time complete-
1y has foroed hin'to coms to this-decision. MHr. Fahringer
and T would both 1ike you to know that.we regret his having
to make this-decision, but it is iapos
Mr. Sostre further.”
Although I have more . . . the facts
ficient to raiss serious question
aubaitted to the courts if I cannot get justice fro the Bar Asso-
ciation. The many ssall pacple who contributed 50¢ or §1.00 and the
ollegs students at U. B. who gave shows, time and money for my de-
Tanse will not tolerate being robbed like that. Two hours repr
tation by Fahringor on August 8, 1967 is not worth §550 particularly
after they bungled the cage and then abandoned it. I may sven have
grounds for o daaage uit. Plaats infora se of your asever te soon
a8 posstvle. . .
Martin Sostre
(Bd. note. -~ On April 12, 1968, the Erie County Bar Association
finaly got around to ruling on Martin's complaint. They ruled, as
might have been sxpeoted, against Mertin and in favor of the lav firm.)
The Lavyers' Duplicity
October 26, 1967
When_you compare Pabringer's letter of October 2, 1967
with Lipsit'a lotter of October h, 1967, the duplicity employed by
then to concesl the fact that they had abandoned the case becuas of
tical prossure is clearly evident. As a.matter of fact, the
rd of Gounty Gourt further reveals that they had abandoned the
vo months befors they officially discharged themselves from the
case on October 2, 1967. The records show that from August 8, 1967
Vhen Tahringer poiled the Grand Jury until Octobor 2, 1967, the date
of his latter, they d4id abeolutely nothing, not a single motion, no
attempt to defend the case, no application for reduction of bail --
Rothing at all. To all intents and purposss, they abandoned the
‘These are the things I pointed out to the Bar Association in
nt letter to thes dated October 24.
he Witaesses
October 28, 1967
It this wers a case where I had had a hearing and the
testiaony of my witnasses (as well as thé D. A.'s witnesses) was
lready on Tecord, and my lewysre were in touch with the witnes:
nd had prepared the cass for trial, then I could relex, luowing
that even & wait of five or aix montha would mot alter the testimomy
of the witn or aubstantially effect the case. But this is not
Tn the first place, because of the many adjournsents of
28
Ootober 29, 1967
I to1d Abtorney Green (the public defender) that I
was going to either appeal Julge Latona's denial or put in &
Habeas Corpus or applioation for reduction of bail to either the
Pederal or State Supreme Court, I asked him which judge would be
the best to apply to, He said he would approach a few and
their Teacticn, Evidently He told Latona of my intentions and
ZLatona told him that he would reduce it on the oondition that I
Temain silent and let Attorney Green argue my case for mel
B
otober 29, 1967
A for, the peorle who represent SHCC in Bufalo, 1
nking s although their relutance to
ot involved may stem from their considering us too revolution-
ary or tdo far 1eft for them, This was their objection (as well
from
et with sy reaction-
oall themselves -
except possibly in the Tole of a Trojen Horse,
Lemal Aotions
November 8, 1967
Meanwhile, I am not idle, I mailed an spplioation for
a Writ of Habeas Corpus to New York Supreme Court of Erie County
on the 30th of last month, I am seeking a_further reduction of
Dail, The application is enbitled NARTIN SOSTRE v, TUTUSKA, I
also mailed an application to Pederal Court for an order of show
cause against the U,S, Postmaster for his refusal to send me the
tracers I requested. But faced With a court action, he got the
message and decided to Send them, So this sction 13 moot,
suticin) Prefuttee
Hovemser 13, 1967 2 ]
£n regard to the court, T sm a0t too
outcome. The crack he (Judge Tisher) made
money and other statements against
ptimistic about the
bout the Viet Cong send-
Viet Cong, in addition
the court below would
ads me to believe that I will not g
iy preparing my papers for appeal just in
In sany cases, they have already decidsd in advance (as
aoon s you submit the application) what they are going to do, but
0 and go through the formality of a hearing and argusent
@ to make everyone believe that the case was
decided on tha basie of the arguaents -- while in reality, it was do-
cided before the hearing.
S0 let's not depend on gotting any justice from Fisher.
1 don't know what kind of 4 man he is personally or how he thinks --
perhaps you know more about him than I do -- but as I said, I'a not
optintstic. W should procesd just.as if mothing had happened and
of any favorable publicity given the hearing.
Noveaber 25, 1967
Aved denial from Judge Fisher. He avoided isaus as to
excessive bail and discrinination in imposing excessive bail complete-
1y. He denied me on the grounds that "Two similar applications have
been made by petition and both have resulted in a reduotion. The
potitioner never appaaled from the previous dscisions to lower the
Bail. A further reduction is not varranted at this tise."
(Ed. note - Of couras, what they did was set bail so high in the first
place, that they could reduce it two or thre
tin jailed. Comoerning the ruling by Judge Fi:
Court ~- Pourth Judicial District at Rochaster, New York:
Hartin had. alresdy been rushed to trial by Judge Prederiok N, Harahall.
Judge Marshall began the "trisld in full knowledge of the Appellate
Court!s reverasl of Judge Fisher's denial for further reduction in
badlt)
" Like a Vit Cong
Novesber 25, 1967
I want you and the others to know that regardless of the
presmares, abus ‘any other physical or mental force that
‘eneay’ empl. %o make me submit to their frase-up
rges or cooperate wAth the legal lynohing they are trying to give
2e, that T will never subait The employnent of the massive and
ate is not enou
a Black Viet Cong,
1ike a Viet Cong
Inttmigation
Re: the trial -- they are trying t
mo. T notdced last time I veat to court they
Gourt attendants in addition to three white ones saking a total of
Tive - an sxoessive nuaber -- vho eurrounded me in an intizidating
sanaer while I wvas in court. I noted aldo that not one word of
{hat procesding appearsd in the newspapers. Dvidently, there are
ordera fron above to silence s and impose & news blackout. I an
Tamiliar vith the pattern. I believe the next step s fo try to
hug" me: the court will qugation my sanity (secause I am refuaing
to cooparate vith sy legal lynching) and ordsr a peychiatric exa-
mination o deteraine vhether I an capable of understanding the
Gharges againat sa
Sonetimes the state-appointed psychiatrist frames you
With an adverse report and the court commits you to a state hos-
pital as legally insane whers they sitber kill you or destroy your
Banity through mind-destroying drugs, or they keep you there for
years until they finally declare you sane enough to stand trial at
Vhich time they return you to court to face the original charges.
Poychiatrists, doctors, hospitals and insane asyluss have alvays
sors to intinidate, remove and d
who, apart fros
now being intinidated by his pro
15 another ex-
beaten up by the police,
officer who has scheduld a peychiatric examinatio
asple.
Another device aleo employed to create the grounds for
bugging you is to provoke you into defending yourself -- by having
one of their goons strike you or roughly menhandle you forcing yoi
%o restst — then they will say that you went" The nova-
papers will play the story up big, stating how it
%o subdus you and that you fought "savagely’ eto.
to this is the old stand-by "trying-to-escape" frame.
@ plott to esoape. Havi 4n prison for many years
0en many foul things which the iverage person never hears about, I
have personally talked to victiss of the kinds of frame-up described
above. I jkmow what these people will do if they think they can get
away with it.
(4. note - & few hours after this letter was written, Martin
Momorial Hospital in Buffalo, New York by
r to undergo peychiatric obeervation,just as he predictedt)
tre
Ostrustion of Jaid Visttors 3)
Deceaber 15, 1967
e o The et ime Geraldine or you ave given & hard tiae: et
Todlhiil}, T take that foker to court, but I WALl personally shesec-
tee bia that the shameful jail condiiions whish v
Publicly exposed will again be exposed
£oroe and in an eleotion year. I don't believe he knows wers ho e
{oing, Perkape he had better consult with the failer whe Lo in’ aiiter
touch with things in the on relatively passive and
oPerstive insofar as the jail is concerned, confining my attasks to
0d Gourta, with'the exception of the Jail strike of raer
susser. Perhaps I shall have to sscalate the struggle.
The “Comnmitment" at Meyer Memorial Hospital
De
ber 25, 1967
Joyable holiday. I was re-
Larned, from the Dospital on the 2lat; had to refuss drege in peyenc
A4 4bich they trisd to glve me Lo dope me up and have e welbiae
around &n drugged stupor like the other patients: there. My serfur
Jlack Power, Vietnan, American racisa and oppresion to the eene,
t1oats vere not appreciated by the peyohiatriats and hospteer .
TheY Were £lad to get rid of me. However, I planted a few god o
before I 1att.
Hope you and fasily had an
Bevebtatric Inti
January 5, 1968
I hope that you and your loved ones had an enjoyable
boliday, As you know, I spent part of the holiday s
Jeyohiatrlc vard of Weyer Memorial Hospital where the ractss Jusge
Yarehall bad me committed to cosrce and intisidate me and diseremst
87 stand on Black Power and againet the illegal war in Vietoe
471 how that I have overcome that ordesl, I an meking
iham pay by exposing, s you probubly read in the pagere, not omie
the vicious methods which the bigoted judge employed in his efterie
to eubdue and lynch me -~ which they have baen trying £o do o
ance Pelicetta's racist Gestapos ratded and destroyed ous emiy
Black Power bookshop -- but the illegal and unsonstitutional meshods
4nd procedures employed by state peyohiatrists to slicit infommetinn
fron drugged defendants in the paychiatric vards,
te3pt 0 subdue me by using
opened t)
Nitnsesse sad Bail 2z
January 31, 1968
1¢ the four key witnssses (not to be confused With the
three who were in the shop at the tims of the raid and saw the de-
teotive take the dope from his pocket and say, "This is what we're
locklg for.s - after thetr senrch of the shcy turmed up sotisg)
are not found by the 198, Will have to redu osive batl
to ailow se - vho kmov thes by elght slace they have been 4n. the
shop seversl times and I have oh Jefferson Avenus -~ to go
ot ana Sosate. s Ayae1r. Toe D. Ar canaoh have 1t voth vy
cannot insist that I go to trial deprived of fy witnesses because of
exceasive bail and at the sane tine pretend that this legal-lynching
has any approxisation to a fair trial. This denial of the opportu-
nity to locate and interview witnesees in my behalf, coupled with
the oppressive delay in bringing my court case to trial conatitute
auch serfous deniale of fundamental constitutional rights as to T
quire aiseissal of the indictsent.
