Hoodies could soon be banned in Oklahoma

A proposed amendment to an Oklahoma law could ban citizens from wearing hoodies in public.

Sen. Don Barrington introduced Senate Bill 13 that would make it unlawful to wear a mask, hood or covering to intentionally conceal his or her identity in a public place.

The proposal was met with criticism from Oklahoma citizens who are concerned about the protection of their First Amendment rights.

“I don’t understand it,” sophomore Jeanette Maldonado said. “We should be able to wear what we want.”

Barrington said he’s targeting mask-wearing protesters and potential robbers out of concern for public safety and law enforcement. But critics said the proposal leaves too much discretion to law enforcement.

“Keeping people from wearing hoodies in any given place isn’t going to stop crime,” Tyler Parette, a senior political science major, said. “This is a side effect of a greater problem and we’re spending a lot of time trying to fix side effects.”

The bill would amend a section of law originally targeting the Ku Klux Klan that already makes it illegal to wear masks or hoods to conceal one’s identity during a crime or for the purpose of  coercion, intimidation or harassment.

“Of course the KKK wore hoods, so when it was passed in the early 1900s in Oklahoma, it was a way to thwart what the KKK was trying to do,” Gary Lindsey, associate professor of history, said. “It was a way to profile and identify those likely to cause trouble.”

Ten other states have similar laws in place, including California, New York and Virginia.

Supporters said hoodie bans help discourage crime by preventing people from hiding their identity while entering a store or other public space.

“When I first thought about this, I was thinking about it in terms of cigarettes,” Lindsey said. “They passed laws that cigarettes cannot be smoked in public areas, restaurants and so forth. On one hand, that’s taking away your freedom of smoking a cigarette, but it’s protecting the public. I think this law is kind of like that in that it’s taking away freedoms ostensibly to protect the public. But with this, wearing a hoodie is not dangerous to your health, whereas smoking is.”

Others question the relevance of a bill like this, claiming businesses already maintain the right to refuse services.

“It’s already completely legal for private businesses, like banks specifically, to keep people from coming in that are wearing hoods or sunglasses or hats,” Parette said. “They do it for security reasons. … It’s one thing to regulate what people can wear on public property but just making a blanket law saying it’s illegal to wear hoodies or have a hood up — I just think that’s ridiculous.”

There are provisions to the amendment that include holidays, such as Halloween, religious beliefs and special events like a parade, masquerade party or weather.

“Where do you stop?” Lindsey asked. “It’s just opening a Pandora’s box of issues that I don’t think is really needed.”

The bill proposes punishment for wearing a hood with ill intentions including a misdemeanor fine of $50-500 and/or up to one year in jail.

“I think it would be really interesting to look into, specifically in relation to this law, why conservatives are pushing forward a law that enables more government restriction,” Parette said. “I think we’re putting a Band-Aid on something. We’re trying to fix symptoms of an overall systemic problem.”

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