Ronnie Williams discussed the behind-the-scenes of his new book, “Markham Street: The Haunting Truth Behind the Murder of My Brother, Marvin Leonard Williams,” during a signing held on Thursday, March 31.

Williams said he began writing the book in 2015 and took five and a half years to finish it.

“There were many times that I would walk away,” Ronnie said. “There were many times I would close my small study and shed some tears.”

On Thursday, May 5, 1960, Marvin Williams and three of his friends went to the Sunset Café on a stormy prom night. Marvin did not enter the cafe but instead slept in his car.

Police say they arrested Marvin for drunkenness and took him to a jail cell, where he tripped and hit his head — dying the next day.

That was the official verdict.

“No one. No one from the city of Conway. No city official. No elected official. No one ever notified my family of Marvin’s death,” Ronnie said.

For 24 years, Ronnie’s family did not talk about the incident. In Aug. 1984, investigative reporter Mike Masterson received a letter from a prison inmate who was in the county jail the night Marvin was arrested.

The inmate, Charles Hackney, said he saw the officers “dump” Marvin in the jail cell and beat him in the back of the head.

At the book signing, a video of Hackney explaining what he saw was shown.

Williams said his family is painfully aware of the fact that there are some police officers who should not work in the profession because their judgment gets cloudy when they deal with people who look different and act differently from them.

“This book is not an angry black man accusing all police officers of being racist,” Ronnie said, “because they’re not.”

There were two autopsy reports — one done in 1960 that was never shown, and a second one done in 1984 that was a part of the trial that confirmed Marvin’s death was a result of a skull fracture located behind his left ear.

Although Williams’ attorney was ecstatic from a legal perspective after the second autopsy, the family could not rejoice.

“All we could think of was how much Marvin suffered,” Ronnie read from his book. “And what were his last words.”

The trial began in July 1985. Ronnie said the jury selection was disappointing. 

“It was painful to watch the strategy that was being used or deployed during that selection,” Ronnie said. “Every prospective black juror was struck.”

After the five-week-long trial, the final verdict remained that Marvin died from tripping.

Ronnie explained how devastated he was after all of the testimonies and evidence that was shown during the trial.

“Most importantly, we had the forensic evidence,” Ronnie said.

Ronnie read the words that said saved his life from his mother in his book. 

“She said ‘Baby are you okay?’” Ronnie said. “My reply was always ‘yes mother, I’m okay.’ But she knew I was conflicted.”

Because Williams could not finish reading the words he wrote in his book, his son Greg Williams read for him.

“My mother could tell I was not in a good place,” Greg Williams read. “She could see my dysfunction. What my mother said to me that day has forever altered the way I handled disappointment. She said ‘baby, you have enough of me and you to not do something wrong.’ In essence, she was reminding me of everything she had poured into my siblings and me.”

“She was betting that what she had trained her children would outlive and outlast the injuries — psychological and physical — that each of us would suffer when we encountered racism in our society,” Greg Williams said. 

The last video clip played at the reading was of Marvin’s father, DB Williams.

“A simple request: I live long enough to find out the truth,” DB Williams said.

The book is available to purchase on websites such as Amazon, Walmart and Barnes & Noble.