Abbeville Copies of "Little Black Sambo" and the tales of Uncle Remus adorn the shelves of the League of the South building in downtown Abbeville, the unofficial headquarters for the Southern nationalist organization in South Carolina.

A videotaped copy of "Song of the South," the Disney film based on the Uncle Remus tales, is on sale, too. Civil rights groups objected to the characterization of blacks in the film, which was never released to home video in the United States.

A book entitled "The Negro: The Southerner's Problem," by Thomas Nelson Page, a writer who romanticized antebellum Southern life in novels and essays, occupies a shelf not far from "Roots" by Alex Haley.

Robert Hayes, who runs the store and serves as the League's South Carolina director, said materials sold in the store represent a broad assortment of views and do not demonstrate racism on the part of the League.

"We don't ban books," he said.

More than books can be found here. Near the front of the long, narrow store, facing the doorway, is a drawing of the U.S. Capitol building with a Confederate flag flying over it and the words "League of the South" emblazoned across the building. Above, the caption reads, "I Have a Dream."

A former schoolteacher in St. George with gray hair and a mustache that converges into a goatee, Hayes said racism is "a matter of perspective." He said acknowledging blacks make better basketball players isn't racist. Asked whether he believes whites are superior at academic pursuits, Hayes replied: "Obviously, there is a difference. That's why you have these set-asides."

He was referring to affirmative action programs that give preferential treatment to minorities.

League officials say there is no place for racism in the Southern nationalist organization.

"I won't say that there haven't been some members who have stood up and said something wrong," said USC history professor Clyde Wilson, one of the League's charter members, who remains on its board. "And they have been kicked out immediately."

In the League, Wilson said, "There's not preaching against anybody or any group."

Mark Potok, editor of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Report, said the League of the South is trying to rewrite history to justify modern-day racism. The report labeled the League a racist hate group three years ago.

"It's not merely a justification of Confederate forebears for these people," Potok said. "It's a justification of present-day racist attitudes."

Asked specifically whether he thinks white people are superior to blacks, Michael Hill, the League's founder and president, replied: "I certainly know this. I can't play basketball like Michael Jordan, and he's a black man and I'm a white man. I think Michael Jordan's a better basketball player than I am."

He added: "I don't think that any one person or group of people is inherently better than any other -- because I'm a Christian."

Asked whether he was saying that blacks as a group are better at basketball, Hill said: "Are you denying that? Anybody that turned on the TV to watch college or NBA games might get the sense that they were. I think different people have a penchant for doing different things."

For example, he added, "The Japanese seem to be better at mathematics than anybody else."