Remembering Carol Jenkins -- 45 Years Later..

     This year has been marked with milestone anniversaries including the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington and the 50th Commemoration of the church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama.
     So many years have passed, some change has come, yet no one denies there is still much to do.
Unfortunately, change doesn't come with a simple pronouncement, especially when it comes to deep seated issues of the heart.   During the Birmingham ceremony our nation's first African American Attorney General summarized it by saying "In reality hate never leaves us..."  but is a force that must be "confronted and defeated."  
     Five years after the four girls died in the church bombing on September 15, 1963, it was clear, hatred was not gone.  On September 16, 1968 in Martinsville, Indiana, another act of hatred, this time directed at a 21-year old black encyclopedia saleswoman named Carol Jenkins.  An innocent girl, barely into adulthood, brutally stabbed on a sidewalk simply because of the color of her skin.
     For three decades the pursuit of justice went nowhere, until a television news report caught the attention of a woman who had heard an eerily similar story, and put two and two together.   She realized her best friend had witnessed Carol's murder.   The friend was just 7-years old at the time and was riding in the back seat of her father's car when she saw the "pretty black lady" attacked.
That daughter lived with the horrible secret for years, until her confidant decided to not only urge her to tell, but took the extraordinary step of writing an anonymous letter to the authorities.
     Within weeks of the news report that sparked that decision, investigators had new evidence in the case.   At the same time, the daughter took an unbelievable step on her own.   She called the news reporter looking into the investigation and left this chilling message, "If the girl had a yellow scarf and was killed with a screwdriver...my father could be the killer."
     The explosive break in the case finally brought the family of Carol Jenkins many of the answers they had longed for and for the first time, an arrest in the case.  The town of Martinsville also believed it had been vindicated since the suspect was not a resident.
      Yet on this 45th anniversary of Carol Jenkins' death, college students at Indiana University, one of Indiana's most prestigious institutions of higher learning, still warn against venturing into the town of Martinsville, some 30-minutes away.  Town residents think its unfair, and that they're inaccurately portrayed.  For years they had wished it would all just go away.
       The truth is Martinsville will always be connected to Carol Jenkins.
On this day of remembrance, the team at the "The Girl in the Yellow Scarf" hopes the dialogue will continue in Martinsville to remake its image giving honor to the young life that was lost.   It's also a good time to encourage those sitting on information related to the second suspect in Carol's case or with information about any other crime to do the right hing and find a way to reveal truth.