About Maurice Bessinger

'SC barbecue baron changes Confederate flags at some restaurants'

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Thank you,
m.

beaufortgazette.com/state_news/regional/story/6711565p-5983796c.html

Contrary to his racial bias, i still miss his great frozen dinners that used to be in every SC grocery store.

His yellow barbecue sauce is one of my favorites.

The best yellow sauce I've had was at Bessinger's just outside of Charleston. Are they realted?

QFan
Bonita Springs, FL

QFan, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Bessinger's of Charleston is Maurice's brother, though he doesn't share his brother's views on the Rebel flag. Both places have excellent 'que!

jeepguy, oh how I wish I could still get those frozen dinners -- they went the way of Winn-Dixie, sadly. LOVED them, though.

Earlier this month I happend to watch on c-span the change of command of the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff held in VA.
I was surprised to see the Stars and Bars proudly diplayed behind the speakers podium. I personally don't have a problem with this knowing a lot of good men died under that flag fighting for what they belived in.
It just made me think that the state of So. Carolina won't display it because it isn't P/C, but our National goverement dose. I'll keep my thoughts of Mr. Bessinger to myself though. Chow Jim

All of the barbecue Bessingers in SC are related, but I don't know that it's brother-close in this generation. Melvin's in Charleston is, I think, a cousin, maybe second.

I mean, Maurice is what he is. A dinosaur. He can call whatever flag he flies the queen's panties if he wants, but it still means he's a racist. More honest about it than a lot of folks are here, but there you have it.

Nancy, thanks for the correction to my outdated SC knowledge. Do you eat Maurice's BBQ or use his sauce? Just curious...for I've made many a trip to Columbia for both...

quote:

Originally posted by ayersian

QFan, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Bessinger's of Charleston is Maurice's brother, though he doesn't share his brother's views on the Rebel flag. Both places have excellent 'que!

jeepguy, oh how I wish I could still get those frozen dinners -- they went the way of Winn-Dixie, sadly. LOVED them, though.

It wasn't just Winn-Dixie...

Nancypalooza

I will agree with you about Maurice being a racist, but not all who believe in the stars and bars or the Confederacy are.

The thing I find most funny about Maurice and his Flag raising.

The rebel flag he flew for 7 years was NEVER recognized as a Confederate National Flag, in fact it was/is a bastard of the Second Confederate Navy Jack and the Battle flag.



Battle Flag usually 48 inches square



Confederate Second Naval Jack a
3' x 5' rectangle but the blue was lighter (more like the Bonnie Blue Flag of the secessionist states)



3' x 5' rectangle darker blue like the square battle flag, Never flown as the symbol of the Confederate States of America.

The flying of a Confederate Flag may be seen by some as racial, and for Maurice it is, but there are many others (Myself included) that see the stars and bars



as a historical symbol, that represents pride and rememberance my ancestors.



edited to name the 2nd naval jack

I used to eat there quite a lot, and gave his sauce as gifts, and then all the CBF hullaballoo started. Y'all might not realize that it's not limited to the flagpole out front. He keeps an area inside each restaurant that's full of literature. I mean, I'm not saying I'm faultless because I was eating there when the flag was flying and the table of literature was pretty small, and I used to take people to the Hwy 60 location just to look at the cockamamie mural on the ceiling of Maurice astride a white horse (eyeroll). But after the whole business about the flag flying at the State House happened, he got crazier and crazier, and those literature areas got larger and larger, it bothered me more, and I stopped going there altogether. He resells barbecue meat to Rush's hamburgers for their BBQ sandwiches, so if you have to have his stuff you can get it that way, but I don't eat those either.

This state struggles with race, it is in our history, but at some point you have to choose which side you're on, you know? I have no truck with any politician who spends any actual time on the issue because it is not feeding people, or schooling them, but you can very closely predict who a politician here is pandering to by the amount of time they spend on it. I actually voted for David Beasley, quite possibly the stupidest Republican governor we ever had, because he had the total balls to tell people flying it at the state house was wrong. You don't see that kind of balls here a lot.

