In case you were wondering what the Left has on its racist list now, The Atlantic just let us know. It’s beards. Apparently beards have a “racially fraught history,” or something.

The Racially Fraught History of the American Beard, by Sean Trainor https://t.co/LdQq6JMnaA pic.twitter.com/ODGqLFiqWY

— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) September 2, 2018

What’s curious is that The Atlantic first published this article in January of 2014 — over four years ago — so why are they trotting it out again? Hmm, perhaps all the liberal hipsters with their coffee and magnificent facial hair didn’t get the memo.

But never mind. They want us all to be woke:

“It begins with white Americans at the time of the Revolution who derided barbering as the work of “inferiors.” It continues with black entrepreneurs who turned it into a source of wealth and prestige. And it concludes with the advent of the beard—a fashion born out of desperation but transformed into a symbol of masculine authority and white supremacy.”

Oh, yes, masculine authority and white supremacy. Because black men were becoming wealthy as barbers, and white men just couldn’t deal.

“The most important explanation for whites’ anxiety about the shop, however, involved black barbers’ growing wealth. For many, the success of leading African-American barbers seemed to threaten the social order.”

Moreover, you white men really need to educate yourselves on the racist history of your facial hair. Feel the guilt, white man with a beard!

“The 19th-century beard may have sprouted from a fear of razors and a distaste for black barber shops. But it grew into a symbol that set white American men apart from smooth-faced foreigners as well as powerful women at home.

This may not be the story bewhiskered moderns would like to hear.”

So, was Frederick Douglass a proponent of white supremacy? After all, he had a righteous beard.

Credit: thenation.com.

You know who knows his beard history? Retired sportscaster Vin Scully, who noticed that MLB players have a penchant for facial hair. A couple of years ago, he discussed the history of the beard during a Padres-Dodgers game. And guess what — there’s no “white supremacy” involved.

Did you catch what Vin said at the start of the video? One reason why men began growing beards was because women loved them.

Why, yes, yes we do.

Now when I was very young, beards were not A Thing. You rarely saw them. My mother never liked them — she thought they were dirty. The only men I would see with beards were department store Santas, but those were probably fake, anyway. And when the Beatles showed up with facial hair on the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, my reaction was ewww! They’re not cute anymore!

But gradually I got used to the idea of beards, especially since my father-in-law always had one. He was an artist who loved the history of the Old West and especially its mountain men, so the beard became his signature man style, along with his goofy humor and laid-back manner.

From Kim Hirsch, personal collection.

I guess he never knew that he was sporting a symbol of white supremacy, even though he was one of the most accepting people I’ve ever known.

Today that man’s son — my husband — has a beard — a goatee, to be precise. I talked him into growing one a couple of years ago. And now, because beards on white men are not woke, that’s just another good reason for him to keep it as far as I’m concerned.

A pox on The Atlantic’s hand-wringing. Bring on the beards!

Featured image from pixabay.com.