Hard Knock Radio host Davey D sat down with members of the Scribes of Heru Writers Collective for a rich conversation about Black storytelling, collective work, and the power of writing as a tool for truth telling. The guests included Thurman Tee Watts, Jacqueline Elizabeth, Alan Laird, and Rickey Vincent, all of whom brought distinct voices and experiences to a discussion centered on the group’s second anthology and its upcoming public launch.
Early in the conversation, Davey D and Rickey Vincent framed the Scribes of Heru as part of a long Black tradition of artists and writers building together. They connected the collective to the Black Arts Movement, Hip Hop writing circles, and the broader legacy of community based cultural work. Vincent emphasized that the group did not come together as a casual workshop, but as a serious collective committed to producing work rooted in culture, consciousness, and lived experience. He noted that their first anthology earned recognition and that the new volume continues that mission.
Tee Watts explained that the collective grew out of relationships formed during the Covid period and was named in honor of Harry Heru Hall, a writer and researcher whose sudden passing deeply affected the group. Watts described the name as both tribute and calling. He also shared that his contribution to the new volume is a fictionalized account tied to a real unsolved 1973 case involving a Black woman law student at Stanford, a story connected to repression, secrecy, and political violence.
Jacqueline Elizabeth brought a deeply spiritual perspective to the discussion. She described the collective as an incubator for what she called authentic intelligence, grounded in ancestry, lived experience, and cultural memory. Reading from her piece “Foundations,” she offered a glimpse into a matriarchal Texas family story shaped by place, memory, and inheritance. Her reflections made clear that the writing is not just literary, but ancestral work.
Alan Laird added humor, wisdom, and historical weight. He spoke about his series “Dagnabbit,” inspired by the proverbs and stories passed down from elders in his life. He connected that work to the urgent need to preserve Black language, folk traditions, and cultural memory at a time when history is being erased from classrooms and shelves.
Together, the guests made clear that the Scribes of Heru are more than a writers group. They are a living example of collective creativity, intergenerational exchange, and Black cultural preservation. The conversation closed with an invitation to the public book launch on Saturday, April 11, from 2 to 5 pm at the Dominique Hoskins Black History Museum and Learning Center in Redwood City.
Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson.