Woke US National Park Service U-TURNS on plan to remove statue after backlash

The National Park Service (NPS) said that its removal from Welcome Park would “provide a more welcoming, accurate, and inclusive experience for visitors”.

The proposal also called for an “expanded interpretation of the Native American history of Philadelphia”, after working with numerous indigenous tribes.

However, yesterday the NPS said it had withdrawn the plan.

They described it as a “draft” that “was released prematurely and had not been subject to a complete internal agency review.”

“No changes to the William Penn statue are planned,” a news release said.

Penn, who founded Pennsylvania in 1681, was known for his amicable treatment of his slaves.

His statue is located in Welcome Park, which is named after the ship that he took from England to the US.

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The park was built in 1982 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Penn’s arrival.

The proposals had drawn staunch criticism from many online, who responded to a social media post which called for members of the public to submit feedback from January 8 to January 21.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro celebrated the news on social media, writing that the park “will remain the rightful home of this William Penn statue — right here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Penn founded”.

“Good! Now please fire whoever came up with this idea,” one wrote in response to the update.

Another chimed in: “Thank you for doing the right thing.”

A third added: “Good. Please refrain from proposing this again in the future. There is overwhelming opposition, and for good reason.”

The Pennsylvania House Republican Leader Bryan Cutler slammed the proposal. He said in a statement: “The decision by President Biden and his administration to try and cancel William Penn out of whole cloth 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,”

He said the treaty signed by Penn with Native Americans was historical and with “mutual respect shown between Penn and Native tribes.”

“This issue is also deeply personal to me. The first Cutlers came to Pennsylvania in 1685 on the ship Rebekah, not long after Penn’s arrival in 1682.

“They came to Pennsylvania because they were Quakers who shared Penn’s view of religious tolerance and peace.”

Cutler said removing the statue creates an “absurd and revisionist view of our state’s history.”