Gettin’ It Dunn: Christopher Dunn Leaves the NYCLU After Three Decades
Civil Liberties Union
A proposed statewide mask ban would be impossible to enforce fairly, would put vulnerable New Yorkers at risk and would do little to prevent criminal activity.
Amid the current environment in which the politics of fear and division are ascendant, there is a misguided movement to pass a statewide mask ban that would criminalize the wearing of face coverings in public spaces. A mask ban would not make us any safer, and it would undermine the rights, health and well-being of many New Yorkers.
To begin with, banning face masks puts our health at risk. Criminalizing masks would target New Yorkers with disabilities or medical conditions, those who care for them and people who simply want to avoid dangerous diseases. It would force too many vulnerable people to choose between staying inside to protect their health or putting their wellbeing in danger.
We should also remember that masks don’t protect people just from airborne illness. On more than one occasion in the past year, New Yorkers were subjected to unhealthy levels of wildfire smoke and dangerous air quality levels that forced many New Yorkers to wear masks to protect themselves.
Even if a mask ban includes so-called health and religious exceptions, it is impossible to craft those exceptions adequately. Police officers are not health professionals or religious experts capable of deciding who needs a mask and who doesn’t.
Moreover, history tells us that there is good reason to worry that a mask ban will disproportionately target Black and Latine people for enforcement. We saw this during the COVID pandemic when these groups of New Yorkers were issued the vast majority of social distancing summonses. A mask ban would give police officers another reason to stop and harass New Yorkers of color.
Beyond the problem of selective enforcement, it’s not hard to imagine vigilantes, encouraged by a statewide mask ban, harassing New Yorkers who need to wear a mask. At the onset of the COVID pandemic, we saw an increase in anti-Asian hate crimes, especially against people wearing masks. We can’t go down that path again.
New York has a long history of mask bans. These laws — which the legislature repealed during the pandemic — were originally passed in 1845 to help the state crack down on rent protests. They’ve also been used to target important protest movements, including anti-war protests in the 1960s, and to criminalize trans and gender-nonconforming people.
Some who have called for mask bans claim face coverings are used to help people get away with crimes. But mask bans are not an effective means of preventing criminal activity. A mask ban is simultaneously too easy to circumvent and too burdensome on individuals who need to wear a mask to protect their health.
The push for a mask ban has also been pitched as a way to stem the alarming increase in antisemitic hate incidents. But mask bans won’t protect Jewish New Yorkers. In fact, mask bans might be just as likely to backfire and increase antisemitism by reinforcing antisemitic tropes about special treatment.
Unfortunately, a growing number of local governments have already passed or are considering mask bans. Ballston Spa passed a face-covering ban in August, as did Nassau County, and the Yonkers City Council is weighing a similar measure.
Our state government should not give in to this troubling trend. State leaders should stick up for all New Yorkers who want to use public transportation, go shopping and go to protests while protecting their health.
Donna Lieberman is the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. Assemblymember Harvey Epstein of Manhattan represents the 74th Assembly District.
This piece was originally published in Times Union.