Thanks for your comment, Nancy. Growing up in northern South Carolina, I guess I had a more idealistic view of race relations -- still do, to an extent. I never gave much credence to those lit areas in the restaurants, as I was too concerned with getting that BBQ into my belly after walking through the parking lot and smelling that pork cooking. My non-SC friends would gawk at the mural and lit; the man definitely had his views on the subject, but that was okay with me. Out in the sticks around Rock Hill, people still fly the Rebel flag in front of their houses, and now I most commonly see it displayed on cars -- even in New England! I think it's become more of a symbol of the South than any kind of race-related subjugation...IMHO.

And I know what you're talking about; we always thought it was neutral, you know? Somebody else's harmless stupidity. I think I'm a bit older than you, ayersian, and I've just gotten to where I don't see it as harmless anymore. And that's where I appreciate your comments, CajunKing, and I know people take their confederate family heritage very seriously, but I also think that people don't ever follow the money, as it were, to what all this actually means.

Nothing gets me angrier here than some 25 year old upper/middle class white kid being disrespectful of some black 'bum' they see on the street corner. I want to grab them up by the scruff of the neck and say, you know, you go back six or seven generations and it's entirely possible that remnants of your family *owned* remnants of theirs and you are in the comfy situation you are in because your people benefited off their forced labor. So unless you want to go hand that person the keys to the $30K truck you're driving, or give them the education you got without too much struggle, shut it. And I know that fifteen years ago, I was one of those white kids being disrespectful. Nobody wants to think about that stuff because it's unpleasant. But it doesn't make it not true.

Now I know that people go on about how the North had slaves and the Civil War was really about economically hamstringing the South, blah dee blah dee justificationpants, whatever. It still doesn't mean that you can ignore the fundamental wrong of slavery, and whatever you do to celebrate or embrace that past looks like you're celebrating that too. You can't put that many words on your confederate flag bumper sticker to explain your position.

And I would imagine what's really in Maurice's craw is that 70 years ago, hell, 40 years ago, the 'acceptable white middle class man' in the south was frequently a member of the Klan or a sympathizer, and it irks him that I'm sure a lot of other barbecue barons and other folks in SC were people who just learned to either give it up or hide it better, and he sees that as hypocrisy.

Edited to add: I know I get a 'lighten up Francis' for this response. I'm aware of that.

I thought long and hard before I changed my original post to the one I posted above.

However I did save my original and I will post it now.

(Original Post)

It is unfortunate that the historical signifigance of why some of the Southern States felt the need to secede from the union has been muddied.

Some of the very same issues that divided this country then, are still dividing us now. They didn't have the terminology then, but "Big Brother" was a major dividing point. The State's right to choose for themselves, rather than have the Federal Gov't tell them what to do.

We fight that same point today, do we want the Fed's telling us what we can and can't do, can and can't say, NO, and neither did most of the Southern States.

Yes, Slavery was an abomination and needed to stop. However the slavery issue was not the original cause of the "War of Northern Agression", "The War Between the States" or the "Civil War".

It became the most important issue, but was not the original issue, The state rights to choose/govern themselves, was the original.

Do I believe the states should have the right to govern themselves? YES
Do I believe inthe US Constitution & Declaration of Independence? YES
Would I fight to defend those rights? YES
Does that make me a Racist? NO

Again it has become unfortunate that certain groups or individuals abuse the heritage of the confederacy.

Many of the Founders of the Confederacy struggled with the decision they had to make, many of them struggled with the issue of slavery. It haunted many of them to their dying day.

A struggle that tore a country apart, a country that fought so hard less than 100 years before to gain their freedom and Independence.

(End of Original post)

http://www.civilwarhome.com/csa.htm

This is a great website for the historical information on the Confederacy.

Nancypalooza

You are right about the words on a bumper sticker, that is why those who really care about the heritage of the confederacy, usually display the original stars and bars.

(Maurice is not one of those)

When people see that flag they ask what it is and then it is my chance to explain it.

(I will not tell you to lighten up, I know this topic to this day stirs some deep emotion in people)

Donald

Yankee by Birth, Southerner by the Grace of God! (exiled to yankee territory, just barely)

Heck, I just like the 'que. Next time I'm in Columbia, Nancy, the BBQ's on me, you pick the place...and hopefully you'll say Hudson's of Lexington, because I've never been there and am very curious since you gave it major props in the Columbia forum!

