For nearly 100 years, it's been a crime to wear a hood while committing a crime in Oklahoma, a law originally in place to deter the Ku Klux Klan. But a new proposal could make simply wearing a hood in public a fine-worthy offense. This new amendment to the original proposal could ban individuals "from intentionally concealing his or her identity in a public space." If a police officer sees anything that fits such a loose, vague and roundabout description, you could be heading for a fine of up to $500.
There are a whole lot of areas this law would not apply to such as religious garments, weather protection, safety or medical purposes, parades, Halloween celebrations, masquerade parties, "minstrel troupes," circuses, sporting groups, mascots or "other amusements or dramatic shows." You know, the typical reasons, as well as a bunch of other fucking weird shit. Naturally, the language does not include the run of the mill hooded sweatshirt. There's been a lot of worry about the possibility of this going through, but a local attorney has reassured people saying, "I think the legislature is just trying to make Oklahoma a little bit safer, and in doing so, I think they just over-reached a little bit." That's all well and good, but it's also important to realize that Oklahoma is apparently a batshit insane state.
Along with all of the functional reasons to wear a hoodie (bad weather, bad hair, etc) it also just straight up looks fucking cool. And, like, our favorite brand of the year specializes in hoodies. I'd wager that the entire Four Pins staff wears a hoodie on a daily basis. If this ends up going through, it will be a travesty of the highest order. At the end of the day—and I don't think I'm alone in thinking this—it would just be really nice if we didn't need amendments to laws that were originally directed at the KKK, ya know?
