The Crime of Martin Sostre Author:Vincent Copeland Shortly after the riots in the Buffalo ghetto during the summer of 1967, Martin Sostre, proprietor of the Afro-Asian Bookstore, was arrested for selling narcotics. During the hearings and the trial that ensued, there was much cause for speculation that he was in fact a political prisoner and that the narcotics charge, on which he was found guil... more »ty by an all-white jury, was a frame-up.
What was the real crime of Martin Sostre? The sale of narcotics in the Buffalo ghetto? Or the propagation of certain ideas about black liberation through the sale of books?
Here is an eloquent and moving plea in defense of a remarkable spirit, who is currently serving a sentence of 30-41 years in a New York State prison.« less