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The coronavirus pandemic arrived after years of raw video footage of unarmed African-Americans being shot or beaten by police officers gave rise to the Black Lives Matter movement. A 2019 study by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that African-Americans, and black men in particular, were much more likely than their white peers to be killed by the police.

It is unclear how many profiling incidents there have been since the C.D.C. issued its recommendation earlier this month. Melanye Price, a political-science professor at Prairie View A&M University, a historically black university in Texas, said the pandemic and the C.D.C.s mask recommendation, however well-intentioned, could put African-Americans at greater risk.

I think in the end we are asking a lot from people who are asked to be safe by putting these masks or bandannas on, Ms. Price said. If somebody called the police on them, they could lose their life over policing before the coronavirus could ever get to them.

Kevin Gaines, the Julian Bond professor of civil rights and social justice at the University of Virginia, said the recent episodes of racial profiling were not surprising.

Black people are profiled by police on a regular basis, Mr. Gaines said. And actually, the problem, at least recently, has become even larger than that.

Some black men modify how they dress in order to appear less threatening to others, Mr. Gaines said, adding that the behavior is a product of a segregated society. Many whites are just uncomfortable encountering many black people, pandemic or no pandemic, masks or no masks, and those fears may manifest in ways that lead to profiling, he said.

You would think, Mr. Gaines said, that people would understand, with the context of the pandemic, why the masks are needed and why its important for everyone.

Link:
For Black Men, Fear That Masks to Protect from Covid-19 Will Invite Racial Profiling - The New York Times