\n<\/p>\n
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth makes a speech aboard the aircraft carrier George Washington at the Navy base in Yokosuka, Japan, October 28, 2025.<\/span>Kyodo\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Pete Hegseth appears<\/span> to have found a great workaround for racial integration at military events: When the rules won\u2019t allow you to put up a \u201cNo Coloreds\u201d sign, you can just ban soldiers with shaving waivers instead.<\/p>\n The Pentagon boss\u2014who now insists on being called the \u201cSecretary of War\u201d\u2014is refusing entry to servicemen with beards at an upcoming meeting at Camp Humphreys in South Korea, according to a report<\/a> from Task and Purpose<\/em>.<\/p>\n On Sunday, an email from Osan Air Base reportedly stated that \u201cmembers with shaving waivers are NOT authorized to attend\u201d the event with Hegseth. A screenshot<\/a> of the message, posted on an unofficial Facebook page, was later confirmed by an Air Force official to be real.<\/p>\n Hegseth\u2019s disinvitation is just one more spiteful jab against primarily Black and brown military members who have already been the target of discriminatory anti-beard policies that were unveiled last month.<\/p>\n In September, the former Fox News host announced that he would be firing troops who would need a shaving waiver for longer than a year, a policy that would overwhelmingly affect Black armed forces members, who are far more likely to suffer from pseudofolliculitis barbae, a skin condition that makes daily shaving lead to cuts, sores, and scarring.<\/p>\n As I wrote at the time:<\/p>\n With more than\u00a0200,000<\/a>\u00a0Black active-duty members serving in the military\u2014historically one of the country\u2019s few\u00a0avenues<\/a>\u00a0of social mobility for the Black community\u2014Hegseth\u2019s grooming policy will no doubt have a devastating impact. That\u2019s no accident.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n A few weeks later, during a presentation in front of more than<\/a> 800 of the highest-ranking officers in the military, he doubled down on this grooming standard, decrying there would be \u201cno more beardos.\u201d (Don\u2019t worry, he also took the time to slam \u201cfemales\u201d and \u201cfat troops\u201d too.)<\/p>\n Hegseth also took potshots at troops in need of shaving waivers for religious reasons\u2014stating<\/a>, among other things, that we \u201cdon\u2019t have a military full of Nordic pagans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n