T an not going ta sit on my hands veiting 'ti) Febraary
190; I an eacalating the loghl and political pressure and I am now
Vorking on a couple of other legal actions challenging the oppressors’
\ncons¢4tutional sonduct.
Bcooutag porebatrde Int on
February 6, 1968
1 an particulsrly looking forward to the procesdings
* againat Judge Harshall and the peychiatric report. e really messsd
up and I've got him. I am really going to sock it to them and pull
the edures and the judicial ty-
ranny being employed by the intimidate
and sonstines sliminate thase who Sppose thes. Tiis expomu
Dartioularly tuportent now, when the pover structure - beset on all
Tiden vy opposttion to their filegal var and their oppression of
the Hlack sasnes in the ghettos - are desperately spcalating their
smployoest of soercion, intiaidation, frameupe, Jaiiings and vie-
lonce 4a & futile effort to suppress the rising tide of opposition
%o their fasciat policies
s
The employnent of the "bug houss", peychiatrists and mind-
Ehan the blackiack,
Jail or the bullet, is not new been employed to destroy or
intisidate sany persons. But becauss of its insidious nature and
the legal and msdical trappings with which it is insulated, it ha
ot yet besn recognised as & weapon of oppression by the mase
¥i11'do ay utmost to fully exposs them in the courtroom.
. Malcolm McLaughlin (2014): Storefront revolutionary: Martin
Sostre's Afro-Asian Bookshop, black liberation culture, and the
NewLen.lemfi The Sixties: A Joumnal of History, Politics and
Culture, DOI:
Lega) Actions 33
February 6, 1968
Brclosed with this letter, I am sending you a copy of the
complaint I'satled today to Judge. Henderson at the U. 8. District
Court under the Givil Rights Act seeking an order.r
Sheriff and his sgente:fron denyingme the.right:fo receive and
read a mewspaper.
As aleo making arrangsments to lodge complaint with
inapectors about the illegal obatruction of mail, harassment of
Visitors and other viclations of law.
Maid Qbetruction
February 11, 1968
I have writtan the U. . Postal Iaspeotor at 1200 Wilitam
Straet a debters” T aa putting dn ne co.the obebrection of v mbii:
e thin ia 3. S0 T vant you
ector sbout the Lavter
the
Sinebine sithough I mailed then ten daya spart and sbout your fail-
R 276768, sto T thay obatract the writ
5 sudes Henaera L Taal trouble. If ve don't sheck
taia oy, ey wiil get bodder:. Bg watil ve g3t the P O Tnspector
(or U, Attorney) to straighten these violations of .postal laws out,
Shis de the theme T WAL hars on in every letier T write and n every
Spearance T aik in sourt:
Latter %o Postal Ingpector
I an hereby making a formal complaint to.your dep
against the Sheriff of Erie Gounty and his agents and servants who
have been and are now obstrucking =y outgoing as vell as my incoming
Bail in violation of U. 8. postal lavs by refusing to mail my letters
%o their destinations without sither informing me of this obstruction
oF returning the letters -- which were in envelopss with U. 5. pos-
tage stanps affixad thereto -- and refusing to give me the incoming
mafl or returning sase to the sender.
I know the diffe:
Jadd officiale have for purpos
1iberate obetruction of mail for the purpo
Tight to prosecute my case. So I aa requesting aa interview with
a postal inspector so that I msy file a forasl complaint and/or the
appropriate post office department forms for such & complaint.,
The Hearing on Peychiatric Intimidation 3¢
February 19, 1968
Although I wrote you on February 169, today's events
require this letter to thank you and all thoas uho spent valuable
e Lraved sub-tresaing waather, defied the intisidating pre:
those dosenh of goons to let the racist-militarists know mot only
Shat T have the support of many people in Buffalo, but that this
aupport ie steadily increasing.
Although you already were familiar with Warshall's dic-
tatorial tactica, the desperation with which he fended off all ay
afforts to dealing vith bis misconduct, racism,
o STeeiia,"ote: made him reveal his true self. Now you can sse
Why defendiats, a8 well as some lawyers, have given him the nick-
o o Mad Dog Marshall". He bulldozes lawyers in the same san-
A you saw, he euppressed the Tesl issue of the hearing
\vhich vas that: he had me committed to the peyohiatric vard to
wake my passing of & peychiatric examination a precondition to ay
e mtiiubionsd right fo act s my own counsel, and that he cosmitt
2o % the mat ward to coerce Geraldine, my co-defondant, and me
Tate aceepting court-appointed couns: ‘Wiso arbitrarily tersi-
e od the hearing and ovrtified the peyohistric report without al-
Joving me o question the two other peychiatrists who had examined
e at the hospital.
Since T knew that Narahall vas determined to block all
I concentrated on bringing out the facts that:
1. Mo tests were given -to me in the psychiatric ex-
amtnation.
2. The paychiatric disgnosis that I had a paranoid
ersonality vas a subjective determination mot based
on any seientific dat.
3. Paranoid personality is a normal state if on
fact, surfounded by hostile elements or is persecuted.
The fact that I am a member of the pe:
minority living in a bostils, recist
ot taken into consideration in evalur
ality, and
Tasues of personsl o
3¢ such behavior runa counter to the
mdards, Lt will provoke hostile resction Wiioh
Gould produce peraoid pereonality because the Bos-
ity is real, In other vords
poyohiatric diagnosis subjective, but the I
27 being labeled a parancid vas because of @y stand
on Vietnam and racis
The fesring on Peychiatric Intimidation 35
Pebruary 22, 1968
Although 4t was a foregons conclusion that Judge Marshall
would blook the real i nomely bl me to & pay-
chiatric test as a precondition
right to vaiva counsel and to cosr
me into accepting court-appointed counsel.
osed to public sorutiny and though several important fects asons
Vhich vere:
That anyons who actively opposss war and ract
could be classed & "paranoid" personality because
his conduct is hostile to those norma established by
the power strusture.
That Lt ia possible for a person to be comsitted to
the peychiatric vard by an unscrupulous judge for
reasons other than that of testing the person
sanity or ability to conduct his-own defense, and
3. That the payehiatric diagnosis of "parauoid persca-
Ly L e eubsuctive etormination of an inds-
ViGue1 paychistrist based on characteristics which
Tead to'a ditferent datersination if ovaluated by
a'ditrerant peychiatrist, In other words, state
Deychiatrists can put any kind of label on anyone
TVo discredit their stand on an asue) or even
clary then insans on the prejudiced hasis of their
va subjective deterkination:
pik Sresery Mareh 4, 1968
The national attention fooused on this case by Dick
Gregory's appearance in the court room frightened Judge Marshall
into postponing the hearing. The avoidance of the isaue and the
fear of additional publicity forced him. to again postponé the hear-
ing-on February 298, We definitely have them on the defensi
Elack Traitore and Infiltratio
Mareh 4, 1968
Although I started this letter yesterday, I am now con-
tinuing it after Baving. returned from the farcial, one-gided trial
being conducted by the "Mad Dog" to cover up his inability to ex-
lain to the peaple of Buffalo why I am being held in jail under
exorbitant and why T Teing prevented from getting the
Witnesses Yy for s fair trial,
The very fast that Marshall had to re
ed order to have the D. A. show cause or give the
batl should not be redu hovs that there is no legitimate reason
they can give for refusing me reasonable bail. My refusal to co-
operate in the legal lynching has placed Marshall in the position of
sresiding over a trial of smpty gesturs
It's amasing how, even after eight months to rehears
haven't got their stories synchronised. The State Trooper from
Bochester' is a typical example of the Elack traitor of his people’s
trugsle against oppression. If you check the minutes of the pro-
dings had in City Court on July 27, 1967, it will réveal that
ted a postponenent because the State Trooper was
on specisl assigasent in an undercover capacity relating to the
Tebellion in Rochester. He infiltrated, framed and sent to jail
neveral militants in Rochester. The Black paid informer is just
a plein stoolpigeon who would testify to anything the vops told
hin to just to get robbary and grand larceny charges off bis.
There are so many like these two Black traitors working for the
pover struoture all over the country infiltrating Black
groups and setting up militants. The samé tactics are
aleo employed against white liberal, activist and mtlitant groups
and individuals opposing racisa, oppression and militariem of the
fascist power structure. So be alert at all tises.
the D. A. regs
A Varatng
Nareh 4, 1968
Guard yourself, for you ape what they have done to me!
