Over the past few months, the mask-wearing in public has become the norm. In some states, it’s even required. But for Black Americans, and the young men in Black-the particular — wearing the mask can feel like a catch-22. Public health experts say now masks are crucial for preventing the spread of the virus, which has disproportionately affected Black people. But putting on a mask can be an intense source of anxiety for many Black people, — particularly for Black men — who’s who worry that they’ll be harassed or profiled while they’re wearing one.
“Almost immediately after the mask-wearing became widespread, there were unimportant chatter reports of Black men being followed and asked to leave stores because they were wearing masks,” said ReNika Moore.the director of the ACLU”s Racial Justice Program.
A new study underscores just how widespread this kind of profiling could be. Researchers at the University of North Carolina at chapel hill found that in a survey or experimentnon-Black respondents who scored high in racial resentment — a measure that’s designed to assess negative attitudes toward people of color — were much likelier to perceive a young Black man, the threatening or untrustworthy if he was wearing a homemade mask or a bandanna, compared to white men in the same age.
“There’s no doubt at this point that the masks that keep people safer from COVID-19 side,” said Marc Hetherington, a political science professor at the University of North Carolina at chapel hill and one of the authors of the study. But certain types of masks may also be putting young Black men in danger of harassment or profiling.”
Researchers had all the respondents to read short fictitious news story about a young man who said he had been laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the photo of the man is that of the sacred river accompanied by the narrative to vary by race (white or Black-and-face-covering. In some examples, the man was wearing no mask; in others, he was wearing a surgical mask, a homemade cloth mask, or a bandanna.
The respondents were then asked to rate how “threatening” and “trustworthy,” the young man was. The study found that non-Black respondents who scored high in racial resentment were significantly more likely to say the young Black man was threatening or untrustworthy when he was wearing the bandanna or the homemade mask. Michael Jeffries, a professor of American studies at Wellesley College, said this study further affirms the fears of Black people and wearing certain masks in public. Our reactions are based on the way that we’re treated. These are not figments of our imagination.”
CalvinJohn Smiley, a sociology professor at Hunter College, said the findings reminded him of the lively conversation that sprang up in WhatsApp group earlier in the pandemic. I and the other Black men on the thread were swapping thoughts on which kinds of masks and bandannas would be safest for them to wear. “The standard darker blue, or a standard network colour were ones that we all kind of said, we’re definitely not going to wear that,” he said, because of the colors’ associations with street gangs. “It’s really a horrible decision to make, do I wear this mask, and potentially be stopped and profiled by the police? Or do I not wear it and risk my health and livelihood?” he said.
The UNC team”s findings have serious health implications, especially given how the coronavirus to you disproportionately affected Black people. But the research has also turned up one potential solution. Since the researchers found that surgical masks didn’t increase negative perceptions of Black men by the way are homemade masks or bandannas made, cities and states could make those masks more widely available. And some places have already done something like this In Rochester, new york, NYthe city mailed out almost 500,000 surgical masks to the residents.
Several experts and activists pointed out, though, that means that simply mailing out surgical masks won’t solve the underlying issues that make some Black people feel unsafe to covering their faces in public. Tyler Whittenburg, chief counsel of the Justice Systems Reform group at the advocacy organization, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, said, that the anxiety about wearing face masks isn’t just about the masks themselves. It’s linked to the larger systemic issues around police violence and the surveillance of Black people that have been raised by protesters across the country in the past month. “If you want to help mitigate that anxiety, and then listen to the people that are out in the streets,” he said. And Lauren Hill is an assistant professor of public health at the University of North Carolina at chapel hill, said, ” it’s important that businesses and local governments ensure that Black people aren’t harassed in public, regardless of what kind of mask they’re wearing.
Smiley told us that listening to, Black Americans, and to pay attention to their experiences is especially important because even if surgical masks don’t trigger damaging stereotypes now, that might change. It is possible, for example, because that they haven’t been readily available until recently, the masks and the people who wear them — might be perceived more negatively if masks start being distributed for free. And that could change disproportionately impact Black Americans, given the difficulties they already faced with other types of face masks.
On a team level, the Smiley you prioritized wearing a mask from the start, since I believes he was actually sick with a virus earlier this year. And now, he’s mostly worried about being harassed on the rare occasions when I forgets to wear a mask. But, I represents the many Black people may still feel uncomfortable putting one on, and he said that the complexity and ambivalence is one reason this problem may not have been a simple fix. “This really is a matter of health and people’s lives, so we can’t just ignore it,” he said, adding, “But it is probably going to be more complicated than just finding a neutral mask.”
