Congress. House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Subversive Influences in Riots,
Looting, and Burning. Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1968. Pt. 5: Subversive Influences
in Riots, Looting, and Burning (Buffalo, New York) (June 20, 1968).
SuDoc No.: Y4.Un1/2:R47/pt.5
Date(s) of Hearings: June 20, 1968
Congress and Session: 90th - 2nd
EXCERPTS
SYNOPSIS
On June 20, 1968, a subcommittee of the Committee on Un-American Activities met in
Washington, D.C., to continue its hearings on subversive influences in riots, looting,
and burning. These hearings, part 5 of the series, concern events related to the Buffalo,
N.Y., riot of June 1967.
The subcommittee was composed of Representative Richard H. Ichord (D-Mo.), chairman;
Representative John M. Ashbrook (R-O.); and Representative Albert W. Watson (R-S.C.).
The first witness was Frank N. Felicetta, police commissioner of the city of Buffalo.
Commissioner Felicetta joined the Buffalo Police Department in 1929 and served in every
rank, including captain, to which he was promoted in 1950. The witness was appointed
police commissioner in 1958 and has continuously served in that position since that time
with the exception of a period of retirement from 1962 through 1965.
Commissioner Felicetta testified that approximately 1 percent of the total Buffalo Negro
population of 100,000 was involved in the riot which took place in Buffalo from June 27-30,
1967. He said that 242 adults and 17 juvenile offenders were arrested in the course of the
disturbance, and property damage caused by fire was estimated to be about $151,000. Other
property losses, mainly resulting from thefts, totaled $37,000. The witness stated that
there were no deaths during the course of the rioting, although a few persons sustained
injuries. Police reports indicated that Molotov cocktails were used to start the fires and
that firearms were stolen from at least one retail store during the riot.
PRERIOT PHASE
Commissioner Felicetta testified that on May 3, 1967, three members of the Nation of Islam,
also known as the Black Muslims, were observed speaking to a group of about 100 young
Negroes at a fundraising carnival of the Young Men's Christian Association located on East
Ferry Street. The witness stated that the men were wearing uniforms of the Fruit of Islam,
a paramilitary guard unit of the Nation of Islam. Shortly after these men talked with the
youngsters, the youths left the carnival in a group and proceeded to an adjacent block
where they broke store windows and looted a pawnshop.
The witness then read excerpts from a highly inflammatory piece of literature which was
distributed on May 18, 1967, by certain members of the Buffalo chapter of the Congress of
Racial Equality. This exhibit, which was incorporated into the record, stated in part as
follows:
It seems that Wattts [sic], Rochester, New York and other cities don't plan their riots nearly
as well as Buffalo. Already through careful planning we have been able to maintain riotous
conditions for two weekends straight. This past Saturday, there were so many cops between
Jefferson, Humboldt and E. Ferry Streets it looked like a P.A.L. convention (That is, with
all the 14, 15, 16 year oldsters loitering on the corners).
Who knows, if things are well planned, the kids will have a good time (like Ft. Lauderdale).
The riots have lasted only for a weekend. Was it the weather? By the way kids, what are
you doing this summer???
The commissioner disclosed that three bookstores operating in the Negro district of Buffalo
prior to the outbreak of riots were stocked with large quantities of "Communist,
revolutionary, and black nationalist literature with a strong and inflammatory racial
content." They were called the Afro-Asian Book Stores and were managed by Martin
Gonzalez Sostre. The Afro-Asian Book Store on Jefferson Street was raided by police on
July 15, 1967, and Sostre was arrested for the possession and sale of narcotics, among
other charges.
At the time of this raid, just 2 weeks following the Buffalo riot, the bookstore was
offering for sale publications distributed by the W.E.B. DuBois Clubs of America, Workers
World Party, Youth Against War and Fascism, and the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. Moreover,
police found that the bookstore was stocked with literature from Guozi Shudian, an official
distributor of publications emanating from Communist China. Commissioner Felicetta read
into the record a paragraph appearing in one of the books written by Mao Tse-Tung which
was confiscated by police. It stated: "Every Communist must grasp the truth,
'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.'"
The committee counsel introduced into the record the following excerpts from two issues
of Workers World, a newspaper published by the Workers World Party, a Trotskyist
Communist splinter group, relating to the Afro-Asian Book Stores:
The idea of the bookstore was to prepare Black youth for the liberation struggle.
[Workers World, March 15, 1968]
Martin Sostre operated the Afro-Asian bookstore and sold a variety of literature for
liberation fighters that you could find no place else in Buffalo. His customers were
the Black youth of Buffalo. They had learned to know and to admire this man who wanted
them to question, think, and learn.
And as the rebellion raged many of them took refuge in his store where cops on the street
could not, for the moment, reach them and where they could, now in excited, eager tones
as they sensed the potential of the revolt, discuss what had happened so far and what could
be done. Even as the confused battle went on, young men bought books like Negroes
With Guns, by Robert Williams and read them. [Workers World, September 14, 1967]
RIOT PHASE
The witness testified that the Buffalo Youth Against War and Fascism distributed a highly
inflammatory flyer in the riot area on June 29, 1967. Youth Against War and Fascism
(YAWF) is the youth arm of the Workers World Party. This flyer stated that YAWF has
condemned the United States Government, the New York State government, and the Buffalo
government for their "continual repression of the aspirations of the black people."
It called for "a demonstration of solidarity with the oppressed black people of
Buffalo" to be held that same day in Lafayette Square, Buffalo, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
According to police reports, the YAWF demonstration was held as scheduled at Lafayette Square
on June 29, 1967, and was attended by approximately 25 persons. Among those who
participated in this demonstration were Karl Meller, Gerald J. Gross, Jeanette Merrill,
Edward Merrill, George Provost, Joel S. Meyers, Anna Sterling, James Johnson, Rita Johnson,
Edward A. Wolkenstein, Rachel Wolkenstein, Naomi Wolkenstein, William Yates, Peter Hartmen,
and Gerald Coles. Commissioner Felicetta testified the theme of this demonstration was
that "the disturbances in Buffalo were not a riot, but a rebellion, and the police
had no right to interfere with the rebellion."
At this point, the committee counsel presented the following information about some of the
aforementioned individuals named by Commissioner Felicetta as participants in the
demonstration staged by YAWF during the Buffalo racial disturbance:
Gerald Gross, as chairman of the Martin Sostre Defense Committee... wrote a letter to the
editor of the magazine Liberator, which was published in the November 1967 issue.
Liberator was identified in the initial phases of these hearings as a magazine engaged
in racial agitation, edited by Daniel H. Watts, and published by the Afro-American Research
Institute, Inc., in New York City.
Jeanette and Edward Merrill made arrangements for the appearance of Mark Lane in Buffalo
when he went to that city in the early part of 1964 to speak on the Oswald case.
George Provost was president of the Buffalo Progressive Citizens of America in 1947 and
1948. The Progressive Citizens of America was the immediate forerunner of the
Communist-organized Progressive Party.
March 9, 1948, it was reported in an issue of the Daily Worker, Communist Party
newspaper that he was cochairman of a delegation of Communist Party and trade union
leaders [Provost is not a trade union leader] who took a memorandum to the Buffalo district
representative of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, protesting the detention of
Charles Doyle, who had been arrested for deportation as a Communist and was then being held
without bail on Ellis Island in New York City.
In August 1964 he wrote a letter to a Member of the Senate opposing U.S. policy in South
Vietnam...
