National Park Service to rehabilitate Welcome Park and remove statue

Lavender Room
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Welcome Park with a statue of Pennsylvania’s founder William Penn sits on the site of Penn’s former homestead.

The rehabilitation will include an “expanded interpretation of the Native American history of Philadelphia.” As of right now the major changes are to add planters on three sides and some benches but to also remove the statue of Penn and the replica of his former house. Future plans will replace the Penn timeline in another area of the park.

Admittedly I am not up to date on all of my history. And I understanding of the value of addressing blights on our country’s past, and those are commemorated with statues that have been removed. But I thought Penn and the Quakers were respectful of the native Delaware and made and kept treaties with them.

Seems odd to me that the best solution is to basically remove all mention of the, seemingly respectful, founder of the state in a park that has been there for almost half a century that sits on the grounds of his former home.

I know it’s late but I don’t get this one at the moment.

https://www.nps.gov/inde/learn/news/park-seeks-input-on-the-rehabilitation-of-welcome-park.htm

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It will “provide a more welcoming, accurate, and inclusive experience for visitors,” by removing the white straight Christian guy obviously.

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I personally am looking forward to visiting the great state of Haudenosylvania again, with or without the William Penn statue.

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Penn was a slave owner. That could be the reason. Other slave owner statues have been removed from government properties.

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Was Pennsylvania named after him? Then nothing short of name change will do.

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It will “provide a more welcoming, accurate, and inclusive experience for visitors,” by removing the white straight Christian guy obviously.

Hey now. How do you know how he identified?

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Penn was a slave owner. That could be the reason. Other slave owner statues have been removed from government properties.

Your reply made me do some more reading. At first search I had read he was in support of local natives as well as in favor of abolishing slavery.

After your post I see some mention that he was more interested in helping the local native Americans than he was addressing the slavery issue.

So it might be as you say. Then it would make more sense to rehabilitate the park in such a way to honor the slaves or African Americans.

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Was Pennsylvania named after him? Then nothing short of name change will do.

I’m sure it’s been proposed somewhere.

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W

Seems odd to me that the best solution is to basically** remove all mention **of the, seemingly respectful, founder of the state in a park that has been there for almost half a century that sits on the grounds of his former home.

Is that what’s really happening? I’m not getting that from the article. It says a statue and a timeline are being removed.

I had to laugh, I Googled Welcome Park to look for more information. I stopped caring when I saw the very first link was to a Fox News article.

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W

Seems odd to me that the best solution is to basically** remove all mention **of the, seemingly respectful, founder of the state in a park that has been there for almost half a century that sits on the grounds of his former home.

I had to laugh, I Googled Welcome Park to look for more information. I stopped caring when I saw the very first link was to a Fox News article.

That says more about you than anything.

This was mine https://www.ushistory.org/tour/welcome-park.htm

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W

Seems odd to me that the best solution is to basically** remove all mention **of the, seemingly respectful, founder of the state in a park that has been there for almost half a century that sits on the grounds of his former home.

I had to laugh, I Googled Welcome Park to look for more information. I stopped caring when I saw the very first link was to a Fox News article.

That says more about you than anything.

This was mine https://www.ushistory.org/tour/welcome-park.htm

That’s the first link I get, but above that I have a few, “Top Stories” about the changes to the park. I see the same thing in incognito mode.

Out of curiosity, I just walked over to the community PC in our break room. I get the same result and I’ve never touched that computer.

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W

Seems odd to me that the best solution is to basically** remove all mention **of the, seemingly respectful, founder of the state in a park that has been there for almost half a century that sits on the grounds of his former home.

I had to laugh, I Googled Welcome Park to look for more information. I stopped caring when I saw the very first link was to a Fox News article.

That says more about you than anything.

This was mine https://www.ushistory.org/tour/welcome-park.htm

That’s the first link I get, but above that I have a few, “Top Stories” about the changes to the park. I see the same thing in incognito mode.

Out of curiosity, I just walked over to the community PC in our break room. I get the same result and I’ve never touched that computer.

Google can track you wherever you are…

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W

Seems odd to me that the best solution is to basically** remove all mention **of the, seemingly respectful, founder of the state in a park that has been there for almost half a century that sits on the grounds of his former home.

Is that what’s really happening? I’m not getting that from the article. It says a statue and a timeline are being removed.

I had to laugh, I Googled Welcome Park to look for more information. I stopped caring when I saw the very first link was to a Fox News article.

It appears as though I’ve put significantly more effort into this than you have. I tend to do that before I post.

The park seems minimalistic in nature. And I could possibly find more (if the following is wrong) but apparently the statue, the Slate Roof house model, and the timeline on the south wall are the only references to Penn at the park. According to my searching.

I’m sure that’s more info than when you first googled and gave up. Not to mention I linked the National Park Service news release in my OP so this is far more than a Fox News thing.

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I’m sure that’s more info than when you first googled and gave up. Not to mention I linked the National Park Service news release in my OP so this is far more than a Fox News thing.

I’m curious, how did you happen upon the National Park Service news release?

I read the release, it doesn’t say they are removing all mention of Penn, I was wondering how you came to that conclusion.

