A coalition of public safety advocates called for a mask ban in NYC on Monday — the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel — as violent protestors and criminals continue to don face coverings while terrorizing the city on public streets, transit and college campuses.
Members of #UnMaskHateNY, a campaign launched in June following a wave of violent college protests that rocked the city, said it is time to reimplement a mask ban, ended during the COVID-19 pandemic, to stop those who hide their faces while they break the law.
Will Miller, a spokesperson for the group, said hate crimes are increasing around the city in part because criminals are able to hide their identity behind masks.
“Today marks one year since the horrific massacre of Oct. 7. Since that day, we’ve seen an epidemic in New York of hateful targeting, threats and intimidation, often by those wearing masks to hide their identity so they can menace and harass with impunity,” Miller said. “And it’s only gotten worse and more out of control a year later.”
‘Ski masks don’t protect against COVID-19’
A mask ban would not be new to New Yorkers. An active state law barring demonstrators from wearing masks and face coverings at protests and similar functions has been in effect for nearly 200 years.
But mask mandates at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 ended that law, and it has not returned.
City and state politicians toyed with the idea of reinstating the ban this year, but nothing has yet to happen in NYC.
In June, a City Hall source told amNewYork Metro that Mayor Eric Adams is working with law enforcement and officials in Albany to answer many open-ended questions about banning masks at protests while still trying to respect health risks and constitutional rights.
Neither the mayor nor\ Gov. Kathy Hochul has provided an update on where a mask ban is in the city or state legislature.
But Assembly Member Brian Cunningham, who represents parts of Brooklyn, made clear where he stands on the issue in a Monday interview with amNewYork Metro.
“I think since the pandemic, we’ve learned a couple of things about the masks,” he said. “N95 masks worked, but ski masks don’t work to protect somebody from COVID-19, so that’s the first thing we have to acknowledge,” he said.
Cunningham added that he is working on a bill banning masks while carving out exceptions for health and religious reasons.
“What we’ve seen particularly over the last year since Oct. 7 is an increase in mask intimidation that has taken place,” he said. “We’ve seen a number of retail workers particularly during the pandemic and beyond who have been robbed by people wearing masks who are unable to be identified.”
Infringing on civil liberties?
In August, a law enacted in neighboring Nassau County banned mask-wearing in public places except for health, religious, or cultural reasons.
But civil liberties groups, including the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), did not take the ban lightly and even called it a “dangerous misuse” of the law.
“Nassau County’s mask ban is a dangerous misuse of the law to score political points and target protestors,” said Susan Gottehrer, regional director of the NYCLU in Nassau County. “Barring people who speak out from protecting themselves and their identities puts their health and well-being in danger, particularly people with disabilities, people of color and those with unpopular views.”
Protests aside, as Cunningham said, masks provide an easy way for perpetrators to get away with crime. Law enforcement surveillance footage often shows images and video of suspects wearing COVID-style or full-face masks.
In July, a group of suspects wearing medical masks went on a robbery spree in the Bronx and Queens, stealing nearly $10,000 from local delis.
On May 4, a thief in a mask grabbed a 75-year-old woman’s purse in Alphabet City, getting away with over $1,000 in cash and injuring the woman in the process of the robbery.
Miller, of #UnMaskHateNY, said it is “past time“ for a ban on masks. He likened it to the anonymity masks have historically provided to hate and terror groups.
“A mask ban was on the books for decades in New York, which, historically, took away anonymity––one of the Ku Klux Klan’s most potent tools––as they terrorized the Black community,” he said. “It’s time to bring a ban back to stop the same KKK-style tactics from being used against other communities.
