On December 23, 2021, Clarence Sexton – founder and president of The Crown College of the Bible in Powell, TN – announced his intent to create a garden on campus grounds to display monuments of American leaders, including those who either had ties to the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) or who enslaved Africans. 

The proposed garden would preserve statues and monuments that have recently been removed from public view across the state. One of these statues is of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first Grand Wizard of the KKK. Of Forrest, Sexton said, "If there's something that is dark and ugly about what they did, then those things should be pointed out." The language here is telling: "If," not "that"; "dark and ugly," not "evil and wrong."

Sexton says that he wants to preserve and display these controversial monuments in order to tell "the whole of the history." However, given that the Crown College Student Handbook historically disallowed interracial dating, and given that in the video posted by WBIR news shows that President Biden's photo is not currently hanging in Crown's "Hall of Presidents," and given Sexton's negative comments about Black Lives Matter, Clarence Sexton and Crown College cannot tell the story of enslavers objectively, critically, and accurately.

Finally, given that Crown College is a designated 501c3 institution, this project arguably violates the terms that they not participate in lobbying and political activity. 

We demand that Crown College retract their plan to create a statue garden for monuments of KKK leaders and enslavers.