Martin Sostre & Geraldine (Robinson) Pointer Mural Unveiling
Saturday, August 22nd, at Parker’s Place, 1339 Jefferson Ave.
Buffalo, New York, July 27, 2026: On Saturday, August 22nd at 4PM, a mural unveiling ceremony will be held at Parker’s Place 1339 Jefferson Ave. The mural named “Continue the Struggle” depicts Martin Sostre and Geraldine (Robinson) Pointer, two Black political prisoners framed and arrested on July 15, 1967 at 1412 Jefferson Avenue at Sostre’s Afro Asian Bookshop. “Continue the Struggle” is painted by Emma Brittain, a community leader and emerging artist, through funding awarded by the Art Services Inc. of WNY to the Social Justice Community Education Project (SJCEP) and in collaboration with the Justice for Geraldine and Martin Campaign and bookstore Burning Books. SCJEP and Justice for Geraldine and Martin have worked alongside Mr. Joe Parker, Mrs. Desiree Parker-Smallwood, and the Parker family to provide this touchstone of Jefferson Ave. history to the public. The mural unveiling is free, open to the public, with food and refreshments for attendees.
Martin Sostre’s Afro Asian Bookshop and a second bookstore, the East West bookshop, at 289 High St. sold books on the Black Liberation tradition, anti-Vietnam War, and anti-establishment literature unavailable elsewhere, LP and EP records, and African carvings. Due to these bookstores’ growing prominence and contribution to Black Buffalo’s radical political consciousness, Sostre and Pointer’s arrests happened two weeks after the 1967 Buffalo Rebellion, where Sostre kept his stores open as a safe haven against ongoing police brutality and tear gas during the Rebellion. Sostre and Pointer were accused of selling $15 in narcotics to police informant Arto Williams (who recanted his testimony in 1971) and resisting arrest. Authorities alleged Sostre’s bookstores were fronts for narcotics sales.
Sostre and Pointer were both convicted by all-white juries, Sostre 31 to 41 years, and Pointer 7 to 15 year suspended sentence. Pointer lost custody of her five children, reunited with them after over two years of incarceration. After an international campaign for his release, including recognition by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience, Sostre was granted clemency in 1975 and was released from prison in 1976. Support for their full exonerations is organized through the Justice for Geraldine and Martin Campaign.
The unveiling of “Continue the Struggle” honors the start of “Black August.” “Black August,” as writer Joe Tache notes, originated in 1979 “is honored every year to commemorate the fallen freedom fighters of the Black Liberation Movement, to call for the release of political prisoners in the United States, to condemn the oppressive conditions of U.S. prisons, and to emphasize the continued importance of the Black Liberation struggle.”
Geraldine Pointer, now 82-years-old expressed “it means a lot to me, especially for my image to be on somebody’s building and for everyone to know what happened to me and Martin (Sostre). I know my children are all excited too. I can’t wait to see it and appreciate everyone that made this possible.” Muralist Emma Brittain stated “I’m honored to be part of the team bringing this story into greater awareness and bringing further justice to Martin and Ms. Geraldine.”
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The Justice for Geraldine and Martin Campaign originated in July 2024 to support and organize around Pointer and Sostre’s exonerations, coinciding with the submission of exoneration applications to the Erie County District Attorney Office’s Conviction’s Integrity Unit. In March 2025, without properly notifying Pointer or her counsel, DA Michael Keane filed a motion moving the exoneration applications to Chautauqua County alleging “a conflict of interest was identified” that “a close family relative was a member of the Buffalo Police Department who was involved in the investigation and arrest of the defendants in 1967.”
In challenging Keane’s motion, September 4, 2025, where State Supreme Court Justice Paul Wojtaszek ruled Niagara County District Attorney Brian Seaman would oversee the exoneration applications Earlier this year, Seaman determined: “after a thorough review of the applications and available materials from the investigations and trials, my office has determined that the applications are without merit. The arguments raised either were, or could have been, raised during the original proceedings or in collateral proceedings. No newly discovered materials that have not been available for decades has been presented.” Seaman stated “no further action will be taken” despite providing no evidence of the review conducted, let alone making an effort to contact Pointer herself.
Pointer’s counsel filed an Article 78, which will be heard on August 24th at 10AM by Judge Emilio Colaiacovo, requesting “the Niagara County DA’s office, another New York county with a convictions integrity unit, or a qualified individual in Erie County “conduct an actual conviction integrity investigation and review before reaching any determination of whether Petitioners’ convictions should be vacated.”
With fighting for exoneration, the Justice for Geraldine and Martin Campaign has also reclaimed 1412 Jefferson Ave., the former Afro Asian Bookshop, currently a City of Buffalo owned vacant lot, fostering a community garden and event space. They have held a free and weekly Freedom School Speaker Series, running Wednesdays at 6:30PM through August 12th at 1412 Jefferson.
