Marcus Boyd walked across the parking lot of a DeKalb County courthouse on Memorial Drive in Decatur, Georgia, at 4 years old. A large black police helicopter sat perched on top of the building, catching the young boy’s attention. As he entered the doors, still craning his neck to see the large aircraft, he was unaware of how the trajectory of his life was about to change.
“If you take Marcus out of the home, then Tommy don’t beat the rest of the kids,” his mother told the judge once inside the courtroom. “He just beats Marcus. He just abuses and do horrific things to him, but he don’t do those things to the rest of the kids. See, this is why Marcus is the problem.”
Boyd was nonverbal and had frequent outbursts, which led to his father punishing him. The family thought the child had behavior problems, and his father was frustrated that his son couldn’t throw a football or dribble a basketball like other boys. He was the one of his 21 siblings that was different.
“He didn’t understand what autism was. He just knew that his son was nonverbal,” Boyd told the Mississippi Free Press on May 15. “His son was using the bathroom on himself. His son had these types of issues, and he’s not, you know, he’s not maturing. He’s not getting better. It’s like his son is getting worse.”
Boyd, almost too little to see over the wooden table, watched the large gold hoop earrings shake in his mother’s ears as she told the judge that he was “too retarded to be her son” and that he was a “mistake to be born.”
“We don’t, I don’t, we don’t want him. He’s messing up my marriage,” his mother continued as his grandmother was escorted from the courtroom in a rage.
The state took custody of Boyd and assigned him a social worker, Dorothy Carr. Carr, a good friend of Boyd’s mother, took the child in and began securing resources, therapists and doctors. He was able to stay with Carr for several months until he was placed in the foster-care system in 1986. By the time Boyd turned 21, he had been in as many as 17 foster homes and 16 group homes.
“I didn’t really understand still what it was. I just knew it was different faces in different homes. Some homes were nice, some homes were not nice,” Boyd said. “Some was big. Some was trailers. I was constantly moving around. So I couldn’t get attached to one family longer than six to seven months.”
Piecing the Puzzle
As a child with behavioral challenges, Boyd was bounced from home to home. It would be six more years before he was diagnosed with severe autism.
Boyd had a diagnosis but no treatment plan. The doctors told his family that he would never get an education or be able to care for himself because the left side of his brain didn’t function the same as that of other people. They said Boyd would need a permanent caregiver to be able to complete even the most menial tasks, such as bathing or eating.
“Trying to navigate in the hood being nonverbal, that’s tough for a child that communicates,” Boyd said. “It is really tough for a child who can’t communicate.”
Boyd spent 13 years in silence but found solace in sound. He sought something concrete in the instability. Music became that outlet and his first positive form of self-expression. He learned to play the organ in his grandmother’s church and can now play eight instruments.
The Vicksburg, Mississippi, resident is a successful producer and composer who has worked in multiple genres of music over his 25-year career. He has won 13 music awards, received seven Grammy nominations and been on the Billboard charts four times. His success is something his friend Bennie Foster Jr. finds amazing.
“If you never composed music or orchestrated music, you really do not understand what goes into it. It’s somewhat like a mood thing, and it’s like a channeling of sorts,” Foster said. “You hear certain sounds. Then you go find that sound. Then you create that sound, or play that sound, or you get it from a sample. You’re literally putting the pieces of a puzzle together. I think that’s one of his strong suits; he’s able to piece these different pieces to a puzzle together. That’s just his sweet spot.”
Foster, the owner of Your Mentorship Coach, met Boyd online due to their shared interest in music. Foster once served as a Sony Music Rep in Atlanta. He was also once an educator whose Marietta, Georgia, teaching experience brought him into direct contact with students with autism. He said people often dismiss Boyd’s struggles due to his success.
“Because of the level of competency that he does have and the effectiveness he has in the area of being a music producer, some people kind of feel like he may be exaggerating, but he’s not exaggerating,” Foster said.
Finding His Voice
Now 42, Boyd speaks across the country, sharing his story and spreading awareness about autism. He encourages people not to allow their disability or diagnosis to define their life or future. He owns a clothing line, Autism Royalty Clothing, and a shoe line. He has also written a children’s book and a coloring book focused on raising awareness for the autism community. His short film titled “The Boy with No Voice” won international awards in India. A second unscripted short film, “Cyberbullying – The Marcus Boyd Experience,” won at the Krymson Horizon International Film Festival. President Joe Biden awarded him the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022.
“He is a role model,” Foster said. “He is a light. He is an inspiration that (persons with autism) literally can find a niche and be successful in it.”
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