Category: Lenni Lenape

HARRISBURG, Pa. – The National Park Service’s proposal to remove a William Penn statue from a historic site in Philadelphia –- quickly withdrawn amid a backlash — wasn’t a priority for some of the Native Americans the agency was required to consult with as it prepared to renovate the deteriorating plaza.

Uprooting the statue of Pennsylvania’s founder from Welcome Park also wasn’t a major point of discussion as park service officials and tribal representatives met to plan the renovation over video last year, said Jeremy Johnson, director of cultural education for the Delaware Tribe of Indians.

Rather, what tribal representatives had envisioned for the plaza is an exhibit that would highlight the culture, history, traditions and perceptions of the Native Americans who had lived there for thousands of years before Penn arrived, Johnson said.

“We do still speak highly of William Penn,” Johnson said. But tribal representatives, he said, “were really just focusing on our culture and our history and that, in a way, he was an important part of it, but … it was a small interaction compared to our overall history.”

A park service spokesperson hasn’t responded to repeated questions about the abandoned proposal.

Announced quietly on Friday, the plan quickly and — perhaps unexpectedly — laid bare the sensitivities around the image of the colonial founder of Pennsylvania and threatened to become the latest front in a fight over how to tell the nation’s history through its monuments.

A top state Republican lawmaker, Bryan Cutler, said removing Penn’s statue to “create a more inclusive environment takes (an) absurd and revisionist view of our state’s history.” Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro pressed the Biden administration to keep the statute in its “rightful home.”

The park service said it consulted with representatives of the Haudenosaunee, the Delaware Nation, Delaware Tribe of Indians, the Shawnee Tribe, and the Eastern…

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Monday, Jan. 15

BIG NORTH

Indian Hills 118, Ramapo 48 – Box Score

CAPE-ATLANTIC

Ocean City 136, Lenape 33 – Box Score

CVC

Robbinsville 110, Hightstown 60 – Box Score

Steinert 107, Hamilton West 55 – Box Score

NJAC

Morris Knolls 108, Roxbury 62 – Box Score

SHORE

Toms River South 114, Toms River North 55 – Box Score

SJSL

Ocean City 136, Lenape 33 – Box Score

Monday, Jan. 15

BIG NORTH

Ramapo 102, Indian Hills 28 – Box Score

CAPE-ATLANTIC

Ocean City 89, Lenape 81 – Box Score

CVC

West Windsor-Plainsboro South 96, Ewing 43 – Box Score

Robbinsville 101, Hightstown 67 – Box Score

Steinert 103, Hamilton West 67 – Box Score

NJAC

Roxbury 109, Morris Knolls 61 – Box Score

SJSL

Ocean City 89, Lenape 81 – Box Score

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On Friday, the National Park Service sought public input on initial renovation plans for Philadelphia’s Welcome Park, located at Second Street and Sansom Walk. On Monday, the park service revoked its invitation after its proposal — which suggested the removal of a small William Penn statue and adding an “expanded interpretation of the Native American history of Philadelphia” — set off a national barrage of commentary.

I unequivocally support the park service’s move toward a redesign of the park’s current interpretation — statue or no statue. As an artist, I dedicated five years of research to Welcome Park, creating a site-specific performance/tour that spoke directly to the statue in question and surrounding design — what it does and doesn’t do.

I detail this not to claim the capital “T” Truth, but to provide my context and perspective in the rigamarole of this news cycle that will flame and die.

I’d like to address concerns and interpretations showing up repeatedly from politicians, newscasters, and across social media platforms, and move the “dialogue” around this Penn statue beyond the current fixation of removal vs. no removal.

Here are some misconceptions about what removing Penn’s statue from Welcome Park means.

We erase his role from history

William Penn deserves his place in Philadelphia’s story. He has one, many times over. Even if his statue were removed from Welcome Park, his icon would not be canceled; it’s ever-present.

Have you seen Penn’s statue atop City Hall? It’s more than 36 feet tall. What about the one at Penn Treaty Park? Oh, and how about the one outside Penn Hospital, which, coincidentally, is named after him, just like the state of Pennsylvania?

To claim the removal of one infrequently visited replica installed in 1982 is erasure or trying to “cancel William Penn out of whole cloth” (according to Republican…

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