The Sentensing
March 9, 1968
. Although one month is the usual time beteen convistion
and sentencing, oaly ons wesk was alloved in my case. Bven the pro-
bation officer who interviewsd me Yesterday.cosmented on the specd
and stated that Marshall wanted the report by 10.A. M., Nonday. They
sure vant = out of Buffalo and in Attica Prison fast. I shall be
ready for them by Monday just in cas:
The Futurs ad Yilltess' Idea About the Lexal Machine
I aa very optisistic about the futurs and there is no
doubt in my mind that victory will be ours. s R
eusgests, ve will make trame-ups and kangaroois
the power structurs that it vill be
Iike the last one, and they vill be through!
expesaive to
Sostre fo Remaln
S § fa e w.n.w &__ = 3
-] 3 §f Em R R @
B2 o
g mw.m.:_mm”_m_mmm_. sl A
= m..w. s3ag geEd wS mnt i3 uu“u
2 8 _.E it i g mmm.:, r .mu haw
&' [l _: LT m 59 ity _M it ML
£3 “_m_w stz - <8 il m.fiw
& & il .mz._r_ 38 ipglitnia
' MARTIN
~ SOSTRE
& in Court
Prosecution Rests
. In Sostre Trial
Black Liberation k2
Afro Freedon Pighter July 30, 1967
Last Pridey I was glad to learn that my bail was
reduced to §25,000, I sure will be glad to get out on:bail and
take agvantage' of the present developments, for the time has
never been riper for helping my people than it is now. This
the 1deal time to begin publishing the edon
Bianter - the paper which I vas planaing ~ nt organ
‘youth in the Afro community. I know it will be & suce
oess because I have already consulted with my many youns
friends and, even before I bought the Gestetner, they were all
snxious to get it started - many wanting to contribute arti-
cles and help publish and distribute it, The back room of the
East-West Bookshop 1 ideal - when 1% 15 fixed up a 11ttle -
for publishing the newspaper.
August 8, 1967
A fow days before the police reld on the Bookshop
3, tnd fimaahed pevadnce on & vost Gentatmer mlzeceiurh sivive
¥ith which T intended to print the AFE),
Eiiitant Bunck mevepaner viisien et ABTaR N RE (ATE)
of the comaunity themssives and sxpressing their om views in
Gheir own words, It Will, at the same time, ba a Rilitant
Erass-roots newapaper iniependsnt of the treditional Negro
Teaders - who are utterly rejected as leaders and oalleq Unole
Toms by the grasa-roots segaant of the Black community beoause
of their willingneas o Acoomiodate themselves o white intere
and sell out the Black comminity.
We will start out as a four-shest mimeograph news
paper and work our way up to tabloid sige,-Ours will be a
dynamio, sooialist-oriented Black nationaiist waekly, pub~
1ished by the youth themselves, I had already reoruited &
couple of high school girla who volunteered to type out the
stenoila; a writer who wrote for ons of the establishment
Black newspapers but quit because the editor considered his
articles too militant and sought to editorialize thems @ photo-
grapher and & reporter) and many other youns people who would
help - from turning the crank of the mimeo to selling the news.
paper. I was looking for a cartoonist, With the launching of
the AP and other political activities, the vacuun in leader-
ship which exists in the Black communify will be filled.
The Rebellion August 1, 1967
The boss-pan now knows that we will fight, that we
Wil not turn the other chesk like 8pineless cowards but rather
W11l "fight to death® like Stokely Carmichael, one of our out-
4z
standing nilitant leaders recently proclaimed,
Yos tro the white press, radio and TV hed a
f1e1d day telling sverybody how bad I am and what bad 1iterature
I s0la (1ts & wonder they didn't plant pornographio literature
along with the dope to say that 1 was selling 1t to ohildren to
Sorrupt them), But when they coversd the o-oAlled Tiot they
414 not tell how the police shot tear gas into a bus Tilled
With our ohildren, how they shot at Black pecple Who were in-
nocently walking or atanding in the street. How they beat and
brutalized our youth for no reason at all, How they shot tear
gas inside of public places filled with cur people, No, this
police brutality and ssvagery they did not report. But'sll of
Us know this because We saw 1t With our own eyes, This happened
%o us in our commmnity,
Every man, woman and ohild in our community saw
those white goons cole into our neighborhood by the carloads
armed to the teeth With helmets on their heads, We saw the
Viclous dogs that they used on us and we felt the burning in
our eyevalls from the gas which they shot indiscriminately at
us. No, 81l of you know that it wasn't Brother Martin or any
other &Toup of indlviduals who started the revolt in June; it
was_the acoupulation of unredressed grievances, injustices and
brutality by our white oppre which finally boiled o
Since the white oppressor has done nothing since June to give
us justice and has, in faot, rTetaliated by destroying our Black
bookshop and framing me and other brothers, it will Tequire a
Detroit and Newark revolt here in Buffalo for him to got the
message.
Uncle Toms August 8, 1967
The so-oalled Negro leaders are one of the major
factofs in the Buffalo revolt of June-July 1967, for, by play-
ing dows and refusing to articulate in plain and unequivooal
language the real wants and needa of the Black oommunity they
prevented all oommunication bstween the white and Black'politi-
cal snd oivic leadership which oould have led o a solution.
But by concealing from the white political and oivic leade:
the long-suppressed. hatred and frustration festering in the
Black community (engendered by the long scoumilation of injus-
tioes heaped upon us) in order to ourry politicsl fayors and
patronage, these Uncle Tom leaders lulled the white leaders into
Delieving thet everything was alright in the Blaok comminity
and so left them totally unprepared for the violent revolt
whioh shook Buffalo last June.
Bage and_Cla: November 29, 1967
I know how easy 1t 18 to fall into a racial bag
and miss the entire politioal olasa strugsle (beoause of the
srronscus conoept that the struggle is solely one of race)
61611y when, although sincere, one is young and politically
il 43
9n Death Merch 15, 1968
Being & revolutionary Black militant, the only way
that T would hate to die is like & hog - as described by our .
ilitant Blaok poet, Claude Mokay, in his poem, "If We Must
Dic", His poem sets for us the standard for dying - if we
msti
IP VE WUSP DIE - LST IT NOT B8 LIKE HOGS
HUNTED AND PENNED IN AN UNGLORIOUS SPOT,
WHILE ROUND US BARK THE.MAD AND HUNGRY DOGS,
MAKING THEIR MOCK AT OUR ACCURSED LOT.
IF WE MUST DIE - OH, LET US NOBLY DIE,
50 THAT CUR PRECIOUS BLOGD WAY NOT BE'SHED
1IN VAIN; THEN EVEN THE MONSTERS WE DEFY
SHALL BE CONSTRAINED TO HONOR US THOUGH DEAD!
O, KINSWEN! VE WUST NEET THE COMNON FOE;
‘THOUGH PAR OUTNUMBERED, LET US SHOW US BRAVE,
AND FOR THETR THOUSAND BLOVS DEAL ONE DEKTH BLO!
WHAT THOUGH BEFORE US LIES - THE OPEN GRAVE?
LIKE MEN WE'LL PACE THE WURDEROUS, COWARDLY PACK,
PRESSED TO THE WALL, DYING, BUT FIGHTING BACK!
What I have demonstrated in the courtroom is the
weskness of this fascist beast; I have demonstrated that with
all his front of power and law and suthority he cannot control
one militant Black brother When that brother is in rebellion.
Threats of contempt of ocourt camnot control me for what the
hell does 30 days contempt of court mean to one in rebellion
and facing 30 years? His having me gagged was ineffective and
made him look foolish because he had to take the gag off in
order to hold the trial and as soon as he took it off - I
talked the same thing. His having to employ goons to enforce
his wishes by force is proof that I had broken down his author-
aramatizing this for a1l the brothers in Buffalo and
1 am setting the example of total rebellion,
even in the courtroom, against the oppression, frame-up and
Kangarooism against me and my militant brothers all over the
country, I am telling all the militants: "Look brothers, what
1 tn doing to the oppr-n:r.h}lr T can do it by myself, prect-
ically alone n men's jail, imagine what 30
or 40 organized 3 BRI e tararde it
Thoy shouad dafy white s T thocaert § an upastting his and setting
an exauple which could have very serious consequence:
adopted by other brothers all cver the country,
Y
An oppressor can rule the oppressed only so long as
the oppressed sutmit to his lew volunta: In other words,
e T saen ment somchon, o) thet ThbcaghiFear (a6 1n our o
When he imposed his law upon our foreparents forcibly brough
to this country in slavery) or trickery and deceit by employ-
ing Unole Toms and sell-gut political and/or religious leade:
%o £001 our people - to inducé the oppressed into ccepting
and obeying his law - which is hia suthority. Law means author-
ity. Once he accomplishes this, he has 1t mad oan control
and ruls the oppressed with their oooperstiont This is a slick
psychologioal trick, brothers and sisters, so I want you to dig
Ehis very olose. I will make 1t clear by this known exampl
How did England, Pranoe, Spain, Portugal and Belgium rule the
vast continents of Africa, America, Asia and India for such a
long time? Did they do it by brute foroe like the U.S, is
using in Vietnemp Of oourse not! If they had to go through
those changes with the millions’of. people of Asia, Africa and
India, they never would have made it; it would not have been
worth'1t. The cost in lives and money expended in pacifying
every tom, hamlet, village and oity in the-entire continent
would exoesd the fTult of their exploitation, What they did
vas to inducs, via force or pay-offa, the native rulers o
accept and obsy the oppressor's law, Onoe this was socomplished
the European power had it made and they even used native troops
to enforce Buropean, authority over the nativesi But eventually
the natives woke up to this trick and rebelled. Even the native
troops rebelled - againat their wHite oommanding officers -
and Tefused to obey. the officers' orders to fire on their
brothers, Instead, they killed the white officers, The Buro-
peans were then forced to employ white troops against the Te-
Bellious natives and wers foroed %o Eive it up When their
"good thing" oame to an end, The Frenoh Tuled Vietnan that way
until 1954 when the Vietnamese woke up and defeated them, Now
the U5, and their Vietnamese sell-out leaders oan only rule
by martial law, which means forcs, because the people are in
rebellion against their oppressora, It's only a matter of time
before the U.S. negotiates & oeasefire with the Viet Cong broth-
ers or gets out of Vietnam; beoause when a people are collect-
ively deterained to throw off the yoke of oppression, ng
amount of force or troops that the oppressor musters can prevail
agatnst the will to resis
The Black Struggle December 15, 1967
Like the strugsle in Vietnan, the strugsle against
us 1s one they cannot win, Our resolution &nd stesdfastmes:
against oppression cannot be defeated. Viotary will be ours.
solidarity March 15, 1968
The white militants are our allies in the overall
struggle against the Tacist-fasoists just as the herolo Viet
The Olive-Drab Rebels: i
Military Organizing During The Vietnam Era
“The morale, discipline, and battleworthiness of the U. S, Armed Forces
are, with a few sallent exceptions, lower and worse than at any rime in this
century and possibly in the history of the United States,
By every conceivable indicator, our army that now remains in
Vietnam is In a state approaching collapse, with individual units avoiding
or having refused combal, murdering thetr offcers and non-commissioned
offcers, drug-ridden, and dispiited where not near mutinous. Elsewhere
than Vietnam, the situation is nearly as serious.
