Our history and our identity as a country, and as a region, is tied directly to William Penn. He came here with people to settle in Pennsylvania the state that was named for him to escape religious and other persecution.
So here we are a few centuries later and it’s like we’re right back where we started.
To remove him from anything is egregious. And YES I get that the Daily Mail and other sources are perhaps being alarmist, but this is my opinion on the matter because I truly believe that this could indeed happen.
Why can’t different parts of history co-exist? Why does some history have to be suppressed in favor of other pieces of history?
And before some of you jump all over me for daring to have an opinion on this, my thought process is simple: if we deny or repress history (which is not always pretty), we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.
And to remove William Penn when he had historically good relationships with Native Americans makes no sense. To me it runs contrary to the history of William Penn completely. If he could co-exist peacefully with Native Americans hundreds of years ago why does he have to not as a part of history not be able to co-exist with Native American history on this historic site?
History is good, history is bad, history is history. We can’t just keep replacing history. It all needs to be there for us. It’s how we grow as human beings and Americans. Oh and I am saying this as a woman, a Democrat, a Pennsylvanian, a Philadelphian.
Biden removes William Penn statue from historic Pennsylvania park in ‘inclusive’ makeover to show more Native American history
By Stephen M. Lepore For Dailymail.Com00:11 08 Jan 2024, updated 00:44 08 Jan 2024
The Biden administration’s National Park Service is starting a ‘rehabilitation’ process for a Pennsylvania park that incudes the removal of a statue of founder William Penn and inclusion of representation of Native American tribes.
The Deb Haaland-led parks service sent out the request for input on the changes to Welcome Park Friday on their website and in a post on X.
Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania in 1681, was notorious for his amicable relations with the Native tribes of the region. The park was established 300 years later.
The park itself is named after the ship Penn sailed to America and includes a museum dedicated to celebrating the life and contributions of William Penn.
However, the parks service says it wants to ‘provide a more welcoming, accurate, and inclusive experience for visitors.’
National Review: National Park Service to Remove William Penn Statue from Historic Site
By LUTHER RAY ABEL
January 7, 2024 8:58 PM
The National Park Service (NPS) has announced it will be rehabilitating (via reduction) Pennsylvania founder William Penn’s Welcome Park to “provide a more welcoming, accurate, and inclusive experience.” Named after the ship that bore Penn to that city of fraternal affection, the park is the site of his former Philadelphia home and the Slate Roof House. As part of this reimagining of Welcome Park, the park service has confirmed that “the Penn statue and Slate Roof house model will be removed and not installed.”
Needless to say, this is all very stupid.
Two things:
One, it’s true that Welcome Park is monumentally ugly — if no one said it, I will. It’s a slab of stonework (composing a street plan for Philadelphia) with the approximate footprint of a Division III high-school gymnasium in the middle of a city block. The spot could use a rethink to maximize the importance of a location that held the Slate Roof House, an abode in which the Quaker William Penn wrote his charter, a document that would see many of its tenets replicated in the U.S. Constitution. The location also hosted members of the Continental Congress, including John Hancock and John Adams.
Two, just because something might be in need of reinterpretation does not mean that progressive revisionists get carte blanche to “inclusify” benches and fire hydrants with Howard Zinnian signage while deleting the only two items of note — the Penn statue and the model house. Why not rebuild the Slate Roof House and keep the statue in its front entry? Or make a model ship and house, something interactive for kids to mess while maybe even learning something?
https://www.nps.gov/inde/learn/news/park-seeks-input-on-the-rehabilitation-of-welcome-park.htm
This article at Daily Mirror is a bit misleading since this park was built in 1982 and it’s not welcoming at all. It looks like right now they are just seeking input from the community https://www.nps.gov/inde/learn/news/park-seeks-input-on-the-rehabilitation-of-welcome-park.htm
Thanks for always keeping us on our toes!
Yes, except it’s the national park service and they are prone to stupidity. I am expressing my opinion in the hopes it doesn’t happen.
Agreed. To often this is happening.