Markham Street The Haunting Truth Behind the Murder of My Brother, Marvin Leonard Williams

"Markham Street" is more than a story about systemic racism, police violence, or brutal murder, although it is all of those. Above all, it is the story of one man's enduring love for his lost brother and his devotion to his grieving parents, who kept silent for two and half decades to protect their seven surviving children.

Through the lens of his then-thriving Black community of Menifee, Ronnie Williams vividly describes the suffocating misery and debasement of Black families who worked in the cotton fields or as domestic help for white families and businesses. He shares in loving detail how his parents made ends meet through constant work and resourcefulness and raised eight children, six of whom became educators like himself. He also shares his memories of the night his brother died, a night when a literal tornado tore apart his home, while only miles away, a tornado of rage and hate tore apart his family.

Most of all, he writes poignantly about his brother Marvin – a prodigy who graduated from high school at the age of 15, Marvin desperately tried to escape the grinding poverty of field labor. He joined the Navy and later the Army, where he became a respected U.S. Paratrooper. At age 20, he was a beloved son, husband, and father. He had a good job, a second child on the way, and a bright future - until the night he was unlawfully arrested on Markham Street and bludgeoned to death by police.

The book resounds with the author's unresolved grief over his brother's terrible death, his righteous determination to get justice for Marvin, and his own remarkable, ground-breaking career in the same city where his brother was killed.

Ronnie Williams recently retired as Vice President for Student Services and Institutional Diversity at the University of Central Arkansas. He pioneered the university's first Minority Mentorship Program, developed comprehensive minority student recruitment and retention programs, and designed cultural enrichment programs that included student-faculty tours to seven African countries.

Ronnie was the first person of color to serve as the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce chair and the first person of color on the Conway Development Cooperation Board. In addition, he served as the Chairman of the Arkansas Educational Television Commission and as a member of the Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct, the Arkansas Community Foundation Board, and many other organizations and groups.

Ronnie holds a B.A. from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, and an M.S.E. from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Arkansas. In addition, he has completed coursework for his Doctorate in Higher Education Administration at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Arkansas.