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Connecting Sociology and YOU!

The Pandemic and YOU

Have you ever experienced racial profiling? Have you been questioned by the police while wearing a mask? How would you react if you were following health guidelines and legal laws but were accused of doing something wrong?

Racial Profiling

Wearing a mask to help stop the spread of COVID-19 is a scientific fact and became a state order in certain jurisdictions. Yet during the pandemic, Black men in particular were racially profiled for doing that very thing (Macfarling 2020). Two Black men in a Walmart in Illinois were kicked out of the store for wearing masks to protect their health, even though White shoppers were doing the same thing (Bonvillian 2020). In an attempt to combat racial profiling, Oregon created a mask policy that exempted people of color from wearing masks. That policy was quickly overturned in the face of racist backlash from the community (Andrew 2020).