Will masks, after all we’ve been through, be banned on the subway?
Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams are suddenly interested in the idea. Hochul, in particular, backed the concept of a ban after she said “a group donning masks took over a subway car, scaring riders and chanting things about Hitler and wiping out Jews.” What’s less clear is what incident she was actually referencing.
It’s plausible, in fact, she was conflating two separate incidents.
Hundreds of people leaving a Union Square pro-Palestinian rally last week headed into a subway station to get on downtown-bound trains. On one train, a man who was not wearing a mask led a small group in chanting “Raise your hands if you’re a Zionist” to other passengers, followed by, “This is your chance to get out.”
In another instance, video circulating on social media showed a confrontation where a man in Union Square — who was also unmasked — shouted, “I wish Hitler was still here. He would’ve wiped all you out.”
But Hochul may have been reacting to a greater phenomenon: the protesters who increasingly wear masks in public. Begun as a Covid precaution, the practice is now common to avoid scrutiny from police and online harassment — or even the wrath of future employers. Doxxing is increasingly common, and pro-Palestinian protesters fear they will be put on blacklists for appearing in public in support of their cause. Hence, the masks.
New York passed a ban on face masks in public in the 19th century. The law was suspended in 2020 during the pandemic, and masks were mandated on the subway until September 2022. And before that, during the pandemic’s first year, face masks were required when heading outdoors.
Both Hochul and Adams would see an anti-mask measure as an anti-crime measure, a way to, theoretically, keep people from harassing others with a degree of impunity. But to restore that pre-2020 status quo, the state Legislature would need to change the law. This isn’t likely to happen anytime soon: lawmakers adjourned for the year and aren’t due back until January.
But even if Hochul had made this announcement earlier in the year, little could have been done. In a post-Covid world, mask bans don’t make sense and would be largely unenforceable. Hochul said that those wearing masks for health or religious reasons would be exempt — fair enough, but how would a police officer determine when a mask is worn for a legitimate purpose? How to know what someone’s thinking or what their intentions might be?
Fears of Covid infection remain and there are commuters who wear masks as a safety precaution in the subway. There are Muslims who cover their faces. too. What if a police officer harasses one of these people for no good reason? How much capricious enforcement would there be? Do police even want to do this?
Antisemitism is a grave challenge. There is no correlation, though, between hatred of Jews and mask-wearing, and no evidence such a restriction would decrease anti-semitic language or attacks. Hochul is grasping at straws. This isn’t shocking, perhaps, coming from a governor who has been so politically discombobulated that she throttled congestion pricing less than a month away from its planned start date.
Just as there was no forethought given to what revenue would replace the new tolls in Manhattan, it’s doubtful Hochul has thought much about the implementation of a mask ban. She’s reacting to the news cycle, or maybe a few loud voices in her ear. Unfortunately, that’s become all-too-common these days.
Ross Barkan is a journalist and author in New York City.
Ross Barkan , 2024-06-17 19:40:58
Source link