Joel Meyers. In 1965 Meyers was one of a number of young men of draft age who signed a
statement opposing the U.S. role in Vietnam and saying they would refuse to fight if drafted.
Various issues of the Workers World in 1967 identified Meyers as a leader of Youth
Against War and Fascism and an active participant in Communist-organized antidraft agitation.
A December 16, 1967, article reveals that he was then under indictment for violating the
selective service law by disruption at an induction center.
Rita Johnson took part in a demonstration protesting the Cuban blockade, which was held in
Buffalo on the evening of October 25, 1962.
The hearing disclosed that Martin Sostre played a significant role during the Buffalo riot.
Commissioner Felicetta read into the record an affidavit submitted to the Buffalo Police
Department by a 15-year-old Negro youth who testified that Sostre advocated the use of
Molotov cocktails during the riot. The affidavit revealed that Sostre instructed Negroes
on how to make Molotov cocktails and on how to use them. According to the affidavit, Sostre
paid the sum of $50 to an individual identified only as "Bernard," who in turn gave
certain Negro youths a few dollars each to throw Molotov cocktails during the rioting.
Commissioner Felicetta provided the committee with the following information with respect
to Sostre's background:
Martin Gonzalez Sostre, also known as Martin X, Martin Ramirez, and Martin Santos, has been
identified as a former member of the Nation of Islam, also known as the Black Muslims.
Sostre has a lengthy criminal record dealing primarily with narcotics. He was born on
March 20, 1923, in New York City and is a Puerto Rican Negro. His mother, Crescinia Gonzalez,
now deceased, was of Puerto Rican extraction.
He resided in New York City until his entrance into the United States Army in 1942. During
his Army career, he was arrested for possession of and dealing in illegal narcotics. He
received a dishonorable discharge and has been confined almost continuously in various prisons
since 1946.
Sostre was released from prison when his sentence expired on September 18, 1964; and after
serving 30 days in the Erie County jail on a contempt of court charge, he decided to make
his future in the city of Buffalo.
He is considered a cured narcotics addict and has undergone treatment in the U.S. Public
Health Service Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky.
Sources indicate that he became a Black Muslim in prison, but later left the Black Muslim
movement.
POSTRIOT
The testimony of the police commissioner disclosed that members of the Youth Against War
and Fascism demonstrated on July 1, 1967, the day after order was restored in the riot area.
This demonstration, composed of the same individuals who participated in the Lafayette Square
disturbance on June 29, was held outside the jail in which some of the rioters were being
detained following their arrest. The YAWF demonstration was staged for the purpose of
demanding that the rioters be set free.
As the witness previously testified, police conducted a raid on the Afro-Asian Book Store
on Jefferson Street during the early morning hours of July 15, 1967. Sostre was arrested
with his girl friend, Geraldine Robinson, and both were charged with possession of narcotics,
sale of narcotics, and for assault upon a police officer. During his arraignment, Sostre
loudly protested his arrest and argued in court that the judges and police were trying to
take revenge because only he was distributing Socialist-oriented black nationalist literature
when the attempt to burn down the East Side was made. Sostre told the judge that "we're
going to break up your world, Whitey, so you'd better rot in that chair as long as you
can."
Commissioner Felicetta testified that as soon as Sostre was arrested, the Youth Against War
and Fascism and the Workers World Party immediately came to Sostre's defense and members of
both groups picketed the Buffalo police station in protest over his arrest. YAWF formed an
organization called the Martin Sostre Defense Committee and used as its mailing address Post
Office Box 382, Ellicott Station, Buffalo, N.Y. Commissioner Felicetta stated that Gerald
Gross, chairman of the Martin Sostre Defense Committee and a YAWF organizer, appeared at
Sostre's arraignment and offered to vouch for Sostre's good name so that he could be released
without bail. In spite of these efforts, the judge refused to comply and continued Sostre's
bail, which had been set at $25,000.
The commissioner then read into the record several pieces of agitational literature
distributed by the Martin Sostre Defense Committee. One leaflet disclosed that YAWF had
been joined by the Students for a Democratic Society, Student Mobilization Committee To End
the War in Vietnam, and The Resistance in sponsoring a demonstration in Buffalo on February
17, 1968, for the purpose of generating support for Martin Sostre.
Throughout his jury trial, which began on March 4, 1968, Sostre constantly harassed the
judge by engaging in disruptive tactics. Sostre's trial lasted 3 days and resulted in his
conviction. Prior to sentencing, the judge remarked:
Everybody knows from your actions in this court that you are a vicious and violent person
and you are motivated by nothing more than hate.
You have now been unmasked, defrocked and your plan to disrupt the jury system and pervert
our laws has miserably failed. You are, plain and simply, a narcotics peddler and you have
been preying upon your own people and the people of this community.
Sostre was given a prison sentence of a maximum of 41 years and 30 days. Commissioner
Felicetta said that the sentence imposed upon Sostre comprised four separate counts, namely:
Count 1, sale of narcotics, 25 to 30 years; count 2, assault of a policeman, 5 to 10 years;
count 3, misdemeanor, possession of narcotics, 1 year; and contempt of court, 30 days.
Commissioner Felicetta testified that John Wilson, the national fundraising chairman for
the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), was the main speaker at a meeting of
young Negroes held July 18, 1967, at the JFK Community Center on Clinton Street. In quoting
from a police report regarding Wilson's appearance at this meeting, the witness stated:
His whole approach was one of hate and to appeal to the worst in the young audience.
He impressed upon the kids that the black men in America don't want integration... He
insulted all white people in the audience and called Dean Rusk a "Hunkey Fool",
Robert McNamara, a hunkey warmonger. He appealed to the Negro boys to refuse to serve in
the armed services...
At this point in the hearing, the general counsel of the committee read into the record the
following information on John A. Wilson, which was based on material from committee files:
John A. Wilson was born on September 29, 1943, in Baltimore, Maryland. He has been active
in militant Negro organizations since he was a student at Maryland State College, Princess
Anne, Maryland, and served as chairman of the Student Appeal for Equality at that college
in 1964.
In 1964 John Wilson was one of six individuals who met in Chester, Pennsylvania, and formed
the militant Negro organization called ACT (This organization, ACT, has been described in
part 1, pages 917, 918, of this committee's hearings on the subject.)
Wilson has been an active member of SNCC for the past several years and has served that
organization as its New York field organizer. He has also been cited as a national spokesman
for SNCC.
John Wilson was one of a group of Americans who visited with representatives of the National
Liberation Front and North Vietnam in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, last summer.
When he returned, Wilson served as cochairman of the National Mobilization Committee To
End the War in Vietnam, which organized the march on the Pentagon on October 21-22, 1967.
In late January 1968, the National Black Anti-War Anti-Draft Union was formed. John Wilson
was elected its national chairman.
Commissioner Felicetta provided the committee with information regarding a newly devised
substitute for Molotov cocktails which he identified as "traveling jelly." He
then proceeded to describe this substance in detail.
Commissioner Felicetta concluded his testimony before the committee by making the following
statement:
I have traveled all over this country, attending conferences and seminars on civil
disturbances in the last couple of years, and many police departments throughout the
country seem to have similar problems.
Groups which advocate the destruction of our society have been making the police their
major target.
We become natural enemies because of the fact that we are called upon when these civil
disturbances take place, and we don't move in by choice; we must move in because this is
our job. So, because we are present there, we become the natural enemy.
Since many of these organizations cross State lines, perhaps the Federal Government could
provide the legal tools to cope with these activities. Their directions must be reversed.
