Community Continues to ‘Build’ on its Fight to Clear Those Charged in 1967 East Side Bookstore Raid

Geraldine Robinson Pointer didn’t become an activist until after her arrest in 1967 stemming from a raid on Jefferson Avenue’s Afro-Asian Bookstore for which she was charged with crimes that she was kept in the dark about until after her release awaiting trial.

Along with the now-deceased bookstore owner Martin Sostre, Pointer was accused of selling heroin to an informant, according to an FBI narrative that painted the business as a front for a drugs and weapons depot.

In reality, riots had erupted on Jefferson Avenue only a few weeks before Pointer’s arrest and federal agents were looking for someone to blame. Subsequently convicted on the charges, Pointer received a 7-to-15-year sentence. She also lost custody of her five children, whom she was reunited with after two and a half years of imprisonment.

“It’s sad when people are torn away from their families and their children. My children were put in foster homes, and they didn’t know anything. We still have that (happening) today,” Pointer said this past Saturday as she watched young and old activists alike construct garden beds and install a free library on the very same property where her life so dramatically changed almost 60 years ago.

Event organizer James Coughlin said the day was an important step to not only have the convictions of both Pointer and Sostre reversed, but to also bring focus to a neighborhood long neglected by the city and state.

“It shows we’re making a long-term commitment to the neighborhood. It’s also showing we’re facing issues like food apartheid,” he said. “This neighborhood is historically under-resourced and intentionality so with redlining and government policies. We’re not telling people what to do, but we’re trying to facilitate a free space where people can go and be empowered and educated.”

Erie County Legislator Lawrence Dupre also attended the event, saying he was informed by a group of young activists who came to his door.

“I support anything that brings my community together and uplifts people,” he said. “This is because the community cares. She’s (Pointer) been fighting for this. She’s got her family here and members of the community. I wanted to make sure to show up for this. That’s the most important part of my job. I’m the government and they need to know we’re behind them.”

To say the community cares about Pointer is, perhaps, a gross understatement. Saturday’s event was a continuation of the grassroots movement started in July 2024 that has focused on righting what community members have long considered a grave injustice suffered by Pointer and Sostre.

Back on March 20, in fact — on what would have been Sostre’s 102 birthday — a rally was held calling for he and Pointer to be cleared in the case. Afterward, protesters marched to the office of Erie County District Attorney Michael Keane to deliver a petition calling for the couple’s exoneration.

Citing a “conflict of interest,” Keane has recused himself from the case. The matter is now being handled by the Chautauqua County District Attorney’s Office.

Meanwhile, as Pointer patiently waits for what happens next, she has a message for those looking to fight injustice.

“If you’ve got a voice,” she said, “use it.”