Editor’s Note: Mask wearing is now perceived as racist to some. As you read this story please be praying for this community who is now legislating based on feelings.

The debate over the effectiveness of masks and whether the government should be forcing people to wear them has raged for weeks. . . .
One Oregon county, apparently not content with the standard screaming matches over requiring face masks, decided to officially insert another divisive topic into the debate: race.

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Lincoln County, which is on Oregon’s north-central coastline, declared last week that everyone has to wear a mask — except non-white people who are nervous about being harassed because they’re wearing a face mask. . . .

The directive, dated June 16, from the Lincoln County Public Health Administrator and Lincoln County Health Officer orders “all individuals” in the county to wear masks at all indoor public settings and any outdoor public settings where they can’t keep at least six feet from other people not from their household.

Ohio State University professor Trevon Logan told CNN, “We have a lot of examples of the presumed criminality of black men in general. And then we have the advice to go out in public in something that … can certainly be read as being criminal or nefarious, particularly when applied to black men.” . . .

The American Civil Liberties Union is also concerned. After the Centers for Disease Control issued guidance on masks along with a video of U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams, who is black, showing how to make a mask out of a bandana, shirt, or scarf, the ACLU said the government isn’t taking minorities into account with its guidance. . . .

ReNika Moore, who heads up the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program said, “For many black people, deciding whether or not to wear a bandana in public to protect themselves and others from contracting coronavirus is a lose-lose situation that can result in life-threatening consequences either way,” CNN reported.

“Not wearing a protective bandana goes against CDC recommendations and increases the risk of contracting COVID-19, but wearing one could mean putting their lives at risk of getting shot or killed because of racially-biased targeting,” she added. . . .

For Lincoln County, this may all be a rhetorical exercise anyway — one that has appeared to only exacerbate the mask fight.

Near the end of the directive, the county officials say the “directive is self-executing” and that there will be no repercussions for not following the order to wear masks.

The issues here is whether COVID-19 cares about who wears their masks in its spread of its disease. Share your comments and thoughts below.

(Excerpt from The Blaze. Written by Chris Field.)