Knoxville Soul

04/01/2025

Sheriff’s deputies fatally shot a teenager on Jan. 3 while conducting a search warrant at a local residence in Knoxville, Tennessee.

According to the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, deputies approached a residence around 7:20 am as part of an ongoing investigation when they encountered 18-year-old Daevon Montez Saint-Germain. Authorities report that Saint-Germain displayed a firearm, leading deputies to respond with gunfire. The young man was pronounced dead at the scene.

No officers were injured during the incident, and details about the specific circumstances surrounding the warrant and Saint-Germain’s alleged actions remain limited.

Black With No Chaser has requested details on the search warrant from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

According to family members, Saint-Germain was a student at South Doyle High School in Knoxville and was sleeping when officers entered the home. The shooting has sparked conversations within the community, with some residents calling for further clarity on the events, including the release of body camera footage, and the use of force by law enforcement. Advocacy groups in the city have reiterated their demand for greater accountability and reform in police practices, particularly in cases involving fi****ms.

More details in this story will be released as they become available.

By ✍️

04/01/2025

Sheriff’s deputies fatally shot a teenager on Jan. 3 while conducting a search warrant at a local residence in Knoxville, Tennessee. According to the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, deputies approached a residence around 7:20 am as part of an ongoing investigation when they encountered 18-year-old...

10/12/2024

NEW for Tennessee Lookout

Knoxville, Tennessee native Nikki Giovanni, poet, civil rights legend, and educator who empowered generations with her fearless words and unwavering advocacy for Black America died on Dec. 9 at the age of 81 after her third cancer diagnosis..

“The acclaimed poet, Black Arts Movement icon whose poems of wit, wonder, and wisdom were celebrated in children’s books, on keynote stages and television shows, and in more than two dozen bestselling poetry collections, died peacefully on December 9, 2024, with her life-long partner, Virginia [Ginney] Fowler, by her side,” said friend and author Renee Watson in a statement.

In 2023, Knoxville’s Beck Cultural Exchange Center unveiled an exhibit dedicated to Giovanni, featuring her complete book collection and personal memorabilia. The center, a cherished space for Giovanni, was a must-visit whenever she returned to her hometown.

“Nikki was a gift to the world, generously sharing her talents with everyone around her,” said Rev. Reneé Kesler, President of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center. She loved deeply and expressed that love in countless ways.”

Yolande Cornelia “Nikki” Giovanni was born on June 7, 1943, in the “Negro Wing” of Knoxville General Hospital to parents Yolande Cornelia Sr. and Jones “Gus” Giovanni. She graduated from Austin High School in 1961.

She enrolled at the historically Black Fisk University in Nashville in1960. At Fisk, she joined the Writer’s Workshop, a space that fostered her creativity and connected her with other aspiring Black writers who later went on to become prominent Black literary figures such as Dudley Randall, Margaret Walker, and Amiri Baraka.

“At Fisk, she found her voice — a voice that would go on to inspire the world to dream with courage, to fight with purpose, and to love without constraint. Through her poetry, she wove stories of Black resilience, beauty and liberationHer spirit is forever etched into the soul at Fisk, an eternal light guiding us toward justice, creativity, and authenticity,” Fisk officials said in a statement.

Read the rest👉🏽 https://tennesseelookout.com/2024/12/10/nikki-giovanni-tennessee-native-and-literary-icon-dies-at-81/

28/09/2024

23/09/2024

If she wasn't smiling, it wasn't Christi. That's how colleagues, community members and the hundreds of students whose lives she touched will remember her.

Christi Kirk, a champion of education and longtime leader at the Knox Education Foundation and Project GRAD, died Sept. 10 at the age of 53, leaving behind a legacy of commitment to education and the betterment of the community and students she worked with.

The long-time leader at the Knoxville Education Foundation and Project GRAD, passed away on Sept. 10 at the age of 53

08/08/2024

07/08/2024

25/07/2024

NEW! On July 23, over 650 Black women from across Tennessee, including participants from Knoxville, joined a phone call with The Equity Alliance to motivate voters as Vice President Kamala Harris suddenly became the Democratic presidential nominee. The call raised $100,000 for her in just three hours.

Rachael Spriggs, director of powerbuilding for The Equity Alliance
told Knox News the statewide call was inspired by a July 21 national call with more than 44,000 Black women and organizers just hours after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. During the national call, thousands of Black women raised $1.5 million for Harris' campaign.

On June 23, over 650 Black women across Tennessee joined a phone call to help boost voter turnout and raise $100,000 for Kamala Harris.

22/07/2024

BREAKING: Jessie Hodge has pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide as part of a plea deal in the death of 63 year old motorcyclist Dwight Woods. Officers testified in 2021 that after the crash, Hodge ran away without attempting to call 911 to report the crash. Woods died at the scene.