In congratulating the witness for his excellent presentation, Mr. Ashbrook stated:
These facts that you have cited make it clear that subversive elements are and have been
at work in Buffalo in the area of racial agitation prior to, during, and since the riot
which took place at the end of last June.
You have shown links between these elements and Peking and Communist organizations outside
of Buffalo itself. Your testimony and the exhibits you have presented have demonstrated
that Communists and other organizations are actively promoting the dissemination of
inflammatory racist literature and that groups of this type in Buffalo have the cooperation
and support of similar groups in other cities.
TESTIMONY OF HERBERT ROMERSTEIN
Herbert Romerstein, a committee investigator, provided the record with additional information
regarding Joel S. Meyers and Gerald J. Gros, both Youth Against War and Fascism leaders who
were identified by Commissioner Felicetta as having been active in YAWF demonstrations.
With the arrest of Sostre, Mr. Romerstein testified that a number of organizations involved
in racial agitation immediately came to his defense. The committee investigator referred
to newspapers published by the Workers World Party and the Trotskyist Communist Socialist
Workers Party which contained considerable amount of propaganda material in support of
Sostre.
According to the committee investigator, one of the most interesting groups to spring up in
Sostre's defense was an organization called American Coordination Committee of the Left, of
Post Office Box 5, Station C, Buffalo. The telephone number of this group was listed in the
name of Edward A. Wolkenstein, who was previously named in this hearing as a participant
in a demonstration during the Buffalo rioting.
Wolkenstein had appeared before the committee as a subpenaed witness on April 29, 1964,
in Buffalo, N.Y., in the course of hearings on Communist activity in the Buffalo area and
attempted to disrupt the hearing in much the same manner as Martin Sostre had during his
appearance in court. Mr. Romerstein stated that Wolkenstein had been identified as a member
of the Communist Party, U.S.A., by a former FBI informant who testified before the committee
that Wolkenstein was expelled from the party because of his support of the pro-Peking
faction within it. Wolkenstein invoked the fifth amendment in response to committee
questions regarding his activity in the Communist Party and concerning the circumstances of
his expulsion from the party.
TESTIMONY OF FRANK N. FELICETTA
********************************************
Mr. Smith. ...earlier issue of the Workers World, dated September
14 [1967], I quote:
Martin Sostre operated the Afro-Asian bookstore and sold a variety of literature for
liberation fighters that you could find no place else in Buffalo. His customers were the
Black youth of Buffalo. They had learned to know and to admire this man who wanted them
to question, think, and learn.
And as the rebellion raged many of them took refuge in his store where cops on the street
could not, for the moment, reach them and where they could, now in excited, eager tones as
they sensed the potential of the revolt, discuss what had happened so far and what could be
done. Even as the confused battle went on, young men bought books like Negroes With
Guns by Robert Williams and read them.
Mr. Ichord. Counsel, you are reading from an article in the Communist
Daily Worker?
Mr. Smith. It is Workers World, of the Workers World Party.
Mr. Ichord. Do you wish to have that admitted?
Mr. Smith. Yes, I request that these documents be accepted for the record.
Mr. Ichord. There being no objection, the documents will be accepted.
(Documents marked "Felicetta Exhibits Nos. 7 and 8," respectively, and retained
in committee files.)
Mr. Smith. Commissioner, was Martin Sostre the sole owner of the Afro-Asian
Book Store?
Mr. Felicetta. Yes, he was.
Mr. Smith. Was there anything else prior to the riot?
Mr. Felicetta. Yes, we did not hear about this until July 21 though,
several weeks after the riot, but because this could have a bearing on the development of
the riot, or certain things which took place during the riot, I think it should be mentioned
here.
This information was given to us by a Mr. Major Cox, who owns an apartment house at 226
Emslie Street in Buffalo.
On or about April 1, Mr. Cox said, a Mr. Don Pace, P-a-c-e, who is white, and Frederick D.
Hudson, a Negro, rented an apartment in this building. They represented themselves as
VISTA workers. During the week of June 26, when the violence broke out, Don Pace paid
his half of the rent of the apartment and then moved out to another part of the city.
Another Negro, Charles Harris, moved into the apartment with Hudson. Although Mr. Cox, the
owner, was having trouble collecting the remainder of the rent for the apartment, he did
not make an issue of it because Harris and Hudson said they were going to move out about
the middle of July.
Mr. Cox went to the apartment on or about the 16th of July, after they had left. In it he
found about 25 clean quart bottles and pop bottles. He also found spilled gasoline on the
driveway. He then went into the apartment and found various items of black power and
antiwhite literature and pictures and posters pasted on the walls.
In addition, there was a bar in one room of the apartment, with whiskey and beer. Mr. Cox
learned from the neighbors that young people from the neighborhood in the 10 to 12 age
group were in and out of the apartment at all times.
The interesting thing is that Frederick D. Hudson, one of the two men who rented the
apartment on or about April 1, was arrested during the riot at about 7:30 p.m. on June 28
for refusing to obey the reasonable request of a police officer. He claimed that he was
helping to quell the disturbance and that the executive director of the Community Action
Organization in Buffalo had urged all Negro males in VISTA to get out onto the streets and
try to calm down those who were engaging in violence and destruction.
Mr. Smith. Now, Commissioner, unless you have something further to add
on the subject of preriot agitation, we would like to move into the period of the June 27
through 30, 1967, disturbance, or the riot phase in Buffalo.
Mr. Watson. Counsel, may we interrupt you at this point?
Mr. Commissioner, did you ever establish whether or not either of these individuals actually
was in the employ of VISTA?
Mr. Felicetta. I have here an article which appeared in one of the Buffalo
newspapers, "VISTA worker claims arrest was a mistake," where he admits that he
was a VISTA worker:
A member of the Volunteers in Service to America, VISTA, arrested Wednesday night for
resisting an officer, said Thursday that he was on an errand of mercy when mistakenly picked
up by police. Frederick D. Hudson, 19, of Detroit, now living at 226 Emslie Street, said
he was trying to inform a young Negro of his legal rights when police handcuffed him and
placed him in a police van.
He admits that he was a member of VISTA.
Mr. Ichord. Mr. Commissioner, that is just a newspaper story, and as we
all know newspaper articles aren't always true. Did the police check that out, to your
knowledge?
Mr. Felicetta. To my knowledge, it hasn't been. It may have been.
Mr. Ichord. I will ask the staff. This should be a matter that the staff
should have checked out, whether these two individuals were VISTA employees.
Does the staff have any information on that?
Mr. Smith. Yes, sir, we will check it out, sir.
Mr. Ichord. Have you checked it?
Mr. Smith. No, sir, we haven't yet.
Mr. Ichord. Well, we would like you to check into these two individuals,
Mr. Don Pace and Mr. Frederick D. Hudson, and see if they were – establish whether or
not they were employed by VISTA and also to whether they are now employed by VISTA.
(A letter of inquiry by Mr. Willis, the chairman of the committee, elicited the following
information from Padraic Kennedy, acting director, VISTA:
Frederick Hudson had served as a VISTA Volunteer from Feb. 21, 1967, to Dec. 28, 1967 at
which time he left VISTA to return to his home.
Donald Pace had also entered into service with VISTA on Feb. 21, 1967, and as of July 25,
1968, the date of Mr. Kennedy's letter, was still serving with VISTA, being assigned to
the Community Action Organization of Erie County. 825 Genesee Building, Buffalo, N.Y.
Mr. Kennedy's letter also pointed out that VISTA Volunteers do not receive a salary, but
are provided with an allowance for subsistence and a stipend of $50 per month and are
generally not deemed employees except for certain technical or administrative purposes.)
Proceed, Mr. Counsel.
Mr. Smith. Thank you.
Are they members of SNCC, that you just mentioned, Frederick Hudson?
Mr. Felicetta. Yes, I think I have some proof here. I have something
that they are members of SNCC. I will probably run into that as we go along.
Mr. Smith. All right.
Commissioner, did you posess knowledge of agitation of the type that we have been
discussing during the period of the riots, indicating an attempt to keep it going?
Mr. Felicetta. Yes, on June 29 an organization called Buffalo Youth
Against War and Fascism distributed a flyer in the riot area which is highly inflammatory
in nature. It alleged that the black youth of the city, who it said were in "the
vanguard of the struggle," faced a "completely hopeless situation. The future
holds no alternative for them but a life of poverty or being drafted to fight in a war
against their Asian brothers in Vietnam!"
I understand that this is standard Communist practice today, joining the issues of civil
rights and the war in Vietnam.
The flyer said that the issuing organization, Youth Against War and Fascism, protested
the city officials' quick use of police repression against the black people of Buffalo
and that it condemned the United States Government, the New York State government, and
city government's continual repression of the aspirations of the black people.
It ended with the notation that the YAWF was calling for a demonstration of solidarity
with the oppressed black people of Buffalo, which would be held in Lafayette Square on the
same day, June 29, from 6:30 to 7:30.
I have a copy of that here.
Mr. Smith. Mr. Chairman, I request that this flyer be accepted for the
record.
Mr. Ichord. Where was this flyer gathered, Mr. Commissioner?
Mr. Felicetta. It was picked up by our subversive police officers,
the subversive squad of our department.
Mr. Ichord. No attempt was made to establish where it was printed?
Mr. Felicetta. I think they were passed out in goodly numbers by people
that are identified with this movement.
Mr. Ichord. There being no objection, it will be admitted.
(Document marked "Felicetta Exhibit No. 9" appears on page 2006.)
FELICETTA EXHIBIT NO. 9
Buffalo Youth Against War and Fascism
P. O. Box 372
Buffalo, New York 14205
June 29, 1967
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
The Black community of Buffalo is rebelling against the same inhuman conditions that have
already caused rebellions in most major cities in the United States. Black people in
America have long suffered under slavery, racial discrimination, KKK butchery,
"southern justice" in racist courts, and inhuman living conditions – both
up North and down South!
The Black masses – especially the youth – in the city of Buffalo have long
faced conditions such as joblessness, ghetto housing, police repression, high rents, lack
of recreational facilities, inferior education, teachers and school buildings. The Black
youth in particular – who are in the vanguard of the struggle – face a completely
hopeless situation. The future holds no alternative for them but a life of poverty or
being drafted to fight in a war against their Asian brothers in Vietnam!
- YOUTH AGAINST WAR AND FASCISM PROTESTS the policy of Buffalo city officials who were
so quick to use police repression against the Black people, but who do nothing at all to
alleviate the oppressive, inhuman conditions that have long existed in the Black community!
- WE CONDEMN the federal, state and local governments for their continual repression of
the Black people's aspirations – while providing no concrete changes!
- WE PROTEST the fact that the average Afro-American family, according to Labor Department
statistics, earns $3,800 a year as compared to $6,330 for whites.
- WE PROTEST the fact that 10 - 15% of the adult Black males, and 20 - 30% of the Black
youth are unemployed in this country; that 1 out of every 5 Black workers earns less than
$60 a week; that 37% of the Afro-American families live on less than $3,000 a year!
- WE CONDEMN the shocking fact that in the Mississippi Delta, for example, thousands of
Black children are today victims of mass starvation and diseases – this in this
so-called "land of plenty"!
It is an accumulation of these grievances – and not "hoodlumism" as the
press and city officials have been quick to shout – that makes a rebellion.
Let it be understood that the rebellion which began a few days ago in the Black community
has been long coming – it is a cry of the oppressed for justice so long denied!
It is not the Black people who are the looters; their very lives have been looted for
centuries by a white, racist system in the United States!
YAWF calls for a demonstration in
solidarity with the oppressed Black people
of Buffalo : Lafayette Square, Thursday, June
29, 6:30 - 7:30 P. M.
Mr. Smith. Mr. Chairman, I would like to state for the record that FBI
Director, J. Edgar Hoover, testifying before a House Appropriations Subcommittee on
February 16, 1967, identified Youth Against War and Fascism as the youth group of the
Workers World Party, a Communist splinter group. In addition, testifying before the same
committee on February 23 of 1968, he further identified the parent organization, the Workers
World Party, in the following words:
The Socialist Workers Party was the first major group to oppose the Communist Party –
U.S.A. for the right to lead an American Communist revolution. It is the largest
Trotskyist organization in the United States, and has been designated pursuant to Executive
Order 10450 and is a basic revolutionary group.
...
Factionalism in the Socialist Workers Party has been responsible for the formation of
other subversive groups which follow the teachings of Trotsky but differ over the means by
which the goal of worldwide communism is to be attained. Among the offshoots of the
Socialist Workers Party are the Johnson-Forest Group, the Workers World Party...
Further, Mr. Chairman, I would also like to point out that additional information on the
Workers World Party and Youth Against War and Fascism will be found in Committee Exhibit
No. 3, pages 902 through 907 of part 1 of these hearings.
Commissioner, in addition to distributing this flyer that you referenced here, did the
Buffalo unit of Youth Against War and Fascism engage in any other activities during the
period of the riot?
Mr. Felicetta. Yes. On June 29 they demonstrated as the flyer I have
quoted indicated they would, and they also demonstrated on July 1, the day after order
was restored. This demonstration was held outside the jail in which some of the rioters
were being detained following their arrest.
Mr. Smith. Commissioner, I hand you a reproduction of an article
published in the July 7, 1967, issue of Workers World, official newspaper of the
Workers World Party, and ask you if you are familiar with this article and if it accurately
describes the demonstrations you have just mentioned?
Mr. Felicetta. Yes, sir; it does.
Mr. Smith. What was the theme of these demonstrations?
Mr. Felicetta. Well, the theme was that the disturbances in Buffalo were
not a riot, but a rebellion, and the police had no right to interfere with the rebellion.
The demonstrators demanded that the rioters be freed.
Mr. Smith. Mr. Chairman, I request that this item be accepted for the
record.
Mr. Ichord. There being no objection, it will be admitted.
(Document marked "Felicetta Exhibit No. 10" and retained in committee files.)
Mr. Smith. Commissioner, has the Buffalo Police Department identified
some of the persons taking part in these demonstrations?
Mr. Felicetta. Yes. Yes, we have. Among them were Karl, K-a-r-l,
Meller, M-e-l-l-e-r, Gerald Gross, G-r-o-s-s, Jeanette and Edward Merrill, M-e-r-r-i-l-l,
George Provost, P-r-o-v-o-s-t, Joel S. Meyers, Anna Sterling, S-t-e-r-l-i-n-g, James
Johnson, and Rita Johnson.
All of these people were photographed carrying signs indicating they were affiliated with
Youth Against War and Fascism.
Mr. Ichord. Were they Buffalo residents?
Mr. Felicetta. Yes, sir. Most of them are. I believe all of them are.
Either Buffalo or suburbs.
