During months of pandemic isolation, Wesley Morris, a critic at large for The New York Times, decided to grow a mustache.
The reviews were mixed and predictable. He heard it described as βpornyβ and βcreepy,β as well as βruggedβ and βextra gay.β
It was a comment on a group call, however, that gave him pause. Someone noted that his mustache made him look like a lawyer for the N.A.A.C.P.βs legal defense fund.
βIt was said as a winking correction and an earnest clarification β Yβall, this is what it is,β Wesley said. βThe call moved on, but I didnβt. That is what it is: one of the sweetest, truest things anybody had said about me in a long time.β
On todayβs episode of The Sunday Read, Wesley Morrisβs story about Blackness and the symbolic power of the mustache.
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