(Headline USA) The Biden administration canceled its plan to remove a statue of William Penn from a Philadelphia park this week after facing backlash from even Pennsylvania Democrats.
The National Park Service revealed over the weekend that it would remove the statue of Penn, the founder of the state of Pennsylvania, in order to make Philadelphia’s Welcome Park more “welcoming, accurate, and inclusive.”
The new design, being pushed by woke Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, would have reportedly included additional information about Native Americans that lived in the area before it was colonized.
However, on Monday the NPS announced the plan “was released prematurely and had not been subject to a complete internal agency review. No changes to the William Penn statue are planned,” the agency said in a press release.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro took credit for the Biden administration’s reversal, admitting that he was one of several Democrats who urged the NPS not to remove Penn’s statue.
“My team has been in contact with the Biden Administration throughout the day to correct this decision,” he said. “I’m pleased Welcome Park will remain the rightful home of this William Penn statue.”
Republicans also blasted the Biden administration. Pennsylvania’s top Republican state House member, Rep. Bryan Cutler, accused the NPS of trying to “cancel” William Penn, calling the proposed removal “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.”
The NPS did confirm its plans to make changes to Welcome Park eventually, and did not rule out removing Penn’s statue at some point in the future.
“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,” the agency said. “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.”