Now I have some pictures here of these names that I have just mentioned. Additionally at
the demonstrations were seen Edward Wolkenstein, W-o-l-k-e-n-s-t-e-i-n, Rachel Wolkenstein,
Naomi Wolkenstein, and William Yates.
Now, these four that I just mentioned came to the demonstration on Thursday, the 29th, in
Wolkenstein's car, in Edward Wolkenstein's car.
Additionally, a man by the name of Pete Hartmen passed out leaflets at the square; Gerald
Coles, C-o-l-e-s; also a woman who was small in height and build; two Negros and one
Puerto Rican were there.
At 6:30 p.m. that night there were 10 people there. At 6:45 there were 17 demonstrators,
and at 7:30 there were 25.
Just as the picketing broke up, seven or eight Road Vultures from Lackawanna, New York,
which is a suburb of Buffalo, appeared, and it looked as if there might be some trouble,
but a traffic patrolman broke it up and ordered them to move along.
Additional information was submitted to me by our subversive squad that Gerald Coles and
his lady friend were driven to the demonstration by another couple in a car with Ohio
license CC4516, listed to a Daniel Davis, 2432 Kenilworth Road, Cleveland, Ohio, on a '60
Ford station wagon.
The word got around to the downtown area the demonstration would be held at Lafayette
Square, June 29, 1967. Due to the disturbance on the East Side at this time, some of the
merchants downtown closed their stores early. They created one of the biggest traffic jams
that I have ever seen in the city of Buffalo because of the demonstration that was scheduled
for Lafayette Square, which was attended by only about 25 people.
Mr. Smith. Mr. Chairman, I request that these documents and pictures be
accepted for the record.
Mr. Ichord. There being no objection, they will be admitted.
(Documents and photographs marked "Felicetta Exhibits Nos. 11-A and B,"
respectively. Exhibit 11-A retained in committee files; Exhibit 11-B appears on pages
2009-2011.)
FELICETTA EXHIBIT NO. 11-B
Pictures of "demonstration in solidarity with the oppressed Black people of
Buffalo," June 29, 1967, sponsored by Youth Against War and Fascism.
1. James Johnson 2. Rita
Johnson 3. Anna Sterling
4. Joel Meyers
5. Edward Merrill
1. Jeanette Merrill 2. Joel
Meyers 3. Anna Sterling
4. Edward Merrill
1. Jeanette Merrill 2. Joel
Meyers 3. Edward Merrill
4. Karl Meller
Mr. Smith. Mr. Chairman, the committee's files contain the following
information about the persons named by Commissioner Felicetta as participants in the
demonstrations staged by Youth Against War and Fascism during the Buffalo disturbance:
Gerald Gross, as chairman of the Martin Sostre Defense Committee, and the meaning of that
designation will be made clear in a few minutes, wrote a letter to the editor of the
magazine Liberator, which was published in the November 1967 issue.
Liberator was identified in the initial phases of these hearings as a magazine
engaged in racial agitation, edited by Daniel H. Watts, and published by the Afro-American
Research Institute, Inc., in New York City.
Liberator describes itself as the "intellectual voice for black nationalism
and socialism" and the "voice of the Afro-American protest movement in the
United States and the liberation movement of Africa."
Jeanette and Edward Merrill made arrangements for the appearance of Mark Lane in Buffalo
when he went to that city in the early part of 1964 to speak on the Oswald case.
George Provost was president of the Buffalo Progressive Citizens of America in 1947 and
1948. The Progressive Citizens of America was the immediate forerunner of the Communist
organized Progressive Party.
March 9, 1948, it was reported in an issue of the Daily Worker, Communist Party
newspaper, that he was cochairman of a delegation of Communist Party and trade union
leaders who took a memorandum to the Buffalo district representative of the Immigration
and Naturalization Service, protesting the detention of Charles Doyle, D-o-y-l-e, who had
been arrested for deportation as a Communist and was then being held without bail on Ellis
Island in New York City.
In August 1964 he wrote a letter to a Member of the Senate opposing U.S. policy in South
Vietnam. This letter was placed in the Congressional Record of August 13, 1964,
at the request of this Member of the Senate.
Joel Meyers. In 1965 Meyers was one of a number of young men of draft age who signed a
statement opposing the U.S. role in Vietnam and saying they would refuse to fight if
drafted. Various issues of the Workers World in 1967 identify Meyers as a leader
of youth Against War and Fascism and an active participant in Communist-organized antidraft
agitation.
A December 16, 1967, article reveals that he was then under indictment for violating the
selective service law by disruption at an induction center.
Rita Johnson took part in a demonstration protesting the Cuban blockade, which was held
in Buffalo on the evening of October 25, 1962.
Commissioner, do you have any information about the activities during the riot of persons
associated with the organization BUILD that was referred to previously?
Mr. Felicetta. Yes, sir, I do. I have here a copy of a report submitted
to me by Detective James Hunter, who is a Negro, and he said that the first Friday of July
of 1967 he and patrolman Murchison were in the Cold Spring area in front of the Woodlawn
Tavern and amid Attorney Green and about 15 to 25 people standing there. Detective Hunter
spoke to Mr. Green, and Mr. Green accused him of being the most disliked cop in Buffalo
and said that he heard Hunter was bragging about how many "coons" he had shot
during the disturbance:
My partner told Green he was a liar, because the night before, we were not at any cleaners.
We had been on Clinton and Jefferson. As we were patrolling the area, we were trying to
get people to move off the streets, and told someone to go in the tavern, and Mr. Green,
in a loud voice, told them that they did not have to move off the streets, and things of
this nature, which was in direct violation of an officer of a court.
An attorney should not instruct people to disobey the request of a police officer,
especially under these circumstances.
On the next night, Saturday, we were again on Jefferson Street, under direct orders from
the chief, that if there was any interference from any attorney, as there was previously,
we were to lock them up. We reported the man as an attorney and officer of the court,
but instead of trying to alleviate the conditions, Mr. Green was creating more of a bad
situation, encouraging the people to disregard our requests.
He was completely out of line, saying all these things in a very loud voice, and telling
them things he had heard which were at best hearsay, and completely unfounded.
Ray Smith, another lawyer, was on the street Friday night, and was telling people he
heard the same things about me (while I was in front of the cleaners, I bragged about
shooting and so on.)
He was also very militant, and telling the people standing all around not to obey our
requests. They didn't have to do what we asked. Both these lawyers created more trouble
and compounded violations.
And this is signed by Detective James Hunter.
Mr. Ray Ellis Green is listed as an attorney, with offices located in the Dun Building,
and I know he has been active, working with BUILD.
There is no listing for Ray Smith in the court directory of attorneys for 1968.
Mr. Smith. What was the role of Martin Sostre during the disturbances?
Mr. Felicetta. The police department has an affidavit from a young Negro
that Sostre instructed in the making of Molotov cocktails and advised them to use –
how to use these Molotov cocktails. And I have an affidavit here, an interview by an officer
of our department, with a youngster of 15 years of age.
The question by the police officer:
Can you remember when you first talked to Martin Sostre about any of the recent disorders?
[Answer:] It was on a Wednesday, Martin said, are you going to let the white people treat
you like this. He said why? He said we got as much right as they do – It's our
freedom. Let's get out there and start these fires. He said don't mess with none of the
soul brothers and sisters. So everybody went out rioting. He said we got to make
molotov cocktails and get these cars on fire and get a couple of these cops with it. Then
we would smoke up there.
[Question:] What would you smoke, cigarettes?
[Answer:] No, marihuana. They say they are smoking smoke, that's what they say when they
are smoking marihuana.
