Editing Martinsville, Indiana (section)

===Race relations===
Historically, Martinsville was the place of some racial controversies, such as the [[Murder of Carol Jenkins|1968 murder]] of 20-year-old African American Carol Jenkins, who was stabbed to death with a screwdriver while selling encyclopedias door-to-door.  Jenkins' murder remained unsolved for 33 years until Kenneth Richmond was arrested for the crime. Richmond was a [[Hendricks County, Indiana|Hendricks County]] resident who was passing through Martinsville on the night Jenkins was murdered.<ref name="wthr">{{Cite news |last=Chapman |first=Sandra |title=Monument for Martinsville murder victim rejected |url=http://www.wthr.com/story/24808351/2014/02/24/monument-for-martinsville-murder-victim-rejected-as-couple-speaks-out-in-exclusive-interview |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303205631/http://www.wthr.com/story/24808351/2014/02/24/monument-for-martinsville-murder-victim-rejected-as-couple-speaks-out-in-exclusive-interview |archive-date=2014-03-03 |work=WTHR}}</ref>  The white couple Don and Norma Neal, who called the police to try to help Carol a half-hour before she died, proposed a monument in Carol's memory on the courthouse grounds. The County Commissioners approved (2-1), the dissenting vote remarking it was the responsibility of the city not the county in the  location for the monument. When  many citizens contacted the commissioners later with similar feelings to that effect, the project was put on hold.<ref name="wthr" /> In November 2017, Martinsville partnered with Carol's hometown of [[Rushville, Indiana|Rushville]] to hold memorial events in Carol's honor with her family present. Martinsville also dedicated a monument in Carol's memory and presented a smaller replica of the stone to Carol's family.<ref name="Reporter-Times">url=https://www.reporter-times.com/free_access/a-day-of-healing-martinsville-holds-remembrance-event-for-jenkins/article_44fc17f8-33e8-5ca2-a30d-8f5b7bf23891.html</ref> That year, the ''[[The Indianapolis Star|Indianapolis Star]]'' reported that Martinsville still had a reputation among African Americans as a [[sundown town]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=King |first=Robert |date=April 2, 2017 |title=They're bridging a racial divide |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29386464/ |work=[[The Indianapolis Star|The Sunday Star]] |page=6A |via=Newspapers.com |quote=The deputy, D.J. Nuetzmann, grew up in Martinsville, a town with a tragic reputation for racism, a place many blacks still consider a 'sundown town' where it's best not to be caught after dark.}}</ref>

In 1998, high school basketball games in Martinsville between [[Martinsville High School (Indiana)|Martinsville High School]] and [[Bloomington High School North]] erupted in racist insults hurled at Bloomington players by Martinsville fans and assaults on two Bloomington players by Martinsville players.  [[Conference Indiana]] banned Martinsville from hosting conference games for a year, the highest penalty ever leveled in high school sports in Indiana.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wertheim |first=L. Jon |url=https://archive.org/details/transitiongameho00wert/ |title=Transition game : how Hoosiers went hip-hop |date=2005 |publisher=New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-399-15250-4}}</ref>

Many Martinsville residents dispute the reputation for racism and prejudice pointing out an annual award for service to the community named after  a beloved African American citizen, Albert Merritt,  who had a club for Martinsville boys in the 1930s.<ref>{{Cite web |title='We need to acknowledge it': Martinsville tries to remake its racist image |url=https://www.indystar.com/story/life/2017/11/02/martinsville-remakes-racist-image/775258001/ |access-date=2019-03-10 |website=Indianapolis Star |language=en}}</ref>