There is zero reason why any protester or law enforcement officer should be wearing a mask. This is not the Wild West; this is America, and we need to start seeing each other for who we are.
Masks were necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic at a time when there was no known vaccine or treatment for the contagion, and people were dying by the thousands. But that medical emergency ended long ago, and today, facial coverings are being employed by people who seem to want to do things without taking any accountability for them.
We see masks as an ever-present sight during college protests over the war in Gaza. Pro-Palestine protesters conceal their faces to trespass within campus buildings, commit vandalism and intimidate Jewish students with antisemitic rhetoric. They do this to make it hard for campus officials to identify them and hold them accountable, and it is just plain wrong.
Today, we see agents of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) also masking up when taking allegedly undocumented individuals into custody. Officials with the Trump administration have said the masks prevent the officers from being doxxed or identified. That undermines any effort to hold the arresting officers accountable for potential violations of constitutional rights and freedoms.
New York is a city of protests, and through the decades, people have not needed facial coverings to exercise their constitutional rights. They don’t need facial coverings now.
For decades, local and federal law enforcement have carried out deportation operations and arrests without having to shield their faces from those whom they are arresting, and their families and attorneys. They need not do so now.
Secrecy behind a mask only stokes fear, doubt and intimidation among everyone else. All too often, masks become a convenient way for people to remain anonymous and commit harm to strangers. It suppresses the freedom of the majority of Americans who want to live in peaceful coexistence.
If our democratic society is to survive, we need to be able to see each other clearly and without obstruction.
Anyone who takes to the streets to protest must act responsibly within the law and do so without wearing a mask to hide who they are.
Those sworn to uphold the Constitution and the law must be clearly identifiable to everyone, to remove any doubt of their intentions and mission.
Our freedom, liberty and democracy can only survive with openness and honesty. If we are to remain the champions of freedom, liberty and democracy around the world, we must first be open and honest with each other.
Keep the masks off. Let us see each other for who we are.
