Editor’s Note: See the accompanying story for more detailed coverage of the Heritage Hubs event and also see our prior coverage of Heritage Hubs for more background. This is a first-person account by Compass co-founder Jesse Fox Mayshark of the atmosphere outside it, and his own role in calling the police after witnessing an altercation. Journalists typically don’t participate in events they are covering, but we are citizens first and have an obligation to report what we see as possible crimes when we directly witness them. — Scott Barker

I expected some heated exchanges between protesters and organizers. I didn't expect fisticuffs.

As of Saturday morning, I still didn’t know where the Heritage Hubs forum was going to be.

For the past few weeks, I had been writing about the planned event, which was scheduled to feature former Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino and several other speakers with anti-immigrant, Christian nationalist and white nationalist views — including Knox County Commissioner Andy Fox.

Organizers had kept its location secret and had limited attendance only to approved registrants. I tried to sign up, using my real name and Compass email address, and was promptly rejected. (By promptly, I mean someone went out of their way on a Saturday night to decline my registration.)

A few people told me they had also attempted to register but had been declined at later stages, when the organizers demanded access to social media accounts to verify that they were ideologically simpatico. But around 9 a.m. Saturday, someone who had cleared those hurdles posted the location on the r/knoxville Reddit page. It was at Jackson Terminal in the Old City.

It was supposed to start at 1 p.m. So, mostly out of curiosity — the thing that makes reporters get off the couch on a weekend — I went down and parked on the Gay Street Viaduct around noon. I wanted to watch people arriving.

There were a few observers already standing on the viaduct, which offers a clear view of both the rear and side doors of the venue. I chatted with them for a few minutes. They had been with a group in Market Square protesting against Heritage Hubs and then had come over to stake out the scene. More would be on the way.

I headed down the staircase that drops from the viaduct to Jackson Avenue and the entrance to the Terminal. I stopped on one of its landings and took a closer look at the venue. I could see tables set up inside with orange and white tablecloths — after the politically charged program, the event was to turn into a watch party for the Vols’ game against Arkansas.

There were a handful of security guards wearing gray shirts and sidearms. A few people set up a plastic table in front of the side door, I assumed so they could check in attendees.

I saw one of the protesters walk along the terminal’s boardwalk toward the door, holding his phone in front of him. I could hear him talking to the security guards but couldn’t really make out what he said. 

Suddenly, I saw a tall thin man in a light-colored shirt move forward from behind the security guards and, first, smack the phone out of the protester’s hand, and then follow up with a straight punch to the protester’s face. The protester yelled in pain and surprise, the security guards looked startled but didn’t do anything, and the man who threw the punch retreated back into the venue.

That’s when I called the cops.

I have rarely dialed 911 in my life, and never while working as a reporter. But I had just witnessed an unprovoked attack in broad daylight, and there were no police in sight. If this was how things were starting out, I was concerned that they could escalate when the crowd grew on both sides.

I told the dispatcher I had seen a man attack another man in front of Jackson Terminal. Then I yelled out to whoever could hear me that the police were on their way.

I walked down the remainder of the stairs and went to talk to the man I’d seen punched. His name is William Wilson. He had a small cut under his right eye from his glasses being knocked off and the left side of his face was red and swelling. One of his glasses’ lenses had also been knocked out.

He said he was there to oppose the ideology on display at the event.

“These folks are white supremacists,” he said. “They’ve invited a person who’s trying to start a whites-only town in Tennessee, they’ve stated that schools should be whites-only. Gregory Bovino is here. He was the head of Border Patrol when those two people were shot and killed by the fucking Border Patrol. Sorry to put that in the interview, but these are hardcore racists, and I don’t want that in Knoxville.”

Wilson videoed the encounter, and he sent the clip to me as well as others. It quickly spread through social media, from state Rep. Gloria Johnson to the Tennessee Holler and across Knoxville feeds. (You can watch it here.)

On the video, you can hear Wilson talking to the security guards about the event in a friendly if salty tone as he approaches them. He begins to tell them about an aspirational Christian nationalist community in rural Jackson County, Tenn., which one of the planned speakers — a California transplant named C. Jay Engel — is affiliated with. 

“What’s up, dudes?” Wilson says.

“What’s going on, friend?” one of the security guards responds.

“You know these fuckwits want to establish an all-white town in Tennessee?” Wilson says. His camera picks up the man in the light-colored shirt — in the video, you can see it’s striped with white and a shade of perhaps orange or brown — who is standing next to the security guards and suddenly steps forward. 

“How's it goin' — ” Wilson begins to say to him just before there’s an impact sound and the phone falls to the ground under the plastic table. 

As it turned out, it was unclear that my call mattered at all. When a KPD cruiser rolled up in the adjacent parking lot, Wilson and I approached it. The officer was friendly but said he wasn't aware of the call.

Still, Wilson gave his statement describing the incident and said he had video of it. I provided a witness statement describing what I’d seen. The officer said he would investigate.

Over the next few hours, more protesters arrived, numbering 60 or so at their peak. People started showing up for the event, some solo, some in groups of two or three. They were greeted by jeers and catcalls from the protesters, and chants including “Hate has no home in Knoxville,” “Shame! Shame! Shame!” and “Fuck you, fascists!” 

I don’t know how many people attended. I didn’t personally witness more than maybe 60 going in, but I wasn’t watching the whole time (including while I was providing a police statement). The right-leaning social media outlet Backroom Knox, whose proprietor Christian Seus was among those allowed into the venue, reported attendance of about 160 — but because I wasn’t allowed in, I have no way of verifying that.

The plastic table was pulled inside quickly after the altercation. When people arrived, Heritage Hubs founder Sam Rhodes or another organizer would open the door and check names off a list. The man who had punched Wilson worked the door for a good bit of the afternoon.

The people I saw entering were mostly white and mostly male, split about evenly between younger and older. Many of them were wearing UT gear. Heritage Hubs is interested in recruiting college-aged and young adults from their late teens to early 30s, and maybe half of the attendees fit that profile. There were far fewer women, and a handful of nonwhite people. There were a few families with small children. 

More police also arrived, mostly keeping a hands-off approach to things except for telling protesters not to block pedestrian or vehicle traffic in the narrow lane that runs the length of the terminal building.  

The investigation of the attack took a few hours. Officers explained to me that for misdemeanor assault cases (which they assured me include getting punched in the face), they can’t file charges solely on the victim’s say-so. The victim has to swear out a warrant, which can’t be done on a weekend.

But there is an addendum to that law that says officers can arrest someone without a warrant if they have “probable cause to believe a person has committed a misdemeanor, regardless of whether the offense was committed in the officer’s presence.”

A review of Wilson’s video is apparently what tipped the balance. Eventually, a trio of officers approached and entered the venue. When they came out, they told Wilson they had cited the man who punched him for misdemeanor assault. A court date will be set for the case. (His name is Robert Moody, one of the cofounders of Heritage Hubs and a member of the Knox County Board of Zoning Appeals. See accompanying story for more.)

The scheduled program for the event ran from 1 to 4 p.m., to be followed by the game. Although the ranks of protesters had thinned considerably by then, a cluster remained on the sidewalk in front of the terminal, including some also wearing UT gear. As the clock ticked past the 4:15 p.m. kickoff time, the protesters could see that the big screen indoors was not yet showing it. They started chanting, “Turn on the game! Turn on the game!”

A few seconds later, the screen switched to the game. The protesters cheered.

CORRECTION: The date in the photo caption has been corrected to Oct. 10.