Native American groups did not support the removal of a statue of William Penn from Welcome Park in Philadelphia prior to the Biden administration’s now-abandoned effort to do so.
William Penn was an English Quaker who moved to the American Colonies in 1682 and founded the British colony of Pennsylvania, during which time he maintained friendly relations with Native Americans of the Lenape tribe. The National Parks Service recently canceled plans to remove Penn’s statue from federal property at Welcome Park, in Philadelphia’s downtown historic district, amid strong political and public backlash against the plan, though representatives for a native group told the Associated Press that they had never demanded its removal in the first place. (RELATED: National Park Service Backtracks On Removing Beloved Statue After Widespread Ridicule)
“William Penn was an ally of the Shawnee,” said Ben Barnes, the chief of the Shawnee Tribe based in Oklahoma, who were historically displaced to the state, to the AP. “As long as he lived, he kept his promise. As long as he was able to speak on behalf of the colony in western Pennsylvania, the Shawnees had a home there….Of all the terrible human beings that inflicted tragedy upon native peoples, I don’t put William Penn in that category.”
My team has been in contact with the Biden Administration throughout the day to correct this decision. I’m pleased Welcome Park will remain the rightful home of this William Penn statue — right here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Penn founded. https://t.co/awSTpcyrNp
— Governor Josh Shapiro (@GovernorShapiro) January 8, 2024
The Park Service announced its decision to remove the statue in conjunction with rehabilitation efforts at Welcome Park, to “provide a more welcoming, accurate and inclusive experience for visitors.” The plan also envisioned an “expanded interpretation of the Native American history of Philadelphia.”
That decision was met with widespread ridicule from Pennsylvanians, who view William Penn’s legacy favorably. “[It is] another sad example of the left in this country scraping the bottom of the barrel of wokeism to advance an extreme ideology and a nonsensical view of history,” said state House Minority Leader Brian Cutler, a Republican from Lancaster County, to the AP.
The issue prompted the intervention of Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania to protect the statue’s presence. “My team has been in contact with the Biden Administration throughout the day to correct this decision. I’m pleased Welcome Park will remain the rightful home of this William Penn statue — right here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Penn founded,” he wrote on Twitter, now known as X, after the NPS reversed its decision.
Consultation with Native American tribes is required of the Park Service before making changes to national monuments and historic sites concerning their history, according to the National Historic Presentation Act. “We do still speak highly of William Penn,” said Jeremy Johnson, the director of cultural education for the Delaware Tribe of Indians, to the AP. “[We] were really just focusing on our culture and our history and that, in a way, he was an important part of it.”
“[T]he draft was released prematurely and has been retracted,” wrote Andrew McDougall, a public affairs officer for the Independence National Historical Park, to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The park remains committed to rehabilitating Welcome Park as the nation prepares to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026.”
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