Simone Hetherington, a speaker during public comments, urged lawmakers not to pass the masking law … [+]
The North Carolina State Senate this week voted along party lines to ban the wearing of masks in public.
Seventy years ago, some states passed anti-mask laws in response to the Ku Klux Klan, whose members often hid their identities in robes and hoods. The North Carolina account repeals an exception to old anti-mask laws enacted during the early phase of the Covid-19 pandemic that allowed people to wear masks in public for “health and safety reasons.”
According to The hill, Republican supporters of the ban said it would help law enforcement “crack down on pro-Palestinian protesters wearing masks.” They accuse protesters of “misusing Covid-19 pandemic-era practices to conceal their identities.”
To increase the deterrent effect, the proposed law states that if a person is arrested for masked protesting, authorities would increase the classification of the crime or misdemeanor by one level.
Republicans downplayed Democrats’ concerns, saying they trusted police officers to use their discretion appropriately and not abuse their authority to arrest someone for wearing a surgical mask in public.
But Democrats in North Carolina are not convinced. They remain concerned that police could see the law as justification for frisking or arresting people just wearing masks.
Additionally, they raised specific concerns about the bill’s impact on immunocompromised people or those who may want to continue wearing masks during cancer treatments. And others have also weighed in, including Jerome Adams, a former surgeon general in the Trump administration, who Posted on
In addition, there are people who may have legitimate health reasons for wearing medical masks, including asthmatics, people exposed to wildfires and smoke or individuals who want to protect themselves, their families and others from pathogens such as Covid-19 and influenza. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that wearing a high-quality medical mask (e.g. a KN-95 or N95) can help reduce the risk of transmission of respiratory viruses.
For decades, people across Asia have worn masks for a variety of reasons USA today explained at the beginning of the corona epidemic. Japanese people often wear masks when they are sick to curb transmission. Filipino motorcyclists will wear face coverings to protect against exhaust fumes in heavy traffic. Similarly, citizens of Taiwan use masks to protect themselves from air pollution and airborne germs.
There are exceptions included in the proposed ban, including for Halloween or specific types of work that require face coverings. There is even an exception that specifically allows members of a “secret society or organization to wear masks or hoods during a parade or demonstration if they obtain a permit to do so,” such as WRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina. reports.
Reading this, a Democratic State Senator in North Carolina, Sydney Batch, asked, “So this bill will protect the Ku Klux Klan from wearing masks in public, but someone with a weakened immune system like me can’t wear a mask? ”
It is notable that if a group like the KKK were to apply for and obtain a permit to demonstrate, under the proposed law, its members would be able to wear face coverings. And this is not a theoretical point. The KKK has a history of organizing rallies in North Carolina like them held in 2019. The question is, can pro-Palestinian protesters now obtain a similar permit and wear masks or other face coverings?
The American Civil Liberties Union says the law is specifically used to attack those who wear face coverings while protesting the war in Gaza, which the ACLU says amounts to “selective persecution of an unfavorable movement.”
There are also other legal aspects that can be relied upon that concern the constitutionality of such a ban.
At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, many jurisdictions required mask-wearing in public places, as well as on federal buildings and properties. This caused an outcry from people on the grounds of freedom of choice. Judges fallen over certain mask mandates at both federal and state level and did so on constitutional grounds. Likewise, it could now be argued, albeit in a kind of role reversal, that by banning masks people will not be able to exercise their freedom of choice to wear masks, regardless of the reason. If the ban goes into effect in North Carolina, it could spark a debate over constitutional law.
In the meantime, the bill now goes to the House of Representatives for the next vote. From there, it could go to Governor Roy Cooper’s desk. He is a Democrat and will likely veto the legislation. But North Carolina’s Republican Party has a supermajority and can override a potential veto.