Cong are our allies even though they are fighting the eneay
8t their front 8,000 miles avay, But they are weakening the
Tacists and the ¥eaker the oppréssors get, the leas able they
are to oppress us, They can't fight the Viet Cong and fight us
too, They are barely holding on in Vietnam; whers will they
got the millions of troops needsd to subdue us when full-fiedged
guerilla warfare - Saigon and Rus style - breaks out in every
oity in this country? The enlightened segment of the white
commnity 18 another big provlem to the Tulsrs, so they are now
trying to intinidate them by gestapo goon squads against
the enti-var plokets and protesters and indicting their leaders.
Although the struggle is & global one, each army
must fight the enemy on its own front. The brothers in Africa -
five were Tecently hanged by the raciats in Bhodesia - are
fighting the common enemy on front; the Viet Cong are
fighting on their front; the re fighting on their fronts
the white militants of this country are fighting on Their front:
and we must continue to broaden the fight on gur fromt.
e Police State Pozoh 15, 1968
Now dig this carefully: you brothers could not help
but notioe the many goons, armed troopers, detectives and court
attendants that the frightened white power struoture had to
produce on March Sth - the day they tried to intimidate the
souls from coning to the courtroom by taking photographs.
removing the last row of seats from the court gallery, filling
up the gallery with their own so- they oould say that all the
seats are filled” and prevent souls from ooming into the oourt-
Toom, eto, Do you know how many goons they employed altogether?
One of my guard informants (Who is Sympathetic to our cause)
5614 me that the Sheriff's Department alone supplied 40 men:
he_stated that about 50 detectives were also on the soene as
¥el1 as an undeterained number of FBI agents, He said that about
25 oourt attendants were called for speoial duty, He got these
figures from the Sheriff who he heard talking to Comsissioner
Felicetta, Altogsther there were about 120 goons, The signifi-
oance of that fact is this: If the white power structure felt
the need of mustering that many goons and the need to adopt the
police state taotics which they used, they were scared.
U.S. Imperialism
DAYS A MONTHS
Cao Ngoc Phuong
MUTINIES: VIETNAM
The U. 5. Bombs Avay, Then Slinks Qut of Vistnay
South Chicago ABC Zine Distro / £.0. Box 72
1 / Nosewood, I 60430
“Rmolst and imperialist America has no sane exouse
to be in Vietnam, She has no more exouse to butcher the
innooent and de: women and children of Vietna:
than Hitler had to exterainte triose whou he so decep-
tively portrayed as a threat to German survival." 77
“Now really, osn any person in the world today be
naive enough to believe that Americanism is maiming,
mirdering and plundering in Vietnsn in the cause of
fresdon and democracy? Can any fairminded and sane
raon in the World today be 80 neive s to believe
& Amerioa herself 1s a land of fresdom and demooracy?"
b e
e e R S S Ry
T L LR Sy T 5 0 s S G, s o .
“Nore and moi'e U.S, oamnonfodder 1s being sent to
Vietnaw, More and more underprivileged and oppressed
Elack beys are being pressgangsd to fight the racis
White man‘s lost imperialist cause, It 1s unoivilized
nd tragic for any human being to be pawned off and
xpended as cannonfodder in & war fought for & doomed
status quo, but the most despicable crime that oan be
committed against the husan race s to force or coerce
the slave into defending the tottering system of
slavery.*
-- Rob Williems
“The'1ie of the U.S. government's interess in the
froedon of the oppressed 1s shown clearly by the example
of the Union of South Africa where 13,000,000 Black
Africans suffer under apartheid. The only real interest
the 0.5, governnent has is 1ts brofits and supporti
the brutaily racist government needed to insure these
prorits.”
+ == E4 Oquendo
The Strugsle Against American Imperialism 4g
The Defense of Preedom Pighters November 3, 1967
One of the first things that I am going to do (when
I am fres) 16 establish a Defense Pund for freedom fighters in
this area, A\Pund for both Black and white activists who are
framed-up or Jailed by the power struoture for their activities
or atand against Tacial oppression 8t home and abrosd. Ve
mist protect our own, partiowlarly now that the rising tide of
protest and dissent Against racial oppression, the unjust war
In Viotpaw. and the drafting of our,youth toimake:of them hired
Ki116rs of innooent ;people - and to be Kkilled in wefirn -
Dringing About SPeAteT. Tepressive measures from the’frightensd
but: die-hard power -straoture, We wmist make sure.Sthat:no-freedon
fighter be“foroed to lay in Jail for months 1ike.me beoayss bail
couldn't be met.
December 10, 1967
Since the anti-var demonstrations.and the strugele
against the oppression of my pecple is the same strusgle sgainst
the' 1dsntioal enemy - the Taclat-militarist'eppressor - the
Jeast. I'oan do inoe T tn hora ds sombat beoause I sold anti
Vlotnan Var and Black 1iberation 1iteraturs, ‘is help:those who
are fortunate enough to be able to confront!the enemy, gat.out.
on bail, I feel like & traitor to the‘cause, ‘itting hersiin
3811 with a1l that’sction going on outside,: T ‘shouldibe out:
there in the strugele either distributing literature ahd
1ishing the newspaper to educate the ‘and/or partioivating
in the demonstrations. A few letters ago I menbioned Setting up
a Pund'when I get'out to ball out activists, Well, beosuse of
the esoalation in.our strugsle, We better sYATt now with my
Defense Fund.
December 11, 1967
Now that orders have gons out from the administration
in Weshington to break the back of the anti-war movement through
ailings, police brutality, intimidation, draftings and'employ-
ing pro-var goons, e can ill afford to have any funds lying
1dle which oan be employed to SUPOTt GUF Oun CAUSG: We MUST
Jook out for our own and let the militarist oppressors know that
our ranks are like & brick wall - each brick supporting the
others,
1If I were out there deponstrating and was arTested on
those bogus _charges placed on Jerry and the others, not only
would I g0 to trisl and invoke the *Doctrine of Legitimaoy of
Purpose" snd the "preferred” constitutional right td frer
speoch, assembly and petition, Iut, should they find me guilty,
1 would appeal all the way to the U.8, Supreme Court &nd foro
them to Tule on the constitutional isaue as to whether a state
say use 468 police powers to prevent & citizen from exeroising
hin oonsbitutional right to apesoh, assembly und petition when
tha oitisen s potitioning an agunty of the govervaens (ine
induction oenter or draft bourd) for & redreas of srisvances
when ouch goverasent, asitag sontrazy to the Constltution
{ n wax withous the oonsent of Goneress), s about to
subgeot the oitizen to 1oss of 1ife and liberty (by drafting
hin) and no other meaus is available by Which the oitizen may
obtatn redre: 9
81ncs sventusily thers will be hundreds of anti-wir
domonstrators arrested -in this ares, the ocongeated oourts will
have o dlamiss the charges against'most of them when they o
that everyons is plesding mot guilty and demanding trial and
appealing their comviobions, A8 & WALLOT of Principle, no amti-
war demonstrator oén be gulity for exsroising his constitutional
Tight to protest the illegal war,
On Demonstrations December 9, 1967
Dear Jorry,
G, and others told
e of your arrest by the police
goons and of the oourage you and
others displayed in the face of the
power structure's gestapo and their
oivilian olaque, They will find that
Sheir repres: tar from
suppreasing the strugsle Against
ony will intensify and escal-
Their axrest of you and the
falo and &ll over the oountry and
the frame with those bogus sharges
in violation of your constitutional
Tights helps to dramatize our strus-
g6 and provides exauples of oour-
458 aguinas overdhelzing odds ant
iatintdation for other activists to
eomilate,
Now that the oity raling clique 1s using oity ordin-
ances and palive power to dsprive us of our legal Tighte, we mst
be propared o defend these Fights And resist the illega inter-
ferene of them with physioal interposition, Obherwise, it
sucseed in cowing and intimidating us into ilence, nob ouly WLl
%o Tn led to slaughter in Vietnas and other Flaces where the mile
Ltarists wish to s people, but bhe meo-Nazie will take over
the oomplete cambrol of the governwent. Tom and I and every act-
vist know What that will mean for us 4nd Rillions of others -
inoineration in the ovens.
Severs) wesks ago I saw in Tize Hagazine & photogra
of Tapaness amSLorer demomsirators Slashing wieh pelics ih Toise
in & desonstration n front of the U,S, Eabass
atrators oame well-prepared and gave a good
They wore Grash and foottall helnets in addition to
Bossles and some type of gauze mask over their noses to keep
Ehettear Gas out of their eyes and lungs, They also had their
iens and’piacards tacked to long stout poles which becams
T i%e Dlube vhen the heineted porice attacked thed. SO
Demonstrations, there have Feached a high degree of Sophisti
' result of the many oracked heads, bru
faces nd infland syes and noses inflicted upon their rank
fhe polioe goon sqliada. Our ranks also will have to adopt these
ina biher seif-defense tactics gainst the sscalating sadism
being heaped upon us on orders from Washington, The Tulers
Deeing chat the spreading wave of anti-var demonstrations will
foroe thom to get out of Vietnam, are dstermined to bresk the
back of ‘the anti-wer movement at all costs.
