As a black woman in New York State, I believe there are protections in place to protect myself and my family from intimidation and violence. But, as a Jew, our new state budget has a weak and pathetic mask law that says, “We don’t care.” In fact, it gives a green light to masked protesters who prey upon Jews throughout our State.
The fact that my family - and all Jews in New York State - continues to be put at risk from masked thugs, terror supporters, and protestors doesn’t matter to our Governor.
She clearly refuses to see the protests on our college campuses and in the streets. She must have been too distracted to see the anarchy in Crown Heights over the past few days. And she must have forgotten what happened on the subway when students were threatened by a mask-wearing terror supporter who announced that Zionists had to get off the subway.
During COVID, the mask law was repealed by the Governor and State Legislature. This, in effect, took the mask law off the books. It was done at the height of the pandemic for health and safety reasons. That action was never revisited and fixed. It should have been, but there again is State government at work. Thus, action had to be taken.
It should be noted that mask laws were enacted to protect minority groups from the KKK. They were developed to take the sheets off the heads of those committing violence, intimidation, menacing, and crime.
As the author of the Nassau County Mask Law, I built the legislation by reinstating the prior law and enhancing it. We added medical, religious, and holiday usage. I made it a priority to address the issues that are plaguing our college campuses and Jewish neighborhoods by giving law enforcement tools to engage proactively. I listened to law enforcement, advocates, and learned law scholars and built upon over 170 years of New York State Law in bringing back the mask law.
So, what did our Governor and State Legislative leaders do? They ducked the problem and simply said that penalties could only be leveled if a suspect is charged with a Class A misdemeanor or anything more serious. In fact, according to reports, their law only swings into action once there is either a crime or a victim.
Their action is weak and does nothing to address the problem. How could they come up with such an agreement? The answer is simple. Our State government has been hijacked by people who live in a dream world and live in fear of the politics from the far left. So, the Jews are expendable.
I would challenge them, as a woman of color and a Jew, to have simply framed this issue as one impacting Asian, Latino, African American, or LGBTQ communities. We all know what the Governor and legislative leaders would have done. They would have been protesting on the streets. They would have demanded justice, and they would not have stopped until the mask law was reinstated. But they didn’t. The reason? They don’t care.
Instead, our Governor rolled over to the far left in the State Legislature. Senators and Assemblymembers cowered in their offices, hoping the storm would pass. It has not, and it will not. Even the sponsor of the bill, Senator James Skoufis, is underwhelmed by the result. He said, “We are at least doing something. It’s narrower than I would’ve liked.”
That’s putting it mildly.
Legislator Mazi Melesa Pilip represents the 10th Legislative District in Nassau County, including Great Neck and Manhasset. She is the author of the Nassau County Mask Transparency Act.
