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Posted on 09/28/2001 9:30:07 AM PDT by shuckmaster

COLUMBIA -- Barbecue baron Maurice Bessinger vows in a new book to continue fighting for the Confederate flag even as he rebuilds a business decimated by what he calls the enemies of freedom.

The self-published book, "Defending My Heritage, The Maurice Bessinger Story," describes the 71-year-old Orangeburg County native's 40-year battle to run his restaurants his own way, free from interference from what he believes are unconstitutional restraints.

"The South is the last bastion where a belief in freedom and independence persists among the common people. That is the reason why we absolutely must preserve our Southern heritage, at all costs," Bessinger writes.

The books are available at Bessinger's restaurants and on the Web at www.mauricesbbq.com.

The cover features the blue and white X that is the center of the Confederate flag, a banner Bessinger says should never have been removed from the State House dome in July 2000.

In his book, Bessinger vows to fight to get the flag put back on top of the State House.

Bessinger fought integration of his former restaurant on Columbia's Main Street in the 1960s, a case he lost at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bessinger rebounded to create a chain of barbecue restaurants and a wholesale sauce business. At one point, his famous mustard-based concoction was on the shelves of 3,000 grocery stores on the East Coast.

That was several years ago. Since he became embroiled in the Confederate flag controversy, Bessinger's world has taken a hit.

The State reported in August 2000 that his restaurants offered copies of a religious pamphlet that claimed some slaves were thankful because life in America was better than what they had in Africa. Afterward, several grocery chains banned Bessinger's products.

Now, Sam's Club, Wal-Mart, Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Bi-Lo, Kroger, Publix and Piggly Wiggly refuse to carry his sauce. Bessinger estimates he's lost 98 percent of his business.

"God seems to have picked me to fight one of His biggest battles in South Carolina - to fight, that is, for the Constitution, for truth, and for honor," Bessinger writes.

Confederate flag supporter Lake High said the retailers are attempting to censor Bessinger.

"I think it's criminal, plus there's no question that it is political correctness writ large," High said. "That's exactly what political correctness is, is censorship."

Bessinger is suing those stores to return his sauce to their shelves.

Bessinger claims in his book that African Americans were happier before integration. He claims that 95 percent of African Americans preferred segregation.

Bessinger, who ran for governor in 1974, is misguided, said J.T. McLawhorn, executive director of the Columbia Urban League, a civil rights organization.

"First of all, the segregation of the South was detrimental to all Southerners," McLawhorn said.

Northern corporations seeking to expand in the South were put off by segregation, he said. Integration, McLawhorn said, "was a win for white Southerners also, because of what it did to open the economic floodgates of the South."

John West, South Carolina governor from 1971 to 1975, remembers well the inequality of segregation.

West questions Bessinger's claims that African Americans were better educated in segregated schools.

"That is so farfetched," West said. "I saw the black schools and I saw the black children. There was no comparison to the black schools and white schools, both in terms of facilities and teacher training."

Among other claims Bessinger makes in his book are:

There is an international elite, whom he calls "globalists," who want to disband the United States and merge it with other nations of the world to form a world government funded by American taxpayers. These elites are the precursor to the antichrist.

The civil rights movement was a "Satanic attempt" by the global elites to eventually seize power in the United States.

In an interview Wednesday at the headquarters of Piggie Park Enterprises in West Columbia, Bessinger said he has always been "a person who stood for the truth."

The barbs and arrows of his foes have stung, he said. "It really hurts. No one knows how much it hurts," Bessinger said.

"It's terribly frustrating. You feel so defenseless that it's difficult to fight."

But fight he will. "I've never entertained retreating," he said.

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