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During months of pandemic isolation, Wesley Morris, a critic at large for The New York Times, decided to grow a mustache.\n\nThe reviews were mixed and predictable. He heard it described as \u201cporny\u201d and \u201ccreepy,\u201d as well as \u201crugged\u201d and \u201cextra gay.\u201d\n\nIt 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.\u2019s legal defense fund.\n\n\u201cIt was said as a winking correction and an earnest clarification \u2014 Y\u2019all, this is what it is,\u201d Wesley said. \u201cThe call moved on, but I didn\u2019t. That is what it is: one of the sweetest, truest things anybody had said about me in a long time.\u201d\n\nOn today\u2019s episode of The Sunday Read, Wesley Morris\u2019s story about Blackness and the symbolic power of the mustache.