SYSTEMIC RACISM

How We Know Black Men Will Bear The Burden of New Ski-Mask Laws

The prejudicial enforcement of laws is the problem

The over-policing of black communities turns seemingly race-neutral laws into tools of racial oppression. Jaywalking, for instance, is a crime that Black pedestrians are disproportionately charged with violating, even though there’s no evidence that Black people jaywalk any more than White people. Even truancy laws designed to stop children from skipping school are disproportionately applied to Black, Indigenous, and Latino students. One study showed Black Americans are five times as likely to be arrested compared to their White counterparts. Clearly, even when laws are designed to help or safeguard society, racism in law enforcement undermines the goal of this legislation. That’s why a new Philadelphia law that bans ski masks from being worn in some public spaces is raising eyebrows in the black community.

Does seeing a Black man wearing a ski mask make you shriek in fear? As a Black woman, “fear” is the last thing on my mind when I see someone wearing a face covering, especially in the month of December. It’s cold outside, and trying to stay warm is normal human behavior. But, far too often, White people assume the worst about Black people. A Black person with a ski mask is readily assumed to be a thief rather than someone who feels cold. For instance, when police officers stopped Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man, they thought the ski mask he wore made him look suspicious. Later, his family shared the reason why he often wore a ski mask: “he had anemia, a blood condition that can make people feel cold more easily.” Sadly, when police saw Elijah, they assumed he was a threat to society, even though he clearly wasn’t. Racial stereotypes have real-world consequences, compounded when you give someone a gun, a badge, and access to ketamine.

This interaction between McClain and officers began with them seeing his skin color and ski mask, enticing officers to stop him. They ultimately restrained him and administered a drug to allegedly calm him. While no officer was held legally responsible for his death, an amended autopsy report showed that McClain died of “complications of ketamine administration following forcible restraint.” In other words, if police never stopped Elijah McClain, a Black, rather shy violin player, and saw him as a threat for wearing a ski mask, he may still be here today. This is why a law designed to give police the legal justification to stop-and-frisk Black men in Philadelphia who wear a ski mask or protective face covering is troubling. While the statute may seem benign on its face, this is deceptive when we consider the racist enforcement of laws.

Banning ski masks will “criminalize Black youth,” one person posted in response to learning about this new law. Journalist Daric Cottingham said, “outlawing ski masks is” a “very slippery slope,” comparing this to “tignon laws,” which required Black women in the South to cover their hair,” or “anti-cross dressing laws,” used to target, and further marginalize groups. Another chimed in to say this is reminiscent of the effort to blame Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old Black teenager, killed by George Zimmerman, a self-appointed security guard while wearing a hoodie. The presumption here was that wearing a hoodie made Trayvon more suspicious. Just as rape apologists ask what a woman was wearing at the time of her assault, racist apologists ask what a Black man, or in the case of Trayvon, a boy, was wearing. Some people don’t see the connection between these laws designed to ban ski masks and the extra scrutiny law enforcement gives to Black men and boys wearing hoodies. One woman put a fine point on the issue when she said, “Some of the same folks who were marching around in hoodies” are now “calling for the criminalization of ski masks now knowing full well all it will mean is the profiling” and “over-policing of black kids and will do nothing to reduce crime.”

Here’s the bottom line. The black community cannot trust Philadelphia police officers, many of whom exposed themselves as “racist thuggish social media trolls,” to enforce this law without prejudice. That is what makes a ski mask ban racist. While it’s understandable that many people are concerned with crime, we should not be sensationalized into accepting faux solutions to complex social problems. Rather than passing laws that make it easier for police to racially profile Black people, they should be re-investing in black communities, which have been historically neglected. Vanessa Padayachee, an expert who contributed in a column offering twenty-four ways to reduce crime in the world’s most violent cities, noted the importance of addressing “economic inequality, which,” she believes, “is critical to reducing crime and violence in the long run.” Yet, instead of Philadelphia announcing massive reinvestment in black communities in response to growing crime, the city passed another policy that will disproportionately harm black communities. When you’re convinced that every problem looks like a nail, you will use a hammer, even when the problem can’t be nailed down into submission.

In Louisiana, there is a similar law on the books that prohibits people from wearing hoods, masks, or facial surprises except on Mardi Gras, Halloween, or special school projects. During the early days of the pandemic, Black men were warned about the risks of wearing homemade face masks to protect themselves from contracting COVID-19. Police could wrongfully assume they were wearing a ski mask or unauthorized face covering and pursue them. Georgia has one similar to Louisiana. Alabama has one on the books, designed to address threats from the Ku Klux Klan, but made it clear this didn’t apply to face masks worn for medical purposes. Washinton, D.C. made it a crime to wear masks, but notably, law enforcement did not stop or reprimand members of the Patriot Front from covering their faces in a white supremacist rally held there.

Black people shouldn’t have to live in fear that they will be presumed guilty because of the color of their skin or their choice of attire. Yet, America has this perverse idea of Black men, that they are inherently criminal and, in general, up to no good. And this presumption puts Black men and boys in danger every day in this country. This law banning people from wearing ski masks in Philadelphia will not keep the community safe or decrease the likelihood of someone committing a crime. It will, however, give the police another excuse to stop and frisk Black people. The ends don’t justify the means.

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