The Communist Party of New York and the New York Young Communist League condemn the Nassau County Mask Ban ordinance and the recent dismissal of the Federal Lawsuit challenging its legality in the strongest possible terms.

Not only does the ban fly in the face of CDC guidelines, which still recommend masking for anyone recovering from a respiratory illness, it also poses a double threat to the democratic rights of New Yorkers.

A mask ban will:

• Exacerbate the already deadly impact of environmental racism. African-Americans, for example, are three times more likely to be hospitalized and three times more likely to die from asthma than their white counterparts — an impact associated with the disproportionate siting of environmental hazards in communities of color;
• Pose a special risk to low-income people, who are more likely to rely on public transportation; and
• Compound the impact of unsafe working conditions. Ten percent of all lung disease is caused by inhalation of chemicals or particulates in the workplace, with workers in construction, health care, and nail salons particularly vulnerable.

In the context of this highly charged political moment, it also is intended to restrict the freedom of assembly of the millions of people around the state who participate in demonstrations for a cease-fire in Gaza, an end to U.S. arms shipments to Israel, and the end of Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Already, police have arrested a protestor in Cedarhurst for wearing a keffiyeh at a demonstration against the sale of occupied Palestinian land.

Beyond the immediate context of the cease-fire movement, however, it also poses a substantial threat to the democratic rights of the elderly, immune compromised people, and those suffering from chronic respiratory ailments like asthma or COPD. Because they are at increased risk of severe complications from COVID-19 and other viral respiratory illness, a mask ban substantially restricts both their freedom of assembly and their access to public transportation and public buildings.

In this regard, invoking the safety of Jewish New Yorkers as a pretext for the mask ban is particularly cynical. The Jewish population of our state is older than the population at large and therefore at increased risk of severe complications from COVID-19 and other respiratory infection, as well as other airborne diseases.

The mask ban, therefore, is not only a racist, anti-worker, ageist and ableist policy. It is also an objectively anti-Semitic policy, insofar as it entails a disproportionate risk to the health and a disparate burden on the freedom of assembly of Jewish people.

The far-right hopes to establish a precedent by passing mask bans in smaller towns, in order to enable their true goal of passing a mask ban in NYC. Governor Hochul and the Adams administration have already expressed interest in such a measure. The results of enforcing such a ban in a city of 8 million people would be disastrous and would be used as an excuse to vastly expand the police budget and push thru a vast array of reactionary surveillance policies which Hochul and Adams have already expressed support for, such as a NYC “Cop City” style training facility.

So let us be clear: this mask ban has nothing to do with protecting Jewish people or fighting anti-Semitism or racism. It is designed to intimidate the millions of New Yorkers — Jewish and non-Jewish alike — who have taken to the streets in protest against U.S. complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza, joining in demands for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and an end to the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory.

It is designed to perpetuate Israel’s criminal occupation of Palestinian territory and to shield the fascist Netanyahu government from accountability, or even criticism, for its egregious violations of international law.

It is designed to secure the profits of the real beneficiaries of the billions of dollars in “military aid” that the U.S. government gives to Israel every year: corporate arms dealers like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Nothrup Grumman, and Boeing.

At the very moment when we need our elected officials working to unite New Yorkers against the extreme-right agenda of the Trump GOP, some have chosen instead to take up one of the most reactionary measures advanced by Republicans in recent years. Like the GOP’s anti-mask frenzy during the pandemic, this mask ban is an attempt to hide the evidence of an unfolding catastrophe, to cultivate an illusion of business-as-usual at the expense of democratic rights and the safety of vulnerable communities.

We call for an immediate repeal of the Nassau County mask ban and the release of all persons facing charges under it. We call on all progressive elected officials to go on record opposing and condemning these measures. We call on Governor Hochul to listen to the people of NYC and stop trying to push a far-right policing agenda.

Image: Nassau County activists protest the mask ban by PRO_NYC (Twitter/X)

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