Hands Off The Alamo!

     For several years now, officials in San Antonio, Texas have been working with representatives from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to get the San Antonio Spanish Missions declared as "World Heritage Sites", and they feel victory is near.  This designation would also include the most famous and beloved of all the missions, the Alamo, which sits in the heart of downtown San Antonio.
   

     For those of you who are unfamiliar with the history of the Texas Republic, the Alamo is sacred ground.  The Alamo itself consists of the Alamo Chapel and the surrounding Plaza, where most of the fighting occurred during the 1836 Battle of the Alamo; and where 189 defenders sacrificed their lives for liberty instead of surrendering to the tyrannical Mexican president Antonio López de Santa Anna. The site has since become a shrine, representing those who were willing to fight for individual freedom in the face of collective evil.  Every Texas school child knows the history of the Alamo and millions of Texans pay homage to the site year-round.
     Those who favor making the Alamo a UNESCO World Heritage Site, point to the expected $100 million influx from world tourism, and the chance to become part of UNESCO's mission to "ensure the protection of the natural and cultural heritage of nations"; and to "encourage international cooperation in the conservation of our world's cultural and natural heritage".
     But here is my concern (along with others who are a little concerned about giving the United Nations any form of control over our national heritage sites):  when a country allows a historical site to be declared a World Heritage Site they must agree to sign on to the international treaty, known as the World Heritage Convention, and to agree to "establish management plans and set up reporting systems on the state of conservation of their World Heritage sites."
     As expected, when a site becomes part of the UN's World Heritage organization, there is a manual to follow.  The manual states that it is “the duty of the international community as a whole to cooperate” in managing World Heritage Sites, meaning that bureaucrats from foreign countries could well sit on a Board and determine the Alamo’s operation.  One of the “protection obligations” of a World Heritage Site is the requirement to “use the World Heritage logo,” meaning that the Alamo Plaza would be adorned with UN symbols.  And to me, the most disturbing facet of this whole idea is that the UN flag would fly over the Alamo, among the most hallowed ground in all of Texas, and a symbol of the rugged individualism and love of liberty that personifies the history of our great state.
     I'm sure it won't surprise those of you who are familiar with the UN's Agenda 21 policies to find that the manual also suggests strategies for restricting public access to heritage sites due to “environmental concerns” under the guise of “sustainable” tourism, both familiar buzz words reflecting Agenda 21 goals.
     But once again, I was flabbergasted to find that this attempt is nothing new; and in fact, there are already quite a few of our most treasured historical sites that are now flying the UN flag.  For instance, did you know that the Statue of Liberty, Independence Hall, and the Grand Canyon are UN World Heritage sites; or that Mount Vernon, George Washington's home in northern Virginia is vying for a nomination, and both the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma and Martin Luther King's Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery Alabama, have both been placed up for nomination jointly as 'Civil Rights Era Landmarks'?  At this rate, our sovereignty and national identity will be subjugated to a collective heritage belonging to the world.  Is anybody else thinking "One World Heritage"?
     I just think it is incredibly tragic that 179 years after our Texas heroes fought to the death to defend liberty, freedom and sovereignty, that their descendants would so willingly allow another flag to fly over the compound.  Perhaps they need to reconsider the last words from the commander of the Alamo, Lt. Colonel William Barrett Travis, and to rethink their own surrender of the Alamo to the United Nations.

To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World—

Fellow Citizens & compatriots—

     I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna — I have sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man — The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken — I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls — I shall never surrender or retreat.  Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch — The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days.  If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country — Victory or Death.

William Barrett Travis.

Lt.  Col. comdt.

P. S.  The Lord is on our side — When the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn — We have since found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels and got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves.

Proverbs 19:21    "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand."