Oregon exempts blacks from wearing masks in corona hotspot

“This is in the larger context of black men fitting the description of a suspect who has a hood on, who has a face covering on,” Logan told CNN.

By Aaron Sull, World Israel News

People of color living in Lincoln County who fear racial profiling and harassment are exempt from Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s mandated mask order, the county’s public health department announced on Tuesday.

State University economic professor Trevor Logan believes the exemption is justified even though the county is considered a hotspot because African Americans who wear masks are often stereotyped by white people to be criminals.

“This is in the larger context of black men fitting the description of a suspect who has a hood on, who has a face covering on,” Logan told CNN. “It looks like almost every criminal sketch of any garden-variety black suspect.”

“This seems like a reasonable response [to order people to wear masks] unless you just sort of take American society out of it. When you can’t do that, you’re basically telling people to look dangerous given racial stereotypes that are out there,” he added.

ReNika Moore, director of the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program, says the exemption of African Americans is a lose-lose situation.

“For many black people, deciding whether or not to wear a bandanna in public to protect themselves and others from contracting coronavirus is a lose-lose situation that can result in life-threatening consequences either way,” Moore told CNN.

Oregon saw a significant rise in new coronavirus cases this week. Reportedly a single person tied to an Evangelical church in Island City infected 119 people on Tuesday.