On 14 July 1967, Black anarchist of Puerto Rican descent, Martin Sostre, was arrested at his Afro-Asian Bookstore in Buffalo, New York and charged with “sale of narcotics, riot, arson, and assault.”
Sostre, who previously described himself as a “street dude, a hustler” became politically active during a period of incarceration. Upon his release, he got a job as a steelworker and saved up to open a radical bookshop.
The bookshop became a hub for young Black people, many of whom Sostre gave pamphlets for free, as well as white student leftists. Following days of rioting in Buffalo, police raided the shop, and charged Sostre with rioting, arson and selling heroin.
In court, Sostre was chained, then bound and gagged, so he could not address the court during pre-trial motions. On trial, he represented himself and was eventually convicted by an all-white jury of selling heroin on the witness testimony of a drug addict who told police he purchased $15 of heroin from Sostre. He was sentenced to 30-41 years imprisonment (the witness later admitted he had been told to lie by the police).
While in prison, Sostre became a jailhouse lawyer, helping his fellow prisoners, and educated others, such as Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin, about libertarian socialism. He also resisted invasive rectal searches, and as a result, was repeatedly beaten and sent to solitary confinement. Years of prison time were also added to his sentence.
A huge international campaign for Sostre's release was launched and was so powerful that he became the best-known political prisoner in the world. Eventually, he was given executive clemency by the governor of New York, and he left prison in February 1976.
After his release from prison, Sostre maintained his activism, organising with his fellow tenants against bad landlords, and setting up community daycare and after-school programs. He lived until the age of 92.
Today, the Martin Sostre Institute continues his legacy.
Martin Sostre arrested - WCH | Stories
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