After hours of public comment that went well into the night, the Nassau County Legislature Republican supermajority ignored the pleas from people with disabilities and from communities that know how unjust law enforcement can be and passed Republican Mazi Pilip’s ban on wearing masks in public. In the process, they also ignored the Democrats’ amendments and alternative legislation as well as requests to table the law until a version could be worked out to pass constitutional muster.

The ban subjects anyone who wears a mask in any public space to arrest, subject to $1,000 fine and as much as one year in prison. It doesn’t matter if a crime was committed – indeed, participating in a protest is not a crime, but is a right under the First Amendment.

But anyone wearing a mask on the Long Island Rail Road, in a shopping mall, at a concert, in a park can be stopped, interrogated, even arrested. Just walking down the street (it was noted there have been home burglaries). Even a person wearing a mask in the vicinity of someone protesting can be arrested, regardless if they are participating or spectating.

How many people might be ensnared and have to spend money to defend themselves, perhaps lose their job, their housing, the custody of their children while they defend against an overzealous (and very possibly bigoted) police officer?

Those  advocating for the ban from District 10’s Pilip were almost all reacting to the violent protests by pro-Palestinians, who said they feared antisemitic assaults.(Those protests were on private property – college campuses like Columbia.)

The opponents were those defending civil rights, and especially the rights of the disabled community, many of whom have compromised immune systems. Many were among the 17 million Americans suffering the debilitating effects of Long COVID, and if exposed again, can suffer even more severely or even a fatality. And their aides or family members who wear masks in order to protect their loved one are also subject to arrest under Pilip’s ban.

Sure, the Republicans point to the “exemptions” for health, religious or cultural reasons (Halloween is still OK). But how would police gauge intent?

Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder protested, of course, that his police officers are not bigoted, are the best trained in America and would never ever stop and interrogate a person based on race or ethnicity or political persuasion. Except that in Nassau, Blacks are five times as likely to be arrested than a white person, as a civil rights advocate testified.

But Ryder, summoning up the George Floyd protests back in 2020 (protests in Nassau County were peaceful), ominously warned he expects the upcoming election to be the most violent in history. Now consider this in context with the armed private militia that County Executive Bruce Blakeman has at his beck and call, and you would be rightly concerned that these new laws could be used to suppress voting and protest.

The emergency legislation that Minority Leader Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D-District 11) futilely tried to introduce would provide the protections against violent protesters while protecting civil rights by proposing enhanced sentencing penalties against criminals who use face coverings in the commission of a crime after being convicted of a misdemeanor or felony.

“Our bill respects individual freedoms by not imposing blanket prohibitions on wearing masks in public. Law-abiding citizens could wear masks for health, safety, religious, or celebratory purposes without fear,” she said. “Unlike the broad and punitive Republican bill, our approach avoids unconstitutional overreach and respects personal liberties.”

Pilip’s ban threatens to make disabled people – their families and caregivers who also must mask in their presence – afraid to participate in town halls or participate in public life, either because they could be arrested for violating the ban or because so few around them who might be transmitting infection would be unmasked.

“This should be called the Disabled Persons Don’t Matter Act,” charged a woman relegated to a wheelchair.

Another woman debilitated by Long COVID said she got it the first time during the Omnicron spread, “when I went out once without a mask. I couldn’t read, write or drive. I had to drop out of law school.”

That Omnicron spread coincided with Bruce Blakeman’s inauguration as the Nassau County executive, when he declared COVID banished from the county and business back to normal. Since then despite new surges in rates – measured now by levels in wastewater and hospitalizations – there has been nothing from the county executive nor his phantom health commissioner – no recommendations to mask, socially distance or make sure vaccinations are up to date.

“We call on the Republicans to adopt our proposal instead of their blatantly illegal, controversial, and flawed legislation, which will be overturned by the courts and will cost taxpayers significant amounts of money,” DeRiggi-Whitton said to no avail. “Our approach ensures efficient use of police resources and fosters a better relationship between the community and law enforcement.”

The Republican mask ban is unconstitutional on its face. But this ban, which most clearly discriminates and violates the equal rights of the disabled, will be ruled unconstitutional by the state if (and hopefully, when) the New York State Equal Rights Amendment passes in November.