The Biden administration’s National Park Service (NPS) has backed down from a plan to remove the statue of William Penn from the site of his historic home at Philadelphia’s Welcome Park. The NPS claims that the plan was “released prematurely.”
As Breitbart News reported, the NPS had planned to renovate the park and to remove the statue of colonial hero William Penn:
The National Park Service, under President Joe Biden, has announced that it intends to remove the statue of William Penn from Welcome Park in Philadelphia — the historic home of the founder of Pennsylvania, and an important early colonial figure.
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Penn is a uniquely respected figure in American history. A Quaker, he treated the Native Americans of the area with respect and deference. However, he also owned slaves, which has led to the removal of his name from some historic sites.
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In his now-infamous remarks on the Charlottesville riot in 2017 — during which he actually condemned the neo-Nazis and white supremacists, contrary to the Democratic Party’s continued propaganda — then-President Donald Trump warned that the removal of Confederate statues would be followed by the removal of statues of American heroes — a prediction that continues to be fulfilled.
Following a public outcry, the NPS issued a statement on Monday:
Independence National Historical Park has withdrawn the review of a draft proposal to rehabilitate Welcome Park and closed the public comment period.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 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 is located on the site of William Penn’s home, the Slate Roof House, and is named for the ship, Welcome, which transported Penn to Philadelphia. The design and construction of Welcome Park was funded by the Independence Historical Trust and was completed in 1982.
The state itself will retain the name “Pennsylvania.”
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the 2021 e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now updated with a new foreword. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.