[Question:] How about the molotov cocktails. How, when and where do they make them up?
[Answer:] With gasoline and grease.
[Question:] How about the wick. What do they use for a wick?
[Answer:] They use string. They told Bernard spread it all over, then put a match to it
and throw it so it spreads all over. Bernard lives on Lemon Street. I don't know the
exact address but I could bring you there.
[Question:] Where were these fellows when Martin was telling them these things?
[Answer:] They were at the Woodlawn Tavern, before it was burned. That's who burned it.
[Question:] Who burned it?
[Answer:] Bernard first threw the bomb. They call it a molotov cocktail. They opened
the door and threw it in the Woodlawn Tavern and some of them threw it at the windows.
Martin talks to the younger kids to do this because they have more heart and will do what
he says. He talked to four boys at his place, the record shop, about the fires at the
Woodlawn Tavern.
[Question:] Where did the cocktails come from?
[Answer:] Well, this is how it all happened. Martin told me and Bernard he had molotov
cocktails. So then the cops came to the basement of the Woodlawn Tavern before it burned
and took some hot clothes, a record player and molotov cocktails. Martin was mad. He
said he just made them. So he made some more the next day. He wanted me to help him.
Bernard was helping him, but he called me sissy. He said, sissy get up, you ain't no
brother. He said, you want to be like the white people. He said a scared man can't do
nothing. I said I'll tell you what – a scared man could keep from going to jail,
so I walked on out. The next thing I knew they stepped out with the molotov cocktails.
Bernard threw the first one, Poppa opened the door and threw the second one – they
were throwing like mad. They threw about 3 of them in there.
[Question:] Then what happened? Who else was in Martin's store?
[Answer:] Orville Gonzales.
[Question:] Do you know who burned the place across the street, the Florida Food Market?
[Answer:] Bernard burned that too. He came back and told me so.
[Question:] Where and when did he tell you this?
[Answer:] That night at Lemon and High Sts. He said that he burned it down that night.
[Question:] Now, how about the Pine Grill?
[Answer:] I don't know about that. Martin told me that he tried to, but they couldn't succeed.
[Question:] What other places did they burn or loot?
[Answer:] The bicycle shop and the gun shop on William Street.
[Question:] Who got these?
[Answer:] George Eli.
[Question:] Where does he live?
[Answer:] He is in jail now.
[Question:] Who else was there?
[Answer:] A boy named "Bo" who lives at 449 Monroe Street.
[Question:] How do you know that these two were responsible for this looting?
[Answer:] Because I was there.
********************************************
********************************************
Mr. Smith. Commissioner, what defense apparatuses – did you
have some documents?
Mr. Felicetta. I have some of the copies of defense committee material.
The Youth Against War and Fascism committee then formed a Martin Sostre Defense Committee,
with the address as Post Office Box 382, Ellicott Station, Buffalo, New York 14205.
I have several copies of this paper. It is real long, and I will read any part of it, or
I will –
Mr. Smith. Just use your own judgment in summarizing whatever you care
to summarize.
Mr. Felicetta. Well, we have a picture here in connection with this,
which shows a group on February 17, 1968. They were demonstrating in front of the Erie
County jail, where Sostre was being held, and amongst them are some of those whose names
I have just mentioned.
I have here also a slinger that was distributed, focusing attention to the fact that there
is going to be a demonstration on Saturday, February 17, 1968, at 12 noon to 2 p.m.:
Demonstration begins at Erie County Jail (10 Delaware Avenue) at 12 noon, followed by a
march to the Federal Court Building (Niagara Square), and will culminate with a street
meeting at Lafayette Square.
Sponsors: students for a democratic society, youth against war and fascism, student
mobilization, resistance
I would like to read some of this, with your permission.
It is headed in bold print: "RESIST THE GOV'T. REPRESSIONS!! support: dr. spock,
rap brown, ferber, sostre!"
The Ferber mentioned here is Michael Ferber, who was a Buffalonian who was recently
convicted in Boston.
Mr. Smith. On what charge?
Mr. Felicetta. He was convicted for burning draft cards, or conspiracy
to burn draft cards.
Mr. Smith. All right.
Mr. Felicetta. And it goes on:
As the U.S. Government expands its warfare against the peasant guerrillas of Indo-China,
spreading its murderous bombings to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, and China, the
national liberation movements of the Asian peoples have hit back hard, winning victory
after victory. Simultaneous with its war escalation, the U.S. war-makers have attempted
to intimidate the anti-war movement by escalating its repressions against it. The
movement must now take the offensive and fight back against all state originated
repressions. Like the Asian people are doing, we must hit back hard and win victory for
our movement.
They have got, "Johnson – War Criminal, Spock – Humanitarian":
Recently, the U.S. Government indicted Dr. Benjamin Spock, pediatrician and world-famous
author, Michael Ferber (of Buffalo), graduate student at Harvard University and others
of "conspiring to counsel against the draft." This attempt to deprive leaders
of the anti-war movement of their constitutional rights of protest is actually a move to
cover the war crimes of the U.S. Government. The Johnson Administration stands condemned
before world opinion for its war crimes against the Vietnamese people; ill-treatment or
deportation of civilian populations, murder or ill treatment of prisoners of war, wanton
destruction of cities, towns, and villages – in violation of the Nuremberg Tribunal,
Johnson criminally has Vietnamese babies deformed by napalm, while Spock, baby-doctor hero
of thousands of American mothers, seeks to end this mass murder.
A heading now, "Black Liberation Fighters Attacked":
The Afro-American people have long demanded social justice from the white power structure
of the U.S. Their appeals have been met with terror, lynch-mobs, police savagery,
frame-ups, and sadistic killings. Now their most outspoken leaders have either been
killed (Malcolm X, Medgar Evers) or exiled (Paul Robeson, Robert F. Williams) or framed
(LeRoi Jones, Rap Brown, Max Stanford, etc.) In Buffalo, Martin Sostre – owner of
the Afro-Asian Bookstore and outspoken anti-war critic and Black liberation fighter –
was brutally beaten, framed and his store smashed in the summer of 1967. He is still being
held a prisoner in Erie County Jail. The anti-war movement must support these brave
liberation fighters for Black self-determination without reservation!
Another heading, "Escalate Anti-War Agitation, Militant Resistance":
It is clear that the best way to fight back against repression is for the movement to
escalate its activity. We must not only show explicit support to victims of repression,
but must continue the mass struggle against the war in the streets. We must continue and
increase our efforts to galvinize [sic] and mobilize the anti-war sentiments of the people
by street demonstrations, anti-war street meetings, and acts of military resistance at
induction centers.
Mr. Smith. If I may interrupt one moment, Commissioner, did I hear
you correctly, that they were charging that Sostre had been brutally beaten?
Mr. Felicetta. Yes, sir.
Mr. Smith. Apparently by the police? Is that the implication?
Mr. Felicetta. Yes, sir.
Mr. Smith. Was that true?
Mr. Felicetta. The opposite is true. He assaulted four police officers
that went in to make the arrest with a legal search warrant.
And the officers knew ahead of time that they were going to be faced with this situation,
because this man is known as a very, very vicious individual.
Mr. Smith. And they used only the necessary restraint to prevent the
assault?
Mr. Felicetta. That is correct, sir.
The defense committee, on April 15, 1968, sent out another slinger, which says:
For over eight long months, Martin Sostre – courageous Black liberation fighter
– was held in Erie County Jail, a victim of Buffalo's racist, white power structure
and scapegoat for the '67 Black uprising in Buffalo.
