No grand jury indictment in Emmett Till case

Each year during third quarter, the students in my eighth grade communication arts classes do a major research project on some aspect of the civil rights movement. Some of them elect to research the Emmett Till case, in which a 14-year-old African American was brutally murdered after whistling at a white woman.

The two men who committed the murder were found not guilty at their trial, but admitted they did it a year later in an interview with Look magazine. For the past half-century, many have believed that the woman Till whistled at, Carolyn Bryant, pointed him out to the killers and was responsible for the death.

During the past three years, it has appeared Ms. Bryant might finally be brought to justice, but a decision issued Tuesday by a grand jury in Mississippi indicates that may never happen:

"This was our last hope — and it was dashed today," said Simeon Wright, 64, Till's cousin, who was with him at the grocery store and heard him whistle at Donham (Ms. Bryant remarried.). "The Emmett Till case started with one person, and that person is still alive. She played a role in identifying Emmett, she participated in his kidnapping, and now she is getting away with murder."

Some members of Emmett Till's family would prefer not to send Ms. Bryant to prison, but simply get her to tell the truth once and for all:

With the trail in the Till case as cold as ever, some of his family members say they would prefer truth more than payback. Marvel Parker, 60, of Summit, Ill., is the wife of Wheeler Parker, a cousin of Till's who was with him at the Mississippi store. He is now hospitalized after a stroke. His wife said they would prefer to see Carolyn Bryant Donham receive immunity in exchange for telling her story. "Mrs. Bryant is still alive, and her husband admitted that he did it," Marvel Parker said. "We don't want her to go to jail…. But you don't have to be a Rhodes scholar to know that she knows something."