Since the var in Vietnam is unconstitutionsl - it
was not declared by Congress s provided by ertiole 1, section
B of the U.8, Constitution - and the Aduinistration, despite
nation-wide pleas, is determined to wage this 1llegal war snd .
Ys employing 811 the powers and brenches of government to blook
a)1 challenges o it, no political or judicial means is svail-
able by which we can legally obtain redress. Therefors, under
the “Dootrine of Legitimmoy of Purpose® (expounded, I believe,
by Pederal Judge Kaufpen in New York about'ten years ago'ina
Riling involving & case where persons deliverately violatsd
Taw of oourt injupotion in order to obtain redress to a viola-
tion of their constitutional Tights) the refussl to obey a.
Pottos officer+s order to oease exeroising your conatitutional
Flent of freedom of spesch, Assembly and petition and the phy-
Sioal resistance to his attempt to prevent you by foroe from
xercising these "preferred” Tights is justifiable ‘§inoe no
Sther means is available to stop the 1llegal war'in Vietnam mnd
prevent your being drafted illegally and being subjected to
loss of 1ife and liderty.
I wish T could be out there with you fighting the
common foe wWho has framed me on the bogus charges precisely
because T sold and distributed anti-Vietnam War, Black
and 1iberation 1iterature, However, since the anti-war strug-
le and the strugsle of Afro-American pecple Sgainst oppression
o precisely one and the same strugsle, I hersby suthorize you,
Jerty, as chairman of my Defense Comniites, to use any and all
Tunds'of my Committee for the purpose of bailing out any
demonstrators working with you.
Inpertalist Violenoe January 24, 1968
You can Test assured that they do
means - even though they are spplying the
power of the state - to subdue me, The oppre:
Perhaps this spring when they find themselves fighting an
scalated war in Vietnan, Laos, Cambodis, Thailand, Nalsya and
(orea 1n addition to the escalited domesbio strugsle against
those refusing to go and die in the unjust, undeolared war and
those refusing to be oppressed in the nAtiOn's ghettos - that
tneir repressive measires only produce greater resistance from
the people, that esoalation of viclence bresds escalation of
te gainst the viclense, <)
o inst t Pebruary 16, 1968
The swelling wave of dissent gainst the war has
the racist-militarists so frighbened that the consequences of
their indioting Spock and the others have not yet gotten home
to them. Instead of Stopping or even slowing down the anti-
ar movement, the latest Tepressive measures have done the
opposite - they have drapatized the struggle even more and
oupplied us With free news media and the sdditionsl forum of
‘he courtroom to bring to the the issues in their sharp
t repressive measures have gotten us
HBors allies and sympathizers, Par from coercing and cowtng us
into abandoning our strugsle, they have made us more determined
than ever to not only continue our struggle but to escalate
1t to matoh the enemy's esoalation of Tepressive measure
S0 you see, the fasolst oppressors are in & holl
of & situation here, similar to their predicament in Vietnam
Sheir escalation of the War has been matohed by the oounter-
escalation of the Vietnamese people during the last three
Weeks (the weeks of the Tet Offensive), They may not be aware
of At but escalation of the war in Vietnan and the repressive
Beasures against the activists of the Black libderation move-
ment and the ant: movenent is hastening their defeat, ALl
cists are doing s spoeding up the timetabie by
bringing these issuss to a showdown more quickly, ALL we have
%o do 48 contimue socking it to them harder and faster, The
cumulative effeots of the blows of millions of people fighting
against war, racism and oppression will defeat them soon.
Defeating the Oppressor Pebruary 17, 1968
The racist-militarist power structure will find
that their recent esoalstion of repressive measures against
the anti-var and Black liberation movements is counter-pro-
duotive, Like the Tecent military consequences of their escal-
ation of the Vietnamese War, their stepped-up repressive mes-
surea will only hasten their defeat.
Far from stopping the Snti-war movement and coercing
the rank and file and leadership into silence and non-activity,
the Tecent indiotments not only have galvanized our anti-war
activity but have provided our position with measive news
coverage which otherwise would not have been available to us.
o riesng tide of militons of persons who no longer
will submit to oppression and who no longer will meekly aoqui-
8so0e to being shipped 8,000 miles to & foreign land to murder
and oppress its population and, in turn, to be killed and
etk it crobvrein avd pecd dove Fova gomerSih sy
EIITaraEta and Topiase.theb w1t Aoadans TE o e 2t
Banra
Sz
By challenging and exposing for public sorutiny
gvery unlawful and underhanded act of oppression employed by
rulers, I an alerting everyone to these methods and raising
Tious questions which Will' have serious legal, Political And
moral implications. I have found this to be the most effective
method of fighting the opprossor, By challenging every umlaw..
ful act you force him to commit other ovart sots in order o
gover up his original orime. He will then be foroed into &
defensive stance and wil) oompound the original crime into two,
Mo crimes are more aiffioult to conoeal than one so he ia then
Bore vulnerable, Now you have two Acta to attack and expose,
Shereby foroing him to commit further crimes in order to contime
his deception,
This ia the pattern in my case, What started out as
another frans-up - one of the many being émployed to silenoe
those opposing the racist-militarist power structurs - turned
out to be & long, drawn out, smbarrasaing straggle when the
Yictin, instead of cooperating in his legal lynohing, ohose
inatead to fight and challenge every unlawful act, thereby
foroing the Would-be lynchers to the defensive, This 1s the
same situation the U.8, now finds itself in in Vietnam, What
started out to be a lagsic takeover of & amell oountry by the
U.5, in 1956, turned out to be an embarrasaing, prestige-losing
defeat for this country's military might by the resolubenss
of the Vietnamese people, The tablea have turned and the U.5,
nsive, ‘desperately trying ta extrioate
THE AFRO-AMERICAN, JULY 6, 1968
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Reprints available from the
Martin Sostre Defense Committes
sY
Martin Ramirez Sostre (March 20, 1823 — August 12, 2015) was an
‘American activist known for his role in the prisoners' rights
movement. Xy
He served time in Attica prison during the early 1980s, where he
‘embraced doctrines as diverse as Black Muslimism, Black
nationalism, Internationalism, and finally anarchism. In 1966 Sostre
opened the first Afro-Asian Bookstore at 1412 Jefferson= in Buffalo,
New York. For Its somewhat short existence, Sostre's bookstore was.
a center for radical thought and education in the Buffalo gnetto. As.
Sostre detalls:
1 taught continually - giving out pamphlets free to those who had no
money. | let ther sit and read for hours in the store, Some would
come back every day and read the same book unil they finished it.
This was the opportunity | hed dreamed about - to be able to help my
people by increasing the poitical awareness of the youth.«
Sostre was arrested at his bookstore on July 14, 1967 for "narcotics,
riot, arson, and assault" (charges later proven to be fabricated, part of
a COINTELPRO program#). He was convicted and sentenced to
serve forty-one years and thirly days. Sostre became a jallhouse
lawyer, regularly acting as legal counsel to other inmates and winning
two landmark legal cases Involving prisoner rights: Sostre
v. Rockefeller and Sostre v. Otis. According to Sosre, these
decisions constituted “a resounding defeat for the establishment who
will now find It exceedingly difficult to torture with impunity the
thousands of-captive black (and white) politcal prisoners Hegally heid
in thelr concentration camps."
In earler legal activity, Sostre secured religious rights for Black
Muslim prisoners and also eiiminated (in the words of Federal
Judge Constance Motley) some of the more *outrageously inhuman
aspects of solitary confinement in some of the state prisons.”
In December 1973 Amnesty Intemational put Sostre on its "prisoner
of conscience" lst, stating: "We became convinced that Martin Sostre
has been the victim of an intemational miscarriage of justice because
of his political belefs .. not for his crimes *» In adcition to numerous
defense committees in New York State, a Committee to Free Martin
Sostre, made up of prominent citizens, joined in an effort to publicize
Sostre's case and petition the New York Govemor Hugh Carey for his
release. On December 7, 1975, Russian Nobel Peace Laureate
Andrel Sakharov added his name to the clemency appeal. Governor
Carey granted Sostre clemency on Christmas Eve of 1975; Sostre
was released from prison in February 1976
Martin Sostre’s s
Miss Joan Franklin
Appeal Attorney
A couple of wesks bafoe he was aesied n 1967, a ot eupled n Butlo. Low = /
‘enforcement targated Sostre 85 the instigetor of this disruption without providing any actual
‘evidence fof ther sccusation. Thase who knew Sostre were certaln thal the police were
framing hi with trumped up charges. A defense comitee was established to help free
im. He was supported by both the Young Lords and the Black Panthers. Soon afer his
convictin, the only withess to his so-calied crime recantsd his testimony and said thal the
polios had framed Sostre. Eventually on Decerber 24 1575, Martin Sosire was granted
emency by the Governor of New York, Hugh Carey. He had spent 7 years behind bars for
a cime that he had not committed.
Martin Sostre as o young man
Letters Prém Green Haven Prison £3:2
Vithin one-half hour after his sentencing, Martin
Sostre was shipped off to Attica Prison near Batavia, N.Y.,
the site of his previous 12 year imprisomnent, He remained
there only overnbght and then Was rushed by prison authorities
€o Green Haven Prison in Storaville, N.Y. (outside of
Poughieepsie), Desides desiTing to get Hartin as far away
fron his Defense Oommlttee as possible, it seems likely that
the authorities wished to prevent Wartin fron taking sdvantage
of the relationships and Tespeot that he had developed during
his previous tern at Attioa, It was Sostre who organized and
led the legsl struggle at Attica which eventually resulted in
a Suprems Court Tuling that Nuslim services vere to be allowed
in the prison. And this was only one facet of & constant
Tignt whioh Wartin had waged at,Abtica on behalf of his fellow
inmates against the brutality and dehumanizing quelitiss of
the American penal system.
e followins are a few excerpts from Mertin's
recent correspindence which show that cven ‘the three days in
“the hole" when he first arrived at Green Eaven have not suc-
cesded in breaking him, He 18 filled with hope'-- confident
of the inevitable viotory of the foroes:of liberation over
those who unrelentingly oppress the vast mas
planet!
of this
‘umanity,
May 12,1968
I am glad that the Afro-AsianBookshop in Exile s
des ‘the inoome 1t brings in for our legal
shake & stick at,
may 22, 1968
only by -8 comple of ‘what the:sntire
struggle. isand what Tolo g, -azaly;. who is
L e 15"t e wneay '8 Ao Shn WS’ SyAcoRefully
A
oppose thoss ATying b, oppress and oppoas
for hoe about, to'deatzoy uB 18 & aure
orry
‘uljexable andif e donis “tighten up!, ot only,willive be
TriSked Zhroughtoss mieplecedi emotions, 't Ve axp. AUDIeCt tO
Deing sed by the Exafty eneny ‘AgALNGL’our own comrades. Just
Defoge my tr3el & now inzate was placed an my floox'in Erie
County Jasl and he informed me that had ‘been spreacing
Hhe rumor in the Afro community thatFe Wnev for a fast that
1 was selling dope! No doubt his "white masters" had him do
inia bo alienate the Afro-American community from my cwuse and
provent them fron coming to my aid. 9
ey 28, 1968
There 18 no doubt in my mind whatsosver that I will
e out_soon, sither having ny appeal reversed in the courts
or by being liberated by the universal forces of liberation. The
fact that the militarists of this country are being defeated
in Vietnen end are already engaged with an escalated rebellion
home by the oppressed Afro-American people and their white
allies are sure signs that the power structurs is on 1ts way
Gut. They are now in their last days and soon they won't be
able to oppress anybody because they themselves will be before
the people’s courte to be punished for their crimes against
hupanity as were the German war oriminals at Nuremberg.
June 5, 1968
strce this 18 s peldtical case 1t mat be fobent on
» politioal level and all the issues must be brought out.
Othorwise, e Will be going along With the ruling class's
proszan and acquissing in the lynohing. Of course, they would
Tike ©o oatt the fact that they had the Afro-Asian Bookshop
under surveillance and that I was originally charged with riot
and araon; that they took books and personal doouments in the
raid; that 1 was made the soapegoat for the June rebellion,
Ste.'1f they oan suppress thess facts - the political aspects
of éhe case - then Geraldine and I will emerge &s common dope
Deadlers and our defense of the politically motivated frame-up
Will be nullified, This is why the court struggled so hard to
Yoy o force me 5o acoept the court-appointed attorneys (even
having me committed to preseure me) knowing that the attomneys
would abandon the political aspects and "fight the case" -\if
15 Gan be called "fighting’ - &coording to the oourt's program
and rules, In the Spock case, by precluding the issue of the
+ the oourt haa effeotively deprived the
Fondente of their defense sinoe the legality of the War ig
s, It 16 1ike denying one who has killed an intruder
in nis - in defense of his family - of the right to show
thet the deceased was an intruder, and instead, limiting the
defendent's defense to the sole iseue of Whether or not he
K170 tne deceased, Yes, they are very vicious; but people
re waling up, The frame-up of the RAW defendents whose trisl
has atarbed 1n Queens County should further wake the people
ip. Anewor Soon and let everyone kuow that I en "stAnding
fira",
June 2, 1968 ‘2
It looks like the reactionaries ave taking advanta
of the Kennedy assassination to rem through laws ourtailing
individual 1iberties of the people and inorsasing the power
of the guardians of the status quo - the police and prossoutors.
Under the guige of & "orims ochSrél” Bill, the polics now have
legal sanction for invading one'a privaoy through wiretapping
and using 11lejally obtained statemsnts (including those ex-
trasted 14 polloe stations) as evidence againgt the viotim,
in violation of thb 4t amendment constituvionsl guarante:
against self-inorinination.
Pear of the second phase of the present rebellion
of militants - the armed phase to which things are now evolving
- is motivating gun control legislation in a futile atbempt to
Qisarm the people, But as With all other measures designed to
stem the tide of change, 1t Will not suoceed, It will backfire
and merely expand the biack market in guns created and nour
ished by the profit-hungry foreign and domestic gun manufac-
turers who want to capitalize on the increased self-defense
needs-of the oppressed, The inorease stems, of course, from
the vicious repressive measures being unleashed on militants
by the more and more completely unfettered police goon squads,
Taken together, thess new developments - "no-knock”, “stop-
retaps, admission in eviderioe of police
and identifications, “anti-orime’ and “gun
1115, Warren's resignation and Rockefeller's bid to
1: Right-wing takeover!
pgeim-3
1925 1965
T e Bk oA P
¢/
THE BLACK PANTHER =
;*::.:‘;:;'"’"—'j )
Letters Frou Green Eaven to Attorney Josn Pramkiin b
noy 22, 1968
With intelligent and capable persons such as you,
your secretary and ¥ae assisting and guiding the Republia of
New Africa in its first steps, 1ts rapid development and emer-
gence’as @ potent world power is assured,
Your assistance in the prosecution of my sppeal spells
certain defeat for the fasoist powsr structure‘s determination
o destroy me vis their framed-up legal lynching - & tactic
being increasingly omployed by the alarmed power structure as &
part of 1ts futile program to destroy and intimidate all Blaock
militants who actively oppose the oppression of our people, But
the world-wide struggle for national liberation - of whioh the
Afro-American struggle 1s merely a part - having developed its.
present momentus over a period of centuries of grinding slavery
and oppression, will certainly not be stopped or sven lowed re-
gardloss of What desperate means the oppresscre employ, .
I oonsider myself fortunate in having you and Mae
and the foroes of liberation Which you both represent, in my
ocomer. You Iave my complete trust and oonfidence in this legal
snd poiitical strussle, I.only regret that my limited kmowledge
of law, confinement, liok of acoess to legal materials and
factual data precludes me from aiding you as I.would 1like. How-
ever, as I mentioned when you visited, I shall aid you to the
best of ny ability.
As soon as I cbtain the rest of the mimutes of trial
I shall send them to you, I have already uade arrengements to
have the Test of the papers - including the search warrant and
underlying affidavit, informations, ets, - sent to you, On your
next vislt I shall give you the records tn my possession whioh
I proviously mentioned, Except for. confidential oommunioations -
which I will reserve for your vielt - I'1L keep you informed:
via 3all of all developuents, idess and fruits of my legal Te-
search, eto,
Give ny Tegards and thanks to Mae and my messags to
Bob 18 to “stand firn", for the escalation of the struggle for
the 11veration of our people proves the correotmess of hi
stand, Regards also to Betty Shabazz and family) condolences to
the fanily and oomrades of our brother Bobby Hutton of Oakland
whose munder stall not be forgotten. .
In closing, I reiterate my allegiance to the Republic
of New Afrioa and support for the stand of 1ts Prime Minimter
and Cabinet, My message to them ia-to sscalate the strugele for
Dational 1iberation. The recist power struoture’is resling from
the blows of the forces of liberation the world over, Let
press harder than ever now and go "all the ¥ay" for viotory is
oloser today than it was yesterday,
June 10, 1968 .
your letter of May 31 informing me of
the 118t of lawyere in the Buffalo-BochesteruSyracuse area for
iad, to haar about whe Ghisago oonven-
fow Afrioa and plans to visit me
t of legal oations, I didn't
for Geraldine, Gereldine’s main problem
ning an attorney, since she has boen Tesist-
Antuent of counsel, Her problen is obtaining
Kings or New York County wh ore she can
Ampartial trial, The reason I was foroed to
torneys that the Com-
the Ditrict Attorney's office and the
‘are dotermined to oonvict us and
‘of us in oxder to berrorize and cosrce the
3
!
|
7 346, O0F) on grounds that & fair sud
fapartial trial oamot be bad
"Gopy for your Teview and suggostions,
June 28, 1968
On June ”i I-;lnt a letter via lm%f)'iul mall to
you_contatning bhres legal doousents + 1) a oopy of
Tndsotaent #33508 ensitied PECPLE, ET0. V8, 'S0STHE AD
‘GRRALDINE o, 2) & motion for stay of trial pending
a cation for removal entitled PECPLE, BTC, VS, MARTIN SOSTRE
GERALDINE ROBINSCN and 3) an order of the Appellate Division
ith Department dated March 7, 1968 entitled MARTIN SOSTEE VS,
TUTUSEA, SHERIFP OP ERIE COUNTY,
The next day, June 25, I was sumoned bo the Warden's
office where he told me'that the motion for stay of trial
pending application for removal would not be allowed to leave
the prison, He further told me that I was preotising law wi
out a lav degren by Bending you ‘the mobion with Geraldine' Hol
insonts mame-on 4t, Although I pointed out to hin that notvomy
a8 Kien Rovinson iy o dafertant ({nvolved in ay sape amipe
3t ou
unavoldable mentioning her in-all x papers related
and facts in the oase) but I Was sending those papers to yot,
ny attorney - not Nias Robinson, Even if I had sent them %o her
that 8t111 would nob, b & viclation of any penal law, rules.or
Tegulations of the prison or the Uorrestion Law, The'Varden
8180.4p1d no that he would not g1¥e me your latest letter and
that he would not allow you to Dring a secretary on your pext
4]
e
"segregation” (see Gorreotion
5. logal papers, law Dosks and
T am now all o write to ia you,
'
Only yesterday did I receive some of my legal papers
and books baok but they are still withholding important doou-
ments and notes which are essentisl to my doing research and
prosecuting my appesl and other legal Motions.
