Who was that masked man? Reflections on ICE and community policing

If you are old enough to recognize the source of this column’s title, you know that that masked man was the Lone Ranger. He was the hero of a Western drama that first aired as a radio show but ultimately became a TV show and produced some feature films.

He was a mysterious figure who moved through the American West, accompanied by his faithful friend, Tonto, a Native American who would definitely not be politically correct today.

The two men solved problems for people, usually involving bad guys, gun play, and a question asked at the end of the episode by the people they helped: Who was that masked man?

Why? Because masks are associated with bad guys, not good guys, unless you are talking about Robin Hood and his merry men, who were an underground group fighting against unjust rule in England at the time.

But how about now?

When people are hiding their faces, whether they are bank robbers or the Ku Klux Klan, we usually assume that they are up to no good. Why else would they cover their faces?

That brings us to the masked ICE agents. If they are really protecting us from “bad hombres,” why do they need to hide their own identities?

The only half reasonable answer I have heard is that if other “bad hombres” see their faces, maybe they will take revenge against these brave officers.

Well. In my long life I have known many law officers personally. Some I knew as friends. Some of the kids I taught and coached grew up to be city police, county deputies and state troopers.

None of them wore masks.

As a matter of fact, they usually wore name badges identifying themselves as police. Could this have led to revenge taking or additional danger?

Probably, yes, in some cases, but the officers accepted this risk as part of the job. People have the right to know who is arresting or protecting them.

The most disturbing part of the masked agents for me is that when some nameless person, in or out of uniform, stops my car or accosts me, how do I know that this person has the authority to demand my identity and compliance with their orders? 

The Bible tells us that “everyone who does evil hates the light” (John 3:20). In other words, we assume masked people have something to hide. Otherwise, why wear a mask?

The American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote about this subject in a story, “The Minister’s Black Veil.” One Sunday, the pastor appears in church with his face covered by a black veil. He preaches a sermon using the veil as an object lesson about secret sin, that everyone, in a sense, covers up their sins to hide their guilt from others. But, at the end of the service, the minister does not remove the veil and continues to wear it until his death. He is even buried wearing the veil.

People’s reactions to the veil are immediate and long lasting. They no longer invite their pastor to Sunday dinner or to other social occasions. They are horrified and assume that he is hiding some terrible sin.

So, once again, wearing a mask makes others suspicious and, in some cases, frightened.

Among the ICE agents, there are no doubt some dedicated Americans who feel they are doing their duty. But if that is the case, what do they have to hide? This all smacks of the secret police that are associated with banana republics and totalitarian regimes. 

This should not be happening in the United States of America.