The important business of the New York State budget was delayed in part by Gov. Hochul’s stalwart insistence on burdening New Yorkers’ ability to protect themselves from environmental hazards and airborne pathogens. Since the Governor first requested an anti-mask policy in the state budget in mid-March, the People’s CDC has joined activists across New York State calling out the harms such policies present to public health.
Despite Hochul’s attempts to slip in policy at the last minute, we have made phone calls, written emails and letters, and spoken at town halls to say: People need masks. We need them to protect ourselves from wildfire smoke inhalation, as we saw just last month in New York City. We need them to protect ourselves and our families from airborne diseases, as new diseases like COVID and Bird Flu continue to mutate and old ones like measles surge back. The State of New York should be encouraging people to mask–not causing people who mask to be more worried about police overreach. The fact that the Governor’s proposals have included some exceptions for health-related masking is irrelevant: many people mask for health reasons that are not obviously apparent. People cannot trust police to understand their individual medical needs, nor can they expect policing to proceed without bias.
The final budget ultimately included a rule that will permit prosecutors to request enhanced penalties when charging a masked person with a misdemeanor. Though the rule technically puts the judgement in the hands of the prosecutors, we know that the police will continue to target immigrants, BIPOC, and other political targets. By encouraging police to treat masked individuals as inherently more criminal or more worthy of suspicion or scrutiny than unmasked individuals engaged in the same behavior—this law still discourages people from masking in public.
Were all of our efforts in vain? No.
They wanted to establish a new, vaguely-defined and inherently subjective crime called ‘masked harassment’ that would open the doors to police abuse and cause people forgo PPE so as to avoid profiling. Police would have been empowered to make snap judgements about the intentions of those wearing masks, creating a dangerous situation for all of us. They were forced to change strategies.
Those of us opposed to these bans are connecting. We’re learning what works and what doesn’t. We’re figuring out what strategies the Right is pushing and what language Democrats are “settling for.” As we continue to fight, our opposition will become stronger, more strategic, and more effective.
And we will need to continue to fight. Signs suggest the legislature will continue to look for ways to further burden masking. We must continue to watch and to organize for our collective and individual well-being.