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I’m sure that’s more info than when you first googled and gave up. Not to mention I linked the National Park Service news release in my OP so this is far more than a Fox News thing.

I’m curious, how did you happen upon the National Park Service news release?

I read the release, it doesn’t say they are removing all mention of Penn, I was wondering how you came to that conclusion.

Just his statue and house to be more “inclusive.”

Including by subtracting amirite comrade?

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I’m sure that’s more info than when you first googled and gave up. Not to mention I linked the National Park Service news release in my OP so this is far more than a Fox News thing.

I’m curious, how did you happen upon the National Park Service news release?

I read the release, it doesn’t say they are removing all mention of Penn, I was wondering how you came to that conclusion.

You really seem to be grasping at straws here to someone pin Fox News as the bad guy when this is a legitimate release from the govt itself. And I never mentioned Fox News or any bias of any kind.

I heard about the story on an meme app that I mindlessly scroll through. And I happened upon the NPS link when I googled.

When I googled “welcome park statue removal” the first links in order are:

6ABC
National review
Daily Mall
Fox News small window in lateral scrolling bar with top stories
Then NPS

Why are we comparing google’s search rankings?

Also, the NPS doesn’t HAVE to use the words “remove any mention of” specifically. It’s called making an inference with the information provided. As I mentioned, the NPS release mentioned the planned removal of three specific things that relate to Penn and my subsequent searching found that those seem to be the only things about Penn in the park itself. However I admitted there could be more but they didnt come up in my searching.

So, how much work have you actually put into anything on this thread other than assumptions, admitting you gave up searching quickly, and ignoring basic reading comprehension because I already stated why I used the phrase “any mention of” in a previous reply to you.

Replies and approaches like yours in this thread make conversation about controversial topics really difficult.

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I’m sure that’s more info than when you first googled and gave up. Not to mention I linked the National Park Service news release in my OP so this is far more than a Fox News thing.

I’m curious, how did you happen upon the National Park Service news release?

I read the release, it doesn’t say they are removing all mention of Penn, I was wondering how you came to that conclusion.

You really seem to be grasping at straws here to someone pin Fox News as the bad guy when this is a legitimate release from the govt itself. And I never mentioned Fox News or any bias of any kind.

I heard about the story on an meme app that I mindlessly scroll through. And I happened upon the NPS link when I googled.

When I googled “welcome park statue removal” the first links in order are:

6ABC
National review
Daily Mall
Fox News small window in lateral scrolling bar with top stories
Then NPS

Why are we comparing google’s search rankings?

Also, the NPS doesn’t HAVE to use the words “remove any mention of” specifically. It’s called making an inference with the information provided. As I mentioned, the NPS release mentioned the planned removal of three specific things that relate to Penn and my subsequent searching found that those seem to be the only things about Penn in the park itself. However I admitted there could be more but they didnt come up in my searching.

So, how much work have you actually put into anything on this thread other than assumptions, admitting you gave up searching quickly, and ignoring basic reading comprehension because I already stated why I used the phrase “any mention of” in a previous reply to you.

Replies and approaches like yours in this thread make conversation about controversial topics really difficult.

My apologies, carry on. I just get tired of what I perceive and manufactured controversial topics. I should just choose to ignore them.

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My apologies, carry on. I just get tired of what I perceive and manufactured controversial topics. I should just choose to ignore them.

Everybody needs a bit more patience in today’s heated climate of hot topics. Thats why I do my best to choose my words carefully. The third paragraph in my OP was specifically written to put out any fires like yours and try to get legitimate answers and discussion.

But I understand what you mean when you say you get tired of a lot of the shit out there. I’m right there with you. But we shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Also nothing wrong with realizing you need to tap out. I can’t tell you how often I type and then delete before I hit reply. I’ve gotten so much better at realizing if I’ve lost my cool or if I can continue with thick skin and patience.

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. Also nothing wrong with realizing you need to tap out.

Can you send windy that memo?

I’ll sit it out. I didn’t know Welcome Park existed. So I can’t credibly be all that upset that part of something I didn’t know existed is being removed.

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My apologies, carry on. I just get tired of what I perceive and manufactured controversial topics. I should just choose to ignore them.

Everybody needs a bit more patience in today’s heated climate of hot topics. Thats why I do my best to choose my words carefully. The third paragraph in my OP was specifically written to put out any fires like yours and try to get legitimate answers and discussion.

But I understand what you mean when you say you get tired of a lot of the shit out there. I’m right there with you. But we shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Also nothing wrong with realizing you need to tap out. I can’t tell you how often I type and then delete before I hit reply. I’ve gotten so much better at realizing if I’ve lost my cool or if I can continue with thick skin and patience.

Let’s be honest about magnitude and exposure here. I would expect news outlets to pick up on something when it’s bigger. Like altering the Lincoln memorial or something larger than this is.

Which, then, I ask the question “why is this appearing anywhere except the park service announcement?”. Because there’s people out there looking to feed the rage machine.

People rage out about old influential white guy monuments being removed that generates a lot of “clicks” and sells ad revenue because we’re dumb enough to swallow the hook.

Move on.