And I do understand what y'all are saying, don't get me wrong. When I see a Rebel flag sticker on a car in CT, it just makes me smile because I'm proud to be a Southerner...by birth, at least. And I miss good BBQ. And sweet tea. And pimiento cheese.

There is so much misinformation about the civil war reading a textbook is like reading Star magazine. Omissions have led to such stereotypes and foolishness that I can't believe more people aren't asking for truth in the schools. I think we can give kids more credit to not present them with a comicbook view of right versus wrong north/south as they paint that period. You shouldn't have to wait until college to learn that northerners went to the south to fight for the confederacy and some southerns went north to fight for the union and the north had just as many prejudices as us backwoods southern illiterates. There is a reason why the underground railroad went all the way to Canada and didn't stop at the Mason Dixon line.

Now being in this century we should all be able to agree that the underground railroad is good, historical slavery and continuing racism in the north and south is bad, and let the textbooks show that there were grey areas.

And yes, BBQ is good.

CK I'm glad you stuck to your original post, and I'm glad well reasoned folks like you are around. I just pass the damn flagpole with the compromise flag at the State House grounds literally every day on my way to work and it makes me cranky. One of many many reasons I get cranky. :)

ayersian, you're on. It would probably be Hudson's, unless you felt up to a trip to Shealy's. And that's the thing--Hudson's was hanging a Sam Brownback sign last month and the Shealys prominently display their picture of W's 2000 visit in the dining room. I know for a fact I don't like their politics, but I can sure live with myself eating there more so than at Maurice's.

quote:

Originally posted by divefl

There is so much misinformation about the civil war reading a textbook is like reading Star magazine. Omissions have led to such stereotypes and foolishness that I can't believe more people aren't asking for truth in the schools. I think we can give kids more credit to not present them with a comicbook view of right versus wrong north/south as they paint that period. You shouldn't have to wait until college to learn that northerners went to the south to fight for the confederacy and some southerns went north to fight for the union and the north had just as many prejudices as us backwoods southern illiterates. There is a reason why the underground railroad went all the way to Canada and didn't stop at the Mason Dixon line.

Now being in this century we should all be able to agree that the underground railroad is good, historical slavery and continuing racism in the north and south is bad, and let the textbooks show that there were grey areas.

And yes, BBQ is good.

Wonderful! A rare voice of reason on this site!!

P. S. Charleston has the only Huguenot church in the United States (that I or my Huguenot friend T. Ballard Lesemann knows of). It is in downtown Charleston and has around a thousand members.

Dearfolk,
Off the topic of Maurice Bessenger, I know, but I ran across an interesting fact last night that I wanted to share herein.
Charleston's French Huguenot Church, located at 136 Church Street at Queen Street, was built in 1844-45 and is the only church of its denomination that still adheres to the original French liturgy.
Only a few blocks away on Hasell Street is Congregation Beth Elohim, the birthplace of American Reform Judaism in 1824. It is the second-oldest synagogue in the United States (I assume after Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island).
Now bring on that mustard-based sauce! I'm making mine with Woeber's Hot & Spicy Mustard.
Unyellowedly, Ort. Carlton in I-Won't-Condemn-It Athens, Georgia.

Ort. Carlton,
You aren't too far from Batesburg/Leesville? You're fairly close to me. Relatively speaking. I used to go to Shealy's all the time. Have you ever tried Wise's in Newberry?

quote:

Originally posted by matilda
Ort. Carlton,
You aren't too far from Batesburg/Leesville? You're fairly close to me. Relatively speaking. I used to go to Shealy's all the time. Have you ever tried Wise's in Newberry?

Matilda,
She take me money and run to Newberry. (So much for my attempt at calypso!)
No, I haven't! This gives me another place to go visit. At some point, I want to stop in at Counts' Sausage in Prosperity and compliment their wonderful onion sausage (which I used to eat with breakfast at The Seaboard Diner on Gervais Street in Columbia years ago.). They also make a liver pudding similar to Harvin's out of Sumter, which will get you through times of no livermush (which fortunately I've never had to face!).
For great onion rings, try Pete's On Concord in Anderson. Or The Time Drive-Inn in Seneca. I've still never been to Skin Thrasher's in Anderson, though.
Curiouser And Curiouser, Ort. Carlton, Online In Athens, Georgia.

