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The Alamo should be integrated into the San Antonio Missions National Park

The Alamo should be integrated into the San Antonio Missions National Park. It should be a place to see and understand the past, good and bad. It is not a "shrine." It is an old church, built to offer/force a foreign religion to indigenous people. And it is a battleground, where a few Tejanos and white immigrants fought in a rebellion against the Mexican army -- some because of greed, others because of principle.
In the 20th century, the Alamo became site of a battle over white Texas identity. The Daughters of the Republic of Texas have thrived on this battle. See Richard Flores: http://books.google.com/books?id=Rc4mtLSzu9oC

New York Times ran an article about a legal battle at the Alamo/Mision San Antonio de Valero. The Daughters of the Republic of Texas are at the center. Of course there are good women in the organization. But as long as the Daughters' goals remain divisive, they will create (rather than memorialize) conflict.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/us/05alamo.html
"Critics Accuse Group of a Serious Texas Sin: Forgetting the Alamo"

...

This summer, the attorney general began an investigation into the group’s finances and business practices, seizing thousands of documents. As the inquiry has gone on, donations have plummeted and speculation has grown that the state may take control of the site in downtown San Antonio...

“There is a kind of mini civil war going on within the organization,” said Richard Bruce Winders, the historian and curator of the Alamo. “Unfortunately, the Alamo is caught in the middle.”

But beyond the controversy over maintenance is a larger debate over the future of the shrine and battleground, an emotional touchstone for many Texans. More than 2.5 million people visit it each year.

With 7,000 members, many from prominent Texas families, the Daughters, as they are known here, remain a political third rail no one wants to touch...

Still, Gov. Rick Perry clashed publicly this year with the Daughters over their attempt to trademark the words “the Alamo” to generate more revenue from souvenirs, and he has signaled he might consider switching custodians...

The current turmoil inside the organization began in 2006, when it started a fund-raising campaign to collect $60 million for the expansion and for preservation...

But Ms. Bowman soon fell out with the governing board after she asked for a business plan to show to donors and was rebuffed. She was fired in 2008. She and another disgruntled member, Dianne MacDiarmid, promptly started a separate charity to raise money strictly for preservation. Both women were kicked out of the group later that year.

“They punish anyone who disagrees with them,” Ms. Bowman said in an e-mail. “It is just sad that a group of stupid, vicious women could hijack an organization with a lot of good women in it.”...

“They honest to God think they own the Alamo,” Ms. Reveley said...

“The Alamo is not just a battle,” Ms. Rosser said. “It was going to be a beautiful church to convert the Indians to Christianity.”

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