State Mandates and African Americans’ Fears of Profiling and Policing During the COVID-19 Pandemic
A number of people of color fear that wearing facial coverings could exacerbate racial profiling and place Black and Latinx people in danger. However, with African Americans, Latinx, and Indigenous people contracting COVID-19 at higher rates than other segments of the population, not wearing a facial covering puts them at a greater risk of contracting the virus. This discussion will center around the realities of these fears. It will also look at some of the emerging data in cities like New York that show that African American and Latinx residents are being policed more aggressively and cited more regularly than others for mask and social distancing violations.