Hi Ort.
I haven't been to Skin Thrashers in a long, long time. My aunt and uncle, who have lived in Anderson forever, used to rave about the place. So did my Grandmother and especially my Grandfather--they lived in Clemson forever, until they died. We used to go there a lot. I recently lived up there again, myself, in Greenville, for about two years, and the place wasn't even mentioned. Sorry if that's a bummer.
One place you must visit if you're in Greenville is the original "Clock." It's located just at the point of N.Pleasantburg in Greenville, at the tip of Bob Jones and just below the Red Lobster. The same great food as always and the same people who've owned and run it since I was tiny.
Tanner's Big Orange is another. The food isn't as totally remarkable as it used to be but that Orange Drink and Punch still is just as great. Order it by the jug and add your own ice, though. Man. Good stuff. The food is very good, but very greasy.
Tom's Ham House is great in Greenville and so is Earl's(?) just across from the Main Library. Mmmm. Greenville is loaded with good food.
The same old Pete's are open in Greenville, don't know if they're related to the Anderson one, though. I have been to The Time, but again, it's been some time.
The Lil'Rebel is still even in business. I could not believe it. I was very happy in Greenville, food-wise. There are more, but I've gone off on too much a tangent already.

I forgot to mention Cateran's, which is just down/across from the Clock and near an old, old motel. Man, the food is killer and home-cooked all-the-way... . Mmmmm.

Matilda,
Interesting that you'd mention The Clock. I've seen the one over by Bob Jones on Wade Hampton Boulevard (I believe it is) when hunting thrift stores, but there are three -- yes, three -- different Clocks on or just off White Horse Road! One is The Original Clock, one is The Clock Drive-In, and the third is an eat-in-only place... all run by Greek families, and each with its own neighborhood clientele. A Google search through the phone book will net you the names and addresses... I can't remember what the cross road is that the eat-in one faces (it's beside the drive-in one, and they're very obviously two separate establishments). It's near City View, because I know someone who lives over there. If I tried every place that has been recommended to me in Greenville, I'd have to move there to be able to eat in them all!
For some reason, that Anderson/Greenville/Greer/Spartanburg area of South Carolina is home to many good Greek-family-owned places, most of which serve fresh vegetables (in sme cases from their own farms).
I'll ask you some more another time... somewhere back there, we all were talking about Maurice Bessinger, I think it was.
Off Tracked (And Unashamed Of It!), Ort. Carlton in Lovel, Chilly 30601-land.

The old Drive-In on Wade Hampton is the one. Still has the places and menus to drive up to, but you have to go in to order and eat.
There is a large population of Greek restaurants there. I worked at one for a little while.
I didn't think the drive-in was Greek, though.
It's ok you're OT, I'm OP. LOL!

FOOD okay....MAURICE bad

....I still prefer Lexington (NC) #1 -

Good 'cue and no 'tude

Having moved from Winston-Salem, NC, in 1982 to Charleston, SC, I never thought that NC looked so progressive until I lived in SC and walked into a Bessingers.......

"Home again, home again" ! lol

BTW, if anyone wants to hit Snappy Lunch in Mt Airy NC, I hear it's about 3-ish months before he retires

Bob in NC

Bless Maurice's pointed little head.........

I hate to wonder where Fred Phelps feeds HIS family OTR....

WE caught him at Stameys BBQ in Greensboro NC and PLASTERED his untaxed 'church vans' (for his inbred<?> family) with equality stickers

....we had several 1000

BBQ = politics = religion?

I think ( /-HOPE) not

...and yes, Maurice Bessinger has been a boil on the butt of the 1st amendment for a LONG time, folks

Nice one waiterhell!

Ort. I have been to Jackie Hite's too. There is something about the Batesburg-Leesville version of the SC mustard sauce; it's very savory, and Jackie Hite's is maybe even better than Shealy's. I don't remember what day is Liver Nip day, but Tuesday lunch I think is the new fish fry service, and I want to try that next time I'm off on a Tuesday.