The reception of the Ground Zero Texas burial ground takes place with heated debate
The legacy of the Texas Revolution continues in battle as descendants of people who were at the Alamo are locked in a bitter disagreement over what to do with the burial ground.
The city has refused to grant permission for the ground to be opened to the public. Officials say open burial pits in the long abandoned area would pose a safety risk, but some descendants say the city is obsessed with devaluing history.
Members of the Goliad San José Historical Society held a press conference on Saturday to discuss the issue, and members of the Emma McLarty Home for the Aged, a women’s shelter in San Marcos, spoke at the unveiling of a plaque to mark the abandoned site as a memorial.
They said digging up the plot to make way for a new park, hotel or a monument would dishonour their ancestors.
“This cemetery was built to honour our ancestors’ names and we all want to be cremated here,” said Clei Hancock, member of the Goliad San José Historical Society.
“We fought for the rights of blacks and women to vote and now the city wants to do the same for the rest of us. It’s absurd.”
Police officers were called to the event because of a dispute among descendants but no arrests were made.
The burial ground was once the largest in Texas, covering 3.4 hectares (9.7 acres). Much of it was desecrated during the civil war, with buildings and people scattered throughout.
Some 21,000 people are buried in the ground, of whom just over 600 are descendants of the Mexican or Texas Native Americans who lived in Texas before 1836.
Residents of San Marcos have been divided over the decision to close off the cemetery to the public. On a morning walk last week three families walked around the perimeter and stopped to get an idea of what their predecessors had stood for.
Some neighbours who are staunchly opposed to opening the burial ground came out and took photographs.
The city council could decide as early as next week whether to approve granting permission for it to be opened to the public.
Dozens of people came out at a special meeting on Monday to listen to the presentation of an official report on the Ground Zero Cemetery.
Flavia Gonzales of the Emma McLarty Home for the Aged said: “This site is not yet a site of memorial or of exploitation, but it still is.”
Jeff Klauser, with the San Marcos San Marcos Visitors and Convention Bureau, said that the decision to close off the site needed to be carefully made.
“In making any decision here it would be important to bring the local history to the forefront,” he said.
“We want people to know the importance of this burial ground. People have to come here to understand that the owners of Ground Zero are not going to destroy it just to build a hotel or a park.”