This past Monday, amateur Southern historians and racism enthusiasts in Richmond, Virginia, celebrated Confederate army generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. In Richmond this contradictory holiday is known as "Lee, Jackson, King Day."
The rest of the nation –- the relatively sane, non-Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson part of the nation -- solely paid homage to the aforementioned "King," which of course is the civil rights pioneer Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dr. King, of course, was best known as the iconic martyr who led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957.
And aside from being the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and discrimination through civil disobedience, in the Mustached American community, Dr. King played a role that has gone largely unreported and unappreciated.
Indeed, it has been well documented that after the 1970s, the mustache nearly became extinct in American society. Why was that?
Well, because of Americans’ discomfort in discussing matters of race, only half the story has been told.
It is true that beginning in 1981, white America – feeling the mustache was out of vogue and that it should be left as a relic of the disco era -- left the mustache behind along with such cultural relics as turtlenecks, perms and Jimmy Carter’s dignity.
Black America, however, did not. The mustache continued to be a signature accoutrement among black men of all ages. And this was a direct result of black leaders -- namely, the likes of Dr. King, Medgar Evers and Malcolm X, all of whom were people of Mustached American descent.
So this week, when you think of everything Dr. King accomplished – from his civil rights leadership to opposing the Vietnam War – remember that when he was assassinated on that dark day on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, America was robbed of more than just a great American.
We were robbed of a great Mustached American.
Carry on.