This obdtruotion of my mail to and from you, my
attorney, and the dsliberate cbatruction and confiscation of .
that important legal dooument is & violation of' my oonstitution.
al and oivil rights and I will ohallenge this under the Oivil -
Rights Aot inasmich as the Teason for the obstruotion was Lo
conceal acts of racism and recial oppression being perpetrated
upon me and our people,
I would 1ike to ses you as #oon as possible so that
I 7ay disouss this and other issuss with you and so that I may
give you the mimutes of pre-trial proceedings and other doousents
that I mentioned in my previous letters,
Juy 9, 1968
I an at1) under the saze conditions dasoribed to
fou in my 1octerdated Jume 28, 1563 = Tamoly, "veing oppresset
Zoi subjsoted to wnnewal punishment wolely bageuse § BALled to
you the legal documpnt. dealing with the political and Tacial
opecta in my case which the Suthorities here 4id met want to
Dedons Imown to you and ‘the NAAGP.
Although I regeived a few days ago the order we'wers
expeoting from the Appellate Division 4th Depsrtment allowing
the appesl to bs prosscuted on Lypewritten briefs (five oapies)
and directing the Erie County Clerk to send me & copy of the
transoript of the trial and further providing that the appeal
e placed on the Court Calendar only when the hriefs and record
are filed, I an unable to send it to you for fear that it may -
al80 be obstruoted and confisoated as was the legal doounent
Whioh 1 sent to you attached to my lebter to you of June i, 1968,
1 w411 give 16 to you (ay well as the mimutes of the pre-tiisl
proce T'aentloned 1n 7 previous Losters) whon ou cists
=, :
I an w180 being prevented from doing fesearch om my
appeal becsuse these people are wi from me most of my
1aw books insluding issues of the Harvard Law Rewiew whioh I
received 1ast month - legal papers, notes, ooples of legal doou-
Benta pertaining to y ease; eto Iney are ven withhelding
from me ny Websters Collegiate Dictionary, mecessary for my
legal work, which I trought to prison from Erie County Jail,
As I mentioned to you in my last letter, the Warden
Would not give me the last letter you wrote to me, ALl these
otions are motivated by raciem and wé oan prove it, No one
striotions for the reason
he 18 using to oppress me, namely: *practising law without &
1av degree®, I am oh&llenging this in court.as well as his in-
terference with my appeal by withh ny legal materials
and his subjecting me to unasual punishaent,
I 'am being held in virtual incommunioado, I am not
he’vanted me to kmow, No other immate s subjeoted to this
treatuent, This oppression and Tacism must be challensed now
and brought out in the open, When the obstructed dooument 18
subpoensed, the real reason for its obstruction will become
manifest to all,
July 11, 1968
Although I wrote you yesterday I am writing again
today 80 as to enable you to follow the Sequence of events and
which are forming a definite pattern too unmis-.
fAktle to be dented and mubatantisting the proposed action
Frovi
Today, July 1ith, I vas inforsed by the Prinoipel
Property they had withheld
%0 and further charged
s1ster*s name, My
5 18 Letioia Sostre,
ard, proved woavatiing
£00d time and had my
an thus, no longer per-
tematioally out off from
1n the prison,
The Strugele Against Oppression 22
Mareh 1, 1968
succeeded -~ duspite the stremuous sfforts of WHad D
ook 1t --'in pulling the legal and payohiatric
Of the racist-nilitarist power etructure and
Ployed by them'to frame-up, coerce, intimidate aad eliminate(via
d assassination) those who oppose their fas-
It 4s the duty of us activists who are fortunate envugh to
be locked in combat with the fascists, not only to vigorously otrugsis
against thea with every weapon at our dispossl, but to dramatise the
struggle, the issues, our tactics, and the viciousness, cruclty. asd
reactionary nature of the oppres Oaly by personal’example
hope to reach, auakei and inspire the masses to action againet £
The insptration, example and hops which the herots struge
8le of the people of Vietnam gives to millions of 1ittle people like
Ue"a1d ovar”the uorid best L1iustrates this poiat. Anotbue berois
ciasrlevma thatef the thousanas of Rack Cheeten fisntons of bete
Detrait, lavark, Butfuio, Rochestsr sad other sities saee horeh s
Tought aiuiet the tanke. unlsssbed Spainet shee by rhe irisht-
504 ulerd atier thay daluated the conbined.Forees of thy sty mah
Stato police goons. Fhe sati-var Sasonstration in Veshingtos oo .
1ast 012 and'the dencnatentora’ defiancs of the avesoss Siopiey ot
Toras it Trightonsd top dogs to fend.off she saptssn
g s SR Ir 1022 Mok wrehar soepiring 28 boeeie
dramatization of the strugele vhich swakened aiilions of Seope thr
¥orld over.” 0n o enalier soals and dosad Level o bet squats o
Bortant, Lispiring and harote - are.the. theveants of sebhi ehtimar
pieket Linou'in hindrede of e1ties - 1iks the gnes by sur Groep-ece
Daea i, e inge, snae Sebrton
430 intieldation of the peliso geon scaba, fascists dnd breias
vashed footer
With all the above heroic examples to guide and inspire
me, how can I take a'different stand and Still consider myseif s
fighter againet oppreseion and militaris? I was fighting the op-
preasor outside. I am atill following the same tectics. Ae in the
Gage of the bookehop, I am refusing to allow thess fasciat goons
fo cosce and intiaidate me into giving up and cooperating in the
legal lynching they bave besn struggling £o give me. The recent
backfiring of their tactis of subjecting me fo payebiatric intimi-
datibn 1s a case 4n point. A
Sénge the ortcinal arrest vas & frame-up, the fantastic
150,000 ba11, Felicetta's and Amioore 1is o the Benete Imeoraes
acts (contrived to protet the original frame-up)
foundation. It is sasy to see, therefors, why
acts becane untenable at the slightest challenge;
the greater the challenge, the more hasty and ill-contrived defen-
sss must the frightened oppressor put up to shore up his crusbling
position and protect the original frame-up from exposure; but since
every defenso he puts up 1o based on the rotten foundation, -each de.
fense makes hisgpore vulnerable than o and hastens bis'sventual
exposure and defeat. L7
The U. . faces a parallel dileass in Vietmas. It is
being defeated by midget Vietnan because ite very reason for being
4n Vietnam in the first place ia unjustifisble. Therefore, regard-
less of what the U. S. doss in Vietnam, it cannot defend its pre
thera either militarily o politically -~ as svents a
Each new shipment of U, 8. troops to Vietnam provides
the V. C. to asbush; every U. 8. bas
into & trap like Kh i
ouch as our winning the var, and the bogus
1n Tonkin Gulf -- ia expo
des and acts 4n the strects,
faat the fasciat oppressor
pe.
Only by challenging and opposing their
courtropm and battlefield will we
Martn
“It's terrible that the crooks are on the outside
and the good people in the jails.
Mae Mallory
“Malooln X developed his ideclogy in jail. In jail
you are faced with nothing but the bare facts of impri-
Sonment, and this is exactly what the Black mase
facing on the outside. I would say that the jails are
of the Black masses."
== Kathleen Cleaver
"For Black militants, experience in jail parallels
the experience of imprisonment which the Black masses
have in the ghettos."
- Bobby Seale
A4
$1,000 Is Raised to Aid Negro
Leader Jailed leh%? 000 Bail
e Houme
S B bz e .
EERFES Felicetta Tells HCUA
SERSTR Extreme Left Groups
e Led Sostre Protest
BITEEE venoot S T o
e
filets Say Sostre P
Victim of Frame-Up Srviuia’
Judge Denies Sostre Motion
For Trial in Another Court
Camy e Fraenes 4
[Dregemiiggs
it rom g
e s e 4 8¢ BULLETIN
SireanA 114 B W
Mactn Sostre senvenced
203141 yoars. Hurried to
s witin hoar of sen
eacing . Clance M
Tonay rotained o appasi
.
Iiimedintly, Stary hest
ey
reols alr, Butfolo Plice Conmis-
Police to Skip
City Court
s
H
Fi3H
i
== "o must fight in the as
we must fight in the N
must make war on all fronts,*
== "We can no longer afford to peace-
ully oo-exist with raoist judic.
1nl tyranny snd kengarooism based
on an insensate class and reotal
oaate system, "
R —
sssuned the despotio posture of
inetitutionalized lynoh mobs e
Joying the sanctizonious seliol-
lo of the state's rituslistic
buffoonery, "
== "Next to maked viclence and un-
mitigated terror, racist America's
Digoted court syatem is the oar-
dinal soourge of the powerle:
Elack and white ma The oon-
stitutionsl myth about ‘trial by
one's peers’ oardinal saori-
lege against the sacredness of
bruth,®
Rob Williams
== "And we haye heard stories where
thgy bare Lymohed Black peopl
Tight While they were lynoh-
ing that Hlack man, you oould ses
then getting their kicks, the
thrill, while they do 1t."
Haloolm X
Martin’s Struggle Against
‘the Law’
in Buffalo, Mississippi
CRUSADER
NEWSLETTER
_
ROBERT F. WILLIAMS, Publisher — IN EXILE —
AN ATPEAL: SUPFORT FRAME-UP ViCTINS
Foscet frees 1 the USA. cs now endeavorng fo e
notonalsateof hyvacta. Conssquenly, many Ale-Arneicsn
millass wha cefus o el out and wh canno be nmidated
e boln tramd an mprsened. A vicous cumpaign 10 eing.
aged to ez altective snd potenal ghedo Jeders. Chet.
among these arét Mo Staniod, Huey Hevien, Rap Brown,
Lerol Jones, Mactin Sesre and Horman ecgen. Mary
athes are Irnd In Philaceghi, New Yock,Chicag, Newark,
‘Decul, Clevland, In the Saulh aad o0 the Wert Comt. s
a matar of colllive aeuly al anifusit fores and pacs-
208 of futice ot sl theveives and give Hoanchl 4nd
scive support 1o hess vieims o faest Kangroum nd
ranay. Oppose he couet mab with iassvsrestane!
