Law Enforcement Seizes Masks Meant To Protect Anti-Racist Protesters From COVID-19
WASHINGTON ― Law enforcement agents have seized hundreds of cloth masks that read “Stop killing Black people” and “Defund police” that a Black Lives Matter-affiliated organization sent to cities around the country to protect demonstrators against the spread of COVID-19, a disease that has had a disparate impact on Black communities.
The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) spent tens of thousands of dollars on the masks they had planned to send all over the country. The first four boxes, each containing 500 masks, were mailed from Oakland, California, and were destined for Washington, St. Louis, New York City and Minneapolis, where on May 25 a white police officer killed George Floyd, a 46-year-old handcuffed Black man, setting off a wave of protests across the country.
But the items never left the state. The U.S. Postal Service tracking numbers for the packages indicate they were “Seized by Law Enforcement” and urge the mailer to “contact the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for further information.”
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Rene Quinonez of Movement Ink in Oakland, who stayed up with his family producing the masks over the past few days and took them to the post office, told HuffPost that the employees at the location from which he shipped the boxes know him well.
“I have shipped a lot of stuff before,” he said. “It’s an inside joke that I’m always shipping a ton of stuff, usually next-day or two-day and paying some ridiculous fees.”
“These guys know that I ship apparel,” Quinonez said. “There was nothing out of the ordinary.”
Now he’s wondering if the government is watching him or watching the Black Lives Matter movement. “I just don’t understand it. It’s just really blowing my mind,” he said.
“We’re tired, but we’re going to try to rally some support and figure out how to replace these masks and how to support the movement,” he said....
