The National Park Service has reversed course on its plan to remove the William Penn statue from a Philadelphia memorial park. It had announced last week it was removing the statue to make the park more inclusive to Native Americans.
“Independence National Historical Park has withdrawn the review of a draft proposal to rehabilitate Welcome Park and closed the public comment period. The preliminary draft proposal, which was released prematurely and had not been subject to a complete internal agency review, is being retracted. No changes to the William Penn statue are planned,” the Park Service announced.
In fact, the public outcry was intense, as Americans objected to the erasure of American history. Removing the historic statue in the middle of a presidential election year may have suddenly seemed unwise to the Biden Administration.
“The National Park Service (NPS) remains committed to rehabilitating Welcome Park as the nation prepares to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. Upon completion of all the necessary internal reviews, the park looks forward to engaging in a robust public process to consider options for refurbishing the park in the coming years,” the Park Service said.
The park is located on the site of William Penn’s home, the Slate Roof House, and is named for the ship, Welcome, which transported William Penn to Philadelphia. The design and construction of Welcome Park was funded by the Independence Historical Trust and was completed in 1982.
Updates on the project may be found on the park’s website at www.nps.gov/INDE.
Good. I was afraid they were going to rip down Ole George from the US Capitol since he was a slave owner
Good! That is as it should be. The shear stupidity of removing statues because they offend someone? It is time for those who are “offended” to grow up.
If they want a statue for Indians, fine. Make one, put it up. Elsewhere.
Which native Americans exactly were we going to offend? Was it the one ones that were here when pilgrams came over from Europe? Or possibly the ones that were here before that group took over, or the ones before that….etc. Where does this end? Adam and Eve? Unless people are willing to go all the way, don’t go at all!
The removal of statues is just a prelude to the removal of people.
Initially, it was to stop honoring the Confederacy and by reference, slavery. But, after that goal was, for the most part, achieved, the actual Founding Fathers would be next.
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This is not about history.
It is about the left’s raw desire for complete power.
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Erase history, and you can control the future. Removing statues is one step, land acknowledgement statements is another step. Preventing political opponents from having a platform to speak, or even getting on a ballot is another step. Eventually, it will come down to destroying those that disagree with you, or challenge your desire for absolute power.
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History is abundantly clear on this front. The inevitable conclusion to tearing down statutes and altering history is genocide. It has always been in the past, and I doubt the folks advocating for erasing US history will end up anywhere else.
William Penn was too good a Christian, and a gentleman. Worse, he was White. So, yeah, bring down Penn’s statue, and replace it with an image of the most admired statesman of our more enlightened and inclusive times. This would be Beelzebub.
One can always count on the NPS to do something dumb, and this was a textbook example. There simply is no end to the stupidity of this government agency. Don’t think for one second that it stops with reversing course on a statute of a historical person. The morons that work for NPS will continue to attack US history, as they always have.
Whew! Democrats almost lost PA. At least Biden will do well in Scranton…….as long as he can keep his hands off the little girls.
Again, with a check on actual history, one would find that during the early colonial days, William Penn created realistic and fair treaties with the Indian people on his appointed land holdings, and historically was the only one to honor them and advocate for fair treatment of all people. His reward was to be stripped of his holdings, and then the rest of the story. Sometimes history is helpful before a knee-jerk reaction to modernism. He was the MLK of his time. Could use people like this in our present times.
A friend of mine who lives in Pennsylvania in old old Stone House still has the original deed signed by William Penn and by the Indians where the land was originally purchased hundreds of years ago.It is such a testimony to William Penn, that it shows the ignorance of those who think removing the statue is showing more inclusivity or what other ever tripe word is in vogue today.
Better buy your Penn State motor oil now, before it officially becomes Transgender Aboriginal First Nations Peoples Anti-Eurocentric Non-Patriarchal Land Acknowledgement motor oil.
The only unfortunate thing about leaving the statue up was not having to rename Pennsylvania. I was looking forward to the argument between Transylvania and West Gaza, both current leftist favorites. Cheers –
Once Obamette wins in November, this statue and many others will be coming down.
When will people REALIZE that you CANNOT CHANGE History; You LEARN from it and move on.
So in other words, by rescinding their decision, the National Park Service is actually being an Indian giver?
No, they took it, gave it back in a limited basis, then took more of it away as needed, now giving it back in the form of land, cash, and benefits.
But, retired educator, that was not done by William Penn. Easy on the trigger, old timer. Persecution complex does not change history.
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