She will be sentenced Sept 20. Criminally negligent homicide is a felony punishable by one to six years in prison and a fine of up to $3,000.

Jessie Hodge pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide in the crash that killed Dwight Woods of California.

18/07/2024

NEW. Young scholars, parents and staff from the East Tennessee Freedom Schools program marched in downtown Knoxville July 17 to protest literary censorship in public schools and libraries across the country.

The march - part of Children’s Defense Fund’s (CDF) National Day of Social Action - began at the intersection of Gay Street and Union Avenue and proceeded to Market Square. Participants shared their perspectives on censorship and read excerpts from banned books at the event.

Recent legislation in Tennessee has fueled concerns about literary censorship. In May, Governor Bill Lee signed into law an expansion of the “Age-Appropriate Materials Act.”

Opponents fear the new law might exclude the perspectives of marginalized groups in educational materials. The Knox County Schools Board recently revised its library policy to align with the new state law, further fueling debate.

Young scholars, staff and parents from the East Tennessee Freedom Schools marched to protest book bans in schools and libraries.

17/07/2024

The trial for Jessie Hodge starts next Monday 7/22.

Sixty-three-year-old Dwight Woods was traveling through Knoxville on his Gold Wing motorcycle around 3:40 a.m. Sept. 4 from his home in Charlotte, North Carolina, when he was knocked from behind on Interstate 40.

The driver, 30-year-old former Knox County Sheriff's Office employee Jessie Hodge, was traveling westbound on I-40 near Pellissippi Parkway, according to court records, when she struck the rear of Woods' motorcycle, which was pinned against the front of her SUV and carried 300 yards.

Hodge fled the scene.

Attorney for Jessie Hodge speaks after court appearance, Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021.

17/07/2024

The trial for Jessie Hodge starts next Monday 7/22.

Sixty-three-year-old Dwight Woods was traveling through Knoxville on his Gold Wing motorcycle around 3:40 a.m. Sept. 4 from his home in Charlotte, North Carolina, when he was knocked from behind on Interstate 40.

The driver, 30-year-old former Knox County Sheriff's Office employee Jessie Hodge, was traveling westbound on I-40 near Pellissippi Parkway, according to court records, when she struck the rear of Woods' motorcycle, which was pinned against the front of her SUV and carried 300 yards.

Hodge fled the scene.

"We would like to see manslaughter or vehicular homicide on the table. We don't want to see a slap on the wrist," said Dwight Woods' sister.

24/06/2024

19/06/2024

NEW! Though Knoxville has often been described as a more racially tolerant Southern city, its history of depending on the labor of enslaved people is deeply intertwined in the fabric of Tennessee's third-largest city and has often been neglected.

In Knoxville, the number of people exploited by slavery was never vast in raw numbers, but the significance of the contributions of enslaved people became apparent when viewed as a percentage of the city's population.

“When you add the population of free blacks to the 1850 figures, you have 41% of the Knoxville population being free Blacks or enslaved. That says so much,” said Lisa Oakley, vice president and curator of education at the East Tennessee Historical Society.

Some point to Knoxville's history as evidence it's a more racially tolerant town, but the exploitation of enslaved people is often overlooked.

20/05/2024

BREAKING: When a woman arrested was forced to remove her hijab by Knox County Sheriff's Office deputies when she was booked after being arrested with her husband and 10 other pro-Palestinian demonstrators the night of May 15, it marked her inaugural interaction with the American justice system.

It was her first time in handcuffs, her introduction to jail and the first time her religious rights were violated in a way that brings trauma to Islamic women.

“As a Muslim woman it is a major violation,” Soliz, on the verge of tears, told Knox News.

When she and others arrested on the University of Tennessee at Knoxville campus reached the Knox County Detention Facility late that night, following hours waiting in a dark van with their hands bound by zip ties, she had no inkling that sheriff’s deputies would violate her constitutional religious rights. Several federal lawsuits have been filed after police departments forced the removal of religious headwear during custody, and the plaintiffs have secured substantial settlements in some cases.

The Knox County Sheriff's Office posted a photo of a woman's jail mug shot showing her without her hijab, running afoul of constitutional protections.

16/05/2024

NEW: Yassin Terou shared his encounter with police during his arrest last night at the University of Tennessee. Terou received the 2018 Peace Award from the Rotary Club of Knoxville and he was named the Knoxville News Sentinel Person of the Year in 2018. His restaurant was named the "Nicest Place in America" in 2018 by Reader's Digest. Terou is a refugee from war-torn Syria and earned his American citizenship on 2020.

He was among the 11 pro-Palestinian demonstrators arrested for criminal trespass after they stood their ground when police asked them to leave.