Geraldine Robinson

Geraldine Pointer (born Geraldine Robinson, on November 20, 1943) is an American activist from Buffalo, New York, known for being a political prisoner in the Black Power movement and her role in the prisoners' rights movement. In 1968, she was a manager at the Afro-Asian Bookshop on Jefferson Avenue where Robinson was arrested along with owner Martin Sostre during a raid by plainclothes police officers and FBI agents. She was charged with sale of narcotics and interfering with arrest, convicted by an all-white jury, and sentenced 7 to 15 years in prison. Robinson served 2½ years in prison before being released and efforts continue to today to have her sentence vacated.

Early life Geraldine Robinson was born in Columbus, Ohio, on November 27, 1943. Robinson was one of seven children and moved with her mother to Buffalo when she was young. Robinson’s mother worked at the Bethlehem Steel plant. They first lived in Willert Park Homes which was the city’s first public housing complex built for Black residents. They later bought a home on East Utica Street in the Cold Spring neighborhood. Sostre opened two additional locations, including the East-West Bookshop at 289 High Street. Robinson would then regularly help manage Sostre’s High Street store.

Robinson later recalled that she "wasn’t an activist at first, but that her political commitment deepened through her experiences around the bookstore and its clashes with authorities."

The police and court account is that Arto Williams, after being given marked bills, bought $15 bag of heroin from Sostre and the police allegedly recovered the marked bills during the raid. The case was built on the account that it was a "controlled buy."

The defense and re-evaluated account is that the "controlled buy" was entirely fabricated. Witnesses and investigations report that the heroin was planted and that the testimony from Williams was coerced. Years after, Williams recanted, stating that the police pressured him to make the testimony and that no sale had taken place. Critics of the official record also point to the fact that Sostre was not a drug dealer in the community and that no corroborating physical evidence was ever shown.

Martin Sostre later described the raid in a letter sent from prison in July 1969, "they made their Gestapo-like raid on the bookshop, beat me up, pushed Geraldine around, framed us with the sale of narcotics, wrecked the bookshop and stole everything of value."

The raid is understood to be part of COINTELPRO, the FBI’s covert counterintelligence program which targeted Black radical organizations and activists. Then, at her first court date on Dec. 18, 1967, Robinson announced she would be defending herself in court. Robinson said that, "I don’t think I’ll get a fair trial with a public defender, that’s why I don’t want one." Similarly in Martin Sostre's trial, according to a 2024 article in Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality, "Several facts were uncovered during and after the trial which indicate that Martin Sostre was framed." For example, one piece of faulty evidence provided by the state was "a conveniently ‘missing’ motion picture film that was allegedly taken through a window that turned out to be boarded up at the time," regarding when the police claimed they had photographs of a heroin purchase in the store. Later, the cross-examiner asked Geraldine, "You don't like policemen, do you?" to which she replied, "Are you supposed to love them?"

Robinson was convicted by an all-white jury and sentenced to 7 to 15 years in prison. During her time incarcerated time, she lost custody of her children.

Life after prison Robinson spent a total of 2 years and 19 days incarcerated. She successfully defended herself in family court and was reunited with her children. She later recalled that being separated from her children was the most difficult part.

Geraldine married and took the surname Pointer.