Seeds for such prodigious pigskin success were sown last April when South Carolina and Clemson head coaches Lou Holtz and Tommy Bowden took a step for racial justice by joining the "Get-In-Step" march from Charleston to Columbia The purpose of the march was to call for the removal of the Confederate flag, the ultimate symbol of " The Lost Cause," from the statehouse dome and the coaches' powerful statement of empathy for African-Americans' history was clear. Their black players understand the flag as a continuing symbol of racist oppression.

A controversial Legislative "compromise" was reached this session to remove the Confederate flag from the dome and the Legislative Chambers and place it in front of the statehouse behind the Confederate Soldiers' monument. To protest the removal and the small step of progress for those who feel the flag is a symbol of racism, barbecue baron Maurice Bessinger decided to "further the cause of states rights, freedom of speech and Christianity" by removing his gigantic U. S. flag at his West Columbia headquarters and replacing it with a Confederate and South Carolina state flag. Bessinger ordered the removal of Ol' Glory from his 8 Columbia area restaurants and replaced it with the Rebel and State flags.

Reporters covering the story discovered that besides the barbecue Bessinger sells tracts by ministers like "The Biblical View of Slavery." One excerpt reads, "Many of those African slaves blessed the Lord for allowing them to be enslaved and sent to America. Because what they had over here was far better than what the had over there." Besides his drive-in and drive-thru business, Bessinger delivers his barbecued pigs and chickens by air freight all over the country and sells his famous Maurice's mustard based BBQ sauce at major grocery chains.

Citing respect for the diversity of their customers and concern over the racist literature Bessinger sells, seven grocery companies, including Bi-Lo, Harris-Teeter, Food Lion, Kroger, Publix, Walmart Superstores, and Sam's Club have announced the removal of Bessinger's barbecue sauce from their shelves. Last Friday Bessinger said he could lose 40% of his business because of the sauce removal.

While grocery corporations and even nice Southern white folks who fight to keep the Confederate flag flying on the statehouse grounds voice shock at Bessinger's extremism and "Christian view" of slavery, Bessinger represents the mainstream historical justification for slavery and continuing racism in the South. Confederate President Jefferson Davis said, "We recognize the negro--as God and God's Book and God's Laws, in nature, tell us to recognize him-our inferior, fitted expressly for servitude...You cannot transform the negro into one-tenth as useful or as good as what slavery enables them to be."

In 1876, Wade Hampton, former Confederate General, South Carolina Governor and then leader of the Red Shirts, told his quasi-terrorist group, "Treat them(blacks) so as to show them you are the superior race, and that their natural position is that of subordination to the white man." South Carolina State Senator John D. Long promised in 1944, "As for the Negro voting.....by God, we'll fight him at the polls if I have to bite the dust as did my ancestors."

In my 64 years of living in Alabama, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina I've often heard that black folks are better off from being brought here as slaves. But, finally even barbecue barons are learning that the Confederacy and the racism it epitomizes is a "Lost Cause."

The winning gridiron heroics of Clemson and South Carolina, led by African-American stars like Woody Dantzler and Derek Watson, have taken some of the media attention away from the losing baron of barbecue. At least for now, Gamecock and Tiger flags are flying on some of the pickups and cars where rebel flags once flew.

Tom Turnipseed, former President of the SC Trial Lawyers Association, is a plaintiff's and civil rights attorney in Columbia, SC. He was co-counsel for the Macedonia Baptist Church, an African American congregation in Clarendon County, SC which won a $37,000,000.00 (Thirty Seven Million Dollar) verdict in 1998 against the Ku Klux Klan for burning their church. A former SC State Senator, he is active in state politics and has been the democratic nominee for state Attorney General and Congress. Tom is President of the Center for Democratic Renewal (formerly the Anti-Klan Network) a nationally recognized civil rights organization based in Atlanta. In 1998, he received the Holmes-Weatherly Award, the Unitarian-Universalist Association's highest honor for the pursuit of social justice. For many years, Tom has spoken and written on political and human rights. He has hosted radio and television shows in Columbia, SC and recently appeared on PBS' American Experience in "George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire", April 23rd and 24th, 2000, MSNBC's "Equal Time" with Oliver North and Paul Begala, February 18th, 2000, C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" with Brian Lamb, January 14th, 2000 and Fox Family Network's series "Courage", September 11, 2000. His work has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlanta Constitution, The Charlotte Observer and other papers.

###