On March 5, 1968, Martin Sostre was forced to trial without the benefit of his four
witnesses. After 3 days of kangaroo justice, his sham frame-up trial ended and he was
convicted. On March 18, he was sentenced to a maximum of 41 years and 30 days at
Attica State Prison (30 miles from Buffalo). Within one half hour after his sentencing,
he was rushed to Attica Prison, but at 7:30 A.M. the following morning, he was transferred
to Green Haven State Prison at Stormville, New York (about 400 miles from Buffalo)! This
is an obvious attempt to isolate him from his community, his friends and his supporters!
Martin Sostre did not spend his last days in Erie County Jail resigned to the legal
lynching prepared by the racist hangmen! Instead he was busy preparing his application
for a Certificate of Reasonable Doubt (for appeal bond) which, by the way, the petty
officials have to this day – almost one month later – prevented him from
mailing (their excuse being that money and stamps belonging to Martin have not been sent
to Green Haven Prison from Attica Prison where Martin had stayed overnight)!
Among Martin's last wishes before he was convicted and sentenced was that in addition to
continuing the struggle against racism and militarism, that an Afro-Asian
Bookstore-in-Exile be established to carry on the struggle for which he had fought
so courageously. An Afro-Asian Bookstore-in-Exile – with periodic bookfairs at
U.B. and other places – he felt would serve not only to keep the struggle against
frame-ups and kangarooism alive, since once he got sentenced and sent to prison, there
would be a tendency for people to forget the case due to lack of publicity in the local
press. In addition, it would serve as an outlet for revolutionary, Black liberation
literature and anti-fascist literature condemning racism and militarism. Too, he felt
it would serve as a fund-raising vehicle to finance the cost of his appeal and the
functioning and activities of his Defense Committee.
Official notice of appeal has been filed by Martin's appeal attorney, Mr. Clarence
M. Maloney, a prominent Black attorney. The Martin Sostre Defense Committee has retained
Mr. Maloney, and efforts are now under way to prepare the necessary legal documents for
appeal.
Your help is urgently needed. Funds for costly appeal preparation, legal fees,
necessary trips back and forth from Buffalo to Green Haven Prison by Mr. Sostre's attorney
for necessary consultation in preparing the appeal brief, for subscriptions to local and
national newspapers for Martin so that he will not be isolated from world events which
are moving at such a rapid pace, for food packages to Martin (he is allowed only one
15-lb. package each month), for the trial costs for Martin Sostre's co-defendent, Mrs.
Geraldine Robinson, whose trial is yet to come (MSDC has retained Mr. Maloney to represent
Mrs. Robinson also), etc., etc., etc.
HELP THE DEFENSE COMMITTEE IN ITS STRUGGLE TO FREE MARTIN SOSTRE! THE STRUGGLE IS NOT
YET OVER; IT HAS REALLY JUST BEGUN, AND WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MARTIN SOSTRE IS FREE!
DON'T LET MARTIN SOSTRE LANGUISH AND ROT IN RACIST AMERICA'S JAILS! DON'T LET THE 400
MILES BETWEEN HIM AND US BE AN EXCUSE FOR INACTIVITY AND APATHY!
MARTIN SOSTRE'S CONVICTION AND VICIOUS SENTENCE MUST BE PROTESTED! 41 YEARS AND 30 DAYS
IS "LIFE" NO MATTER HOW YOU PUT IT!! HELP BY REDEDICATING YOURSELF TO GIVE
REVOLUTIONARY AID AND ASSISTANCE TO ALL BLACK LIBERATION LEADERS – LIKE MARTIN SOSTRE
– WHO ARE FRAMED IN THEIR REBELLION AGAINST OPPRESSION!
THE CASE OF MARTIN SOSTRE IS ONE OF A CHAIN OF FRAME-UPS AGAINST MILITANT AND COURAGEOUS
BLACK LEADERS THROUGHOUT THIS COUNTRY. EXTEND YOUR HAND IN SOLIDARITY AND SUPPORT ACROSS
THE MANY MILES! HELP FREE MARTIN SOSTRE BY SUPPORTING THE ACTIVITIES SPONSORED BY HIS
DEFENSE COMMITTEE. GIVE GENEROUSLY TO THE MARTIN SOSTRE DEFENSE FUND! REMEMBER: ANY AMOUNT
THAT YOU GIVE IS SMALL IN COMPARISON TO THE PRICE THAT MARTIN HAS ALREADY PAID!
DID YOU KNOW?
– that Martin Sostre while an inmate at Attica Prison some years ago was mainly
responsible for all the legal work that resulted in the Muslims' right to worship inside
the prison walls.
– that during Martin's recent sham trial, he was ordered physically gagged with a
towel by Judge Frederick M. Marshall whom Martin had referred to as a "biased
judge." In a recent meeting before the Western New York Section, Society of
Colonial Wars and two other ultra-conservative organizations, Marshall stated that he was
"sick and tired of the long hairs, beatniks, the ultra-liberals, the unwashed, the
exhibitionists." He continued, "And I despise their marching, their singing,
their bleating, rabble-rousing, placard-carrying and card burning"... It seems very
clear to us that these utterances reek of the very bias, hate and contempt for anything
progressive that Martin saw so clearly in Marshall.
I would like to say that –
Mr. Smith. Mr. Chairman, I request that these documents be accepted
for the record.
Mr. Ashbrook. Without objection, they will be received in the record.
(Documents and photograph marked "Felicetta Exhibits Nos. 17-A and B,"
respectively. Portions of Exhibit 17-A and Exhibit 17-B appear on pages 2028-2031.)
FELICETTA EXHIBIT NO. 17-A
RESIST THE GOV'T. REPRESSIONS!!
support: dr. spock, rap brown, ferber, sostre!
Fight Back Against Repression
As the U.S. Government expands its warfare against the peasant guerrillas of Indo-China,
spreading its murderous bombings to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, and China, the
national liberation movements of the Asian peoples have hit back hard, winning victory
after victory. Simultaneous with its war escalation, the U.S. war-makers have attempted
to intimidate the anti-war movement by escalating its repressions against it. The movement
must now take the offensive and fight back against all state originated repressions.
Like the Asian people are doing, we must hit back hard and win victory for our movement.
Johnson – War Criminal, Spock – Humanitarian
Recently, the U.S. Government indicted Dr. Benjamin Spock, pediatrician and world-famous
author, Michael Ferber (of Buffalo), graduate student at Harvard University and others of
"conspiring to counsel against the draft." This attempt to deprive leaders of
the anti-war movement of their constitutional rights of protest is actually a move to cover
the war crimes of the U.S. Government. The Johnson Administration stands condemned before
world opinion for its war crimes against the Vietnamese people; ill-treatment or
deportation of civilian populations, murder or ill treatment of prisoners of war, wanton
destruction of cities, towns, and villages – in violation of the Nuremberg Tribunal.
Johnson criminally has Vietnamese babies deformed by napalm, while Spock, baby-doctor hero
of thousands of American mothers, seeks to end this mass murder.
Black Liberation Fighters Attacked
The Afro-American people have long demanded social justice from the white power structure
of the U.S. Their appeals have been met with terror, lynch-mobs, police savagery, frame-ups,
and sadistic killings. Now their most outspoken leaders have either been killed (Malcolm X,
Medgar Evers) or exiled (Paul Robeson, Robert F. Williams) or framed (LeRoi Jones, Rap
Brown, Max Stanford, etc.) In Buffalo, Martin Sostre – owner of the Afro-Asian Bookstore
and outspoken anti-war critic and Black liberation fighter – was brutally beaten, framed
and his store smashed in the summer of 1967. He is still being held a prisoner in Erie
County Jail. The anti-war movement must support these brave liberation fighters for
Black self-determination without reservation!
Escalate Anti-War Agitation, Militant Resistance
It is clear that the best way to fight back against repression is for the movement to
escalate its activity. We must not only show explicit support to victims of repression,
but must continue the mass struggle against the war in the streets. We must continue
and increase our efforts to galvinize [sic] and mobilize the anti-war sentiments of
the people by street demonstrations, anti-war street meetings, and acts of militant
resistance at induction centers.
protest INDICTMENTS OF SPOCK, RAP
BROWN, FERBER, SOSTRE AND OTHERS!
demand IMMEDIATE AND UNCONDITIONAL WITHDRAWAL
OF ALL U.S. TROOPS FROM VIETNAM
demonstrate: saturday, february 17, 12 noon - 2 p.m.
Demonstration begins at Erie County Jail (10 Delaware Avenue) at 12 noon, followed by a
march to the Federal Court Building (Niagara Square), and will culminate with a street
meeting at Lafayette Square.
sponsors: students for a democratic society, youth against war and fascism, student
mobilization, resistance.
DEFENSE COMMITTEE
p.o. box 382 ellicott station
buffalo, new york 14205
April 15, 1968
For over eight long months, Martin Sostre – courageous Black liberation fighter
– was held in Erie County Jail, a victim of Buffalo's racist, white power structure
and scapegoat for the '67 Black uprising in Buffalo.
On March 5, 1968, Martin Sostre was forced to trial without the benefit of his four
witnesses. After 3 days of kangaroo justice, his sham frame-up trial ended and he was
convicted. On March 18, he was sentenced to a maximum of 41 years and 30 days
at Attica State Prison (30 miles from Buffalo). Within one half hour after his sentencing,
he was rushed to Attica Prison, but at 7:30 A. M. the following morning, he was transferred
to Green Haven State Prison at Stormville, New York (about 400 miles from Buffalo)! This
is an obvious attempt to isolate him from his community, his friends and his supporters!
Martin Sostre did not spend his last days in Erie County Jail resigned to the legal
lynching prepared by the racist hangmen! Instead he was busy preparing his application
for a Certificate of Reasonable Doubt (for appeal bond) which, by the way, the petty
officials have to this day – almost one month later – prevented him from
mailing (their excuse being that money and stamps belonging to Martin had not been sent
to Green Haven Prison from Attica Prison where Martin had stayed overnight)!
Among Martin's last wishes before he was convicted and sentenced was that in addition
to continuing the struggle against racism and militarism, that an Afro-Asian
Bookstore-in-Exile be established to carry on the struggle for which he had fought
so courageously. An Afro-Asian Bookstore-in-Exile – with periodic bookfairs at U. B.
and other places – he felt would serve not only to keep the struggle against frame-ups
and kangarooism alive, since once he got sentenced and sent to prison, there would be a
tendency for people to forget the case due to lack of publicity in the local press. In
addition, it would serve as an outlet for revolutionary, Black liberation literature
and anti-fascist literature condemning racism and militarism. Too, he felt it would
serve as a fund-raising vehicle to finance the cost of his appeal and the functioning
and activities of his Defense Committee.
Official notice of appeal has been filed by Martin's appeal attorney, Mr. Clarence
M. Maloney, a prominent Black attorney. The Martin Sostre Defense Committee has retained
Mr. Maloney, and efforts are now under way to prepare the necessary legal documents for
appeal.
********************************************
Mr. Felicetta. I would like to make one comment regarding this most
difficult trial that Judge Marshall went through.
He leaned backwards to make certain that the man's constitutional rights were protected
in every instance.
And this man was there for only one reason: to disrupt this system. And because of this
Judge Marshall became ill. It was a very, very, most difficult case to try.
Mr. Smith. Mr. Chairman, at this time, I request the committee stand
in recess until after lunch, when we will continue with testimony.
Mr. Ashbrook. The commissioner will be back at that time? We have
some questions.
Mr. Smith. Yes, sir. He will resume his testimony at that time.
Mr. Ashbrook. The committee will stand in recess until 2 p.m.
(Whereupon, at 12:25 p.m., Thursday, June 20, 1968, the subcommittee recessed, to
reconvene at 2 p.m. the same day.)
********************************************
Mr. Felicetta. ...During the disturbances in 1967, both of these people
were working for VISTA, and then, also during the disturbances, as I testified, Frederick
Hudson was arrested and later discharged.
Additionally, I have a report here from Floyd J. Edwards, who at the time that this report
was written, which is August 1, 1967, was an assistant chief of detectives. Since that time
he has been promoted, by virtue of his standing on his civil service list, to the rank of
captain.
I will read his report:
On 7-18-67, I spoke to a group of young Negroes at the JFK Community Center on Clinton St.
The main speaker at this meeting was a young Negro about 25 yrs. named John Wilson, the
fund raising chairman (National) for SNCC. He is from Chicago, Illinois. His whole approach
was one of hate and to appeal to the worst in the young audience.
He impressed upon the kids that the black men in America don't want integration, we want
our own, now... He insulted all white people in the audience and called Dean Rusk a
"Hunkey Fool"
Mr. Ashbrook. A What?
Mr. Felicetta. Hunkey fool.
– Robert McNamara, a hunkey warmonger. He appealed to the Negro boys to refuse to
serve in the armed services. He told all, that the Negro doesn't need whitey conservatives,
or liberals, ours is a black man's problem and the black man should solve it alone, by
taking what we want.
I also have here a copy of The Spectrum, dated February 20, 1968, which is the
newspaper at the State University of New York at Buffalo, which contains the information
that was in a leaflet that I presented this morning regarding the protest when Dr. Spock
and Michael Ferber were indicted, and also it makes mention of:
"In Buffalo, Martin Sostre... was brutally beaten, framed and his store smashed...
The anti-war movement must support these brave liberation fighters for Black
self-determination without reservation."
Mr. Smith. Mr. Chairman, I request that these documents be accepted
for the record.
Mr. Ashbrook. They will be received for the record.
(Documents marked "Felicetta Exhibits Nos. 18 and 19," respectively, and
retained in committee files.)
Mr. Ashbrook. Proceed.
Mr. Smith. Mr. Chairman, at this point I would like to read into the
record the following information on John Wilson, based on material in the committee's files:
John A. Wilson was born on September 29, 1943, in Baltimore, Maryland. He has been active
in militant Negro organizations since he was a student at Maryland State College, Prince
Anne, Maryland, and served as chairman of the Student Appeal for Equality at that college
in 1964.
In 1964, John Wilson was one of six individuals who met in Chester, Pennsylvania, and
formed the militant Negro organization called ACT. (This organization, ACT, has been
described in part 1, pages 917, 918, of this committee's hearings on this subject.)
Wilson has been an active member of SNCC for the past several years and has served that
organization as its New York field organizer. He has also been cited as a national
spokesman for SNCC.
John Wilson was one of a group of Americans who visited with representatives of the
National Liberation Front and North Vietnam in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, last summer.
When he returned, Wilson served as cochairman of the National Mobilization Committee To
End the War in Vietnam, which organized the march on the Pentagon on October 21-22, 1967.
In late January 1968, the National Black Anti-War Anti-Draft Union was formed. John
Wilson was elected its national chairman.
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