I am writing to you as a Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape person raised in West Philadelphia. My family comes from Palmyra, NJ and Cheswold, DE. These three places are all part of a broader Lenape territory called Lenapehoking. New Jersey and Delaware have recognized the Lenape as a sovereign people but Pennsylvania has, to date, refused to acknowledge the Lenape as a political and national entity. Despite this, Pennsylvania, specifically Philadelphia, continues to have a robust Indigenous community seeing an increase since the mid-20th century. I am also writing to you as a PhD candidate specializing in Philadelphia and Indigenous history in the 1970s and 1980s, a period that, like this one, was marked by racial unrest and a preoccupation with the city’s values. It was in 1974 that the city of Philadelphia gave a building to Indigenous people to build a center focused on assisting Indigenous people throughout the Delaware Valley Region. It was a place dedicated to education, job placement, and most importantly a place for Indigenous people to gather together with their own to socialize and embrace their cultures. In 2021, the city is at another crossroads. What are the values of the city and how do we show them? What stories do we value and who is left out or indeed subjugated by them? If the city is to change, what will it become?

As many Indigenous scholars have written, American history is Indigenous history. In the same vein, Philadelphia’s history is Lenape history. However, the city has, to date, done little with regard to the Lenape whose lands it is on. In fact, many of the city’s landmarks and statues are dedicated to those responsible for the dispossession of Lenape land, including Philadelphia. For example, Logan Square, is named after Philadelphia statesman James Logan who signed the Walking Purchase of 1737, a notable land theft of 1.2 million acres of Lenape land. The Christopher Columbus statue at Marconi Plaza is another example of a dedication to the legacy and continuation of Indigenous land dispossession. I do not mean to suggest we should forget such histories but rather ask us who has been consistently left out from the memorializations of our histories and how can we better honor the lives and stories of the marginalized. To date, the city has one statue dedicated to the Lenape, Tamanend at Front and Market Street. It is tucked away near the entrance the highway and while not far from Independence Mall is well off the beaten path for those interested in Philadelphia’s history tours. Indeed, unless you went looking for it, visitors and residents alike would likely never stumble upon it or recognize what it is. While there are place names throughout the city derived from Lenape—Manayunk, Wissahickon, and Passyunk, for example—there still remains to be a clear landmark or monument in reference to Lenape history as a central part of Philadelphia’s landscape.

Naming is a crucial part of the colonial project. By project I mean the system that perpetuates the ongoing dispossession of Native people. A system that regulates us to the past, that denies us nationhood and sovereignty, and assumes we have disappeared. All across the United States, calls for renaming are rising. This is not a Southern issue or a Confederacy issue. This is a moment of reckoning for the American people and an opportunity to reveal the ways Indigenous people and other people of color were and continue to be integral in the history of this country. Now, perhaps the question for some is should we rename everything that valorizes a white colonial man or woman who maintained and profited off a system of white supremacy and the ongoing dispossession of Native land? Is that possible? Does this really do anything? Certainly the act of renaming will not dismantle white supremacy or give us our land back. It does however call us all to recognize history in more honest ways and it is from here that we can began to reimagine what a more equitable Philadelphia may look like. One that is in line with the values we espouse. Naming is not only about memorializing the past, it is also about how we can use knowledge of that past to lead us to the future.

At this moment of change Philadelphia has an opportunity to tell history differently and confront our past and move toward a new future. It is a chance to be a part of the change that is sweeping across the nation. The city, as with the country, is long overdue for a conversation about its past. It is long overdue for a reckoning with regard to what decolonization can look like. If Philadelphia’s landmarks are meant to reflect who we are and what we value, we must recognize the ongoing presence of Lenape people and lands. It is wonderful that the Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy met with more than 70 business, civic, and religious leaders to inform the Landmarks and Monuments Review process. However, the Lenape, who ourselves have a tribal government, must be included in this new imagining of the city on our lands. Chief Mark Gould of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape could be one such informant as the city takes its next steps. The Lenape nation as a sovereign entity also has tribal officers or other community members who could be integral contributors to this process.  As the city works to reflect the diversity of its stories and histories it must remember that the city was made possible through the ongoing dispossession of Lenape land and as such Lenape stories must be included.

This is not a band-aid solution for the ongoing challenges the city faces in its effort to combat white supremacy, past and present. However, renaming is a signal that Lenape people are part of the city’s future because indeed we have not ceded our lands. Renaming is an act of decolonization. A step toward better relations with Indigenous people. It is a signal that the city is committed to highlighting the histories of Indigenous people rather than white colonizers who profited off of land theft and the exploitation of people of color. It is a signal that the city values the Lenape nation as an important constituent in building the city’s future. It is a signal that the city is in an ongoing relationship with Lenape people and lands. 2021 is a moment to rewrite the landscape itself and with the Lenape present the city can move toward a more honest and ethical future.