Sure, a law already exists about wearing hoods or masks in the commission of a crime, and this is OK law, and I am not an Oklahoman, so why should I care? But it just so happens that, like people will, I sometimes wear a hoodie to keep warm, because winter winds blow right on a person's face, and it smarts. I don't wear a hoodie myself because I intend to do an illicit thing. I just don't want the rude, cold winds of winter to smack the bejesus out of my face.
This isn't to say I have no opinion about Robin Hood, Zorro, or any other masked or hooded figure. I am not one of the Carbonari, and if I was, I would lie to you. But I will simply point out that many people have worn hoods for a variety of reasons, including warmth and comfort, without being in the least culpable of any crime. So I dislike the idea that people wearing hoods to keep warm might get a form of hassling just because.
3 comments:
It's not as bad as people keep saying. You can read the text here: http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2015-16%20INT/SB/SB13%20INT.PDF.
It doesn't 'ban' hoodies in any way - just outlaws using them to conceal one's identity during the commission of a crime. The addition of a dumb little misdemeanor to, say, an armed robbery conviction isn't a big deal.
Of course, the real purpose, and the real concern, is the way it could be used for profiling and harassment. But as far as I can tell, the cops don't need any kind of special hoodie law to profile and harass young black men everywhere in the country, and beyond that I think it opens up an opportunity for a big protest of both black and white people all wearing hoodies. You could defang the whole thing by forcing the cops to ignore it.
"In addition to that, all citizens will be required to change their underwear every half-hour. Underwear will be worn on the outside ..."
The motivation behind such a requirement is to make it easier to target non-citizens. Just Bananas!
To my thinking, even if it doesn't "outlaw" hoodies per se, it does tack on that $500 hoodie penalty--just like a not-so-little financial dig at the probably youthful and minority offenders they'll slap that on. I'd like to think this thing would be used selectively, and that a PD would ignore it--except looking into the problems with local LE like in Fergusen, it seems like some of these PD's wouldn't ignore it(or be told to), but would use it as often as they could for revenue. $500 is a big deal to lower income folks. It just feels like a law based in hostility, to me.
Post a Comment