There’s no difference between a protester’s mask and a klansman’s white hood.
That’s what numerous civil rights advocates and elected officials supporting a mask ban alleged Thursday as they further compared some of the recent pro-Palestine protesters to the Ku Klux Klan.
Speakers stood in the shadow of Columbia University — the site of the controversial pro-Palestine encampment in April — on 116th Street and Broadway on June 27 and railed against protesters who conceal their faces, pointing to recently arrested Anas Saleh who, while masked, allegedly demanded “Zionists” identify themselves on board a subway train. Saleh turned himself in on Wednesday and his supporters got into an altercation with the press as he left a police station.
The event was organized by #UnMaskHateNY, a group of numerous civil rights leaders including Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League; Hazel Dukes, president of the New York chapter of the NAACP; Assemblymember Brian Cunningham; and Reverend Johnnie Green, a Harlem-area pastor.
“In the dark days of Jim Crow, those who carried out racial intimidation and violence felt no need to hide behind masks because they knew there would be no repercussions,” said Morial. “Those who carried out the violence at Charlottesville and on Jan. 6 may have felt there would be no repercussions. They were wrong, but only because we saw their faces. Had they been masked, not only would they have gotten away with literal murder, but they would have been emboldened to continue and escalate the violence.”
Bronx Assemblymember Jeff Dinowitz is pushing for legislation which, if implemented, would ban masks on public demonstrations. He did not mince words, going as far as to call Palestine protesters hiding their faces akin to the KKK.
“You know what the difference between the people who wrap those things around their heads leaving only room for their eyes and somebody wearing a white hood with just room for their eyes? The difference is there is no difference. They’re the same.” Dinowitz said. “They’re just as evil as each other.”
Anti-Defamation League CEO and National Director Jonathan Greenblatt agreed and even doubled down on the comparison.
Greenblatt charged that civil rights protesters of the past, such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., did not hide their identity when demonstrating. He believes that today’s protesters wear masks only to conceal themselves while performing criminal activity and acts of hatred.
“We’re experiencing a tsunami of anti-Jewish hate so severe that it’s drawing attention from leaders at the highest levels,” Greenblatt said. “What we’re talking about today aren’t activists, their antagonist will power the people without power and do so hiding their identities behind masks so that they can menace their fellow Americans with impunity in front of a synagogue, on a subway train, or in front of a memorial for murdered teenagers.”
On the other side, Palestine supporters refute that claim — saying that they don masks to keep their identities safe, blocking potential doxxers from identifying them and harassing them online. Others wear mask as a precaution against the COVID-19 virus.
Dinowitz declared that his bill, which could be voted upon during the new legislative session in Albany next year, would not extend to N95 masks. The bill would prohibit any mask that covers the face, except for religious observances.
“What we’re talking about are these things that wrap around their entire face,” Dinowitz said. “The N95 masks are really a red herring.”
This debate comes as Gov. Kathy Hochul has also been facing mounting pressure to outlaw mask-wearing in the subway due to a sharp rise in hate crimes since Oct. 7. Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in New York in 2020, masks were prohibited in public under a 200-year-old law that has since been revoked.
Mayor Eric Adams also previously released a statement supporting the ban.
“I have been clear that hate has no place in New York City, and since Oct. 7, we have witnessed thousands attempting to spread vile hatred while concealing their identities behind masks. New York City will always defend your right to free speech and will continue to protect public health, but we are increasingly seeing masked protestors using anonymity to intimidate, threaten, and break the law. This behavior is unacceptable, and we will not tolerate it,” Adams said.
Dukes agreed with the mayor.