U.S. Marines, he organized the
first armed selr-defense gusrd
of modern times in Nemroe, N.C,
He fought in and out of the
oourts for the right of Afro-
Anericans to be fr
Hounded from his omn oountry and
arred from Europesn oountri
because of U,S, government pres-
now'resides in People's
. He has announced his
deternination to return to the
. for a showdown vith his
nentes,
He is the suthor of “Negro
70
After Rob Villiams® hiteh in the
With Guna® and the recently pub~
ished pamphlet, “Listen, Brotheri®
7!
B AR R S
A A T
b Ly Feteti
P o R e
a it o T et e ms it
B e L IR R
On February 22, ¢ large Gmonstration vas hald autstde Nelson Rockefeller's
africes in New tark Clty,desandtog fresden for Hartin.
The Afrochstan Bookstars-to-Exfle, mamed by stadea sctivists 35 the tniver-
T et Sk htine artin
Siiisring ibeation Hisire, o Student FoHity,
e Ao sk 4 the hvrsie o bttt st restution
it g et iy, i Mo, Sovir and deardin irpanet mceria)
TAETIItIes for his bookstare on the canps.
e T e buftay, S har i Sebte - Fro oy Nt Doprs”
h ity bty s tar e Freeh fvers
e el £ 3 Erried: Comintcs tors Mve batn Tacetved frin 411 sva the
B Tt et conrien 1 v gt nd e s 2 s
o of anothe NS Wl -
e e e R STt B 1 emcion iter.
- § Hay 1989
gL E:
O et 8. _tor ntte Comitss k. bl of Wt Setrs
5 artan W eotate wne.
Dm-q-s o0 or befors .
O mctonn oot of ST GL0E rurte by . rchy (sen
00¢ sachy or $3,50; 100 for $6.00)
Ot enctose 3. pes of "LETTERS FRON PRISON (sn fnsight
into mm-T\'n Bn_wm his highly articulate 76-page
ot i i g g
(stense print)
W (e, M., Wiss)
gyl smate u
WARTIN SOSTRE DEFENSE COMMITTEE.
7.0, Box 32, Elcatt Sation
Bitialo, e tork. ez
Gerald 3, Gross, Chafraan Wrs, Jeanette Merrd1), Secretary
X TWIS oRGAMUTION Mo LIVEER ENSTS
Historical Importance of Martin Sostre 72
Sostre's politcal consciousness and legal activism opened the door for
prisoners to have legal and human rights and the abilty to organize ata
time of vl rights, Black Power, the New Let, and the Vietnam anti-war
movements. Atone stage, 1970-1976, the prison movement became the central
protest movement in America, especially after the August political
assassination of George Jackson, and the September, 1971 Attica rebellion.
The protest at Attica Was put down with a bloody massacre by prison and
political officials but it opened the eyes of millons all over the world
to American state violence and racism. A mass prison support movemeit arose
almost overnight, which demanded human rights for prisoners. There is no
doubt that the prior demands of Martin Sostr, i his writings and
prisonersrights lawsuits, who had been imprisoned at Attica some years
previous, played a role ideologically. Sostre's struggle inside as a
political prisoner was clearly bound up with what became the Attica
Rebellion.
Contrary to prison officials accounts which now claim that the
so-called Attica prison “rot” had taken place because of a "gang of
criminais” who took guards hostage for no goad reason, the tuth is New
York State offcals refused to listen to Sostre or even the federal courts
‘which over the years had ordered an end to brutality, racism, and
mistreatment of the men inside. The prisoners took matters into their own
hands, demanding human rights and an end to racist abuse with the 1971
rebellon, which shook America and the entire world.
Martin Sostre and Me
Tmet Martin Sostre at the Federal Detention Center in New York City in
August/September, 1969. I had just been brought back to the USA from
Beriin, Germany, for hiacking a plane to Cuba earler that year. He had
sued prison offcals and been transferred to federal prison to await a
hearing. I cicn't know who he was at the time, but someone said he was an
“activist prisoner” and that I should talk to him.
A scowiing, powerfully built Black man, he looked like a teacher, which
in many ways he was, just a revolutionary teacher. So, I went up and
introduced myself, and we started talking about prison generally, but he
was interested in my case and how the CIA had captured me, and we started
taling about that. He was concerned that [ could be sentenced to death by
an all-white Southe jury.
He knew it was a political case, and so we talked about what I could do
about it Almost every day that | saw him, we would go over my case, and he
would give me legal advice. Somewhere along the line, we started talking
about revolutionary polfics generally, and he bounced a new word on me:
“Ansrchist Soclallsm. had no ide what he was taking about a the time.
Thad just come from Cubs, Czechoslovakia, and Eest Germany, which called
themselves “soclalist republics,” so 1 thought I knew all about it. 1 was.
wrong, He explained to e about “self-governing socialism,” which he 7 3
described as free of state bureaucracy, any kind of party or leader
dictatorship, Almost every day he regaled me about “direct democracy.”
*communitarianism” “radical autonomy,” general assemblies,’ and other
stuff 1 knew nothing about. So 1 just listened for hours as. he schooled me.
e inital idess for Black autonomy, within the overall Anarchist
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alienated from his community, and since much of the analysis about Black
‘oppression and Socialism was by white radicals, e had originally
gravitated into Black nationalism. It was only later during his time in
‘prison that he gravitated into Anarchist Socialism. He told me endlessly
that Socalism and Anarchism were for all people, not just Europeans. and
‘well-to-do intellectuals. It was universal. At first, I had serious doubts
about all this, as it seemed just more white radical student ideology. They
‘were not sympathetic to the Black struggle, and they were not working class
or poor. ‘Sostre’s ideas, however, were that Anarchists of color must build
their ‘wing® of the Anarchist movement. He didr't call it Black Autonomy,
but that is what it was.
1did not even consider myself at the time as an Anarchist, and did not
fully understand what he told me. But I had seen fist-hand *Soviet
Socialism® and was not impressed. It was elitist, authoritarian, and
oppressive. | could say the same thing about “Mantist-Leninist Maoism",
which helped to destroy the the 1960 New Left, and the rdical wing of
the Black Power Movement, with cult of persanality, midde cass snobbery,
‘manipulation, and opportunism.
Even before meeting Martin Sostre, 1 was efinitely already looking for
something new, and willing to consider Anarchism. But only years later,
Serving life in prison, is when I really started into Anarchist poiitical
education, as Sostre suggested. I tarted reading Anarchist books and
papers, and started corresponding with Anarchist figures and groups all
over the world.
‘These discussions with Martin Sostre were invaluable in broadening my
thinking about a radical political altemative. 1 also found out about many
“unknown revolutions* in Africa, Russia, China, Spain and other parts of
the world, as wel as early Anarchist labor/radical tendencies among
Eastern European immigrants, especialyin the USA (1860's-1900'). Yet
the stickleris that the Anarchist movement generally, had o ties or
solidarity to the Black population in the USA, the UK, or the colonized
the Third World.t was essentialy a white European
Kl
Like Sostre had said, we must manufacture our own Anarchist of Color
school of thought and revolutionay practice. Nobody can trly speak for us
‘and fight in our name. Black Autonomy means independence. of thought, culture
and action. We are not racial separatists, but we must be sure that we are
strong enough to insist an our politic,leadership, and respect within any
broader universal mavement. We have been sold out,left out, betrayed, and
tricked too many times by internal racism inside majority white coalitions
and movements. Black vgjices matter! That is why I wrote a small pamphlet in
1972, "Anarchism and the Black Revolution” while I was in prison in 1979.
Conclusion
Martin Sostre has been lost to-history because the White Left and
Anarchist radical tendencies have had no regard for him or hs legacy. He.
literall opened the doors for radical prisoners, Anarchist tendencies of
color and ra praxis, yet not one institution or movement today is
named after him. Thi s an outrage which must be recognized or corrected
now.
Groups of jailhouse lawyers should name themselves after the man who
more than anyone, successfully fought for prisoners® democratic rights, was
an activist who provided an example of a revolutionary political prisoner,
and who prefigured the Black-led revolutionary prison movemen, including
the Attica rebellion and prison labor and activist movements of the
1970'-80's.
Ibecame an Anarchist, a jallvouse lawyer, and a prison activist
during the 1970's because-of Martin Sostre. I fact it was a result of
observing Martn’s nterational defense committee and seeing how he was
able to put pressure on the govemmen, that encouraged me to create the
“Free Lorenzo" movement, which resulted in my own freedom in 1984 from two
lfe sentences. I owe him a tremendous personal debt. I spoke to him less
then a month in a prison cell,but it changed my life. He had a similar
impact on many others who never met him, but benefited from him standing
up for theirrghts.
We don't have him here today in the flesh, but we can at least honor his.
memory and never let it diel
Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin attributes his initial interest in anarchism to
In 1974 Pacfic Street.Flims debuted a documentary film on Sostre
called Frame-up! The Imprisonment of Martin Sostre. It detailed
Sostre's case with extensive Interviews from prison.
Martin Sostre
photo of Martin Sostre asa young man by Jerry Ross (painter)
In later life Sostre dived! in Manhattan with his wife Lizabeth Sostre,
his son Mark who tragically-passed in his 20s and his other son
Vincent. Sostre died in 2015
+Although to some the struggle of a Black high school
dzop-out acting as his own attorney against the massive
coercive power of this State may seem like a futile
struggle, theze is no doubt in my mind of the Wltimate
defeat of my oppressors, I am like the brave and re-
solute people in Vietnam who are also scruggling
against the common oppressor. As a matter of fact,
Uconsider myself a Black Viet Cong. Black Power
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