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gollygee

(22,336 posts)
Mon Jan 5, 2015, 01:47 PM Jan 2015

It's the "or in order to intentionally conceal one's identity" part that is the problem

It's fine to say you can't enter a shop with your hood up, but this law says "in public" and no one can actually tell what someone's intent in wearing a hoodie is, so it's going to end up with young black men being stopped over and over and over again. It appears to be created in order to create more racial profiling. A kid is walking home from school and has his hood up because he's chilly or is trying to block the sun or he otherwise finds it comfortable. What is to stop a police officer from stopping him simply because he's wearing a hoodie? It creates legal reasonable cause where there isn't really reasonable cause.

Yes, everyone wears them, but it is particularly the fashion for young men, and it fits into the "thug" stereotype that is used an excuse to criminalize young black men. This law is just an excuse for police to stop them and accuse them of trying to hide their identiy, and then search them.

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