Chaverst, a Black man, was wearing a mask during a protest outside of the Hoover in Walmart in December 2018 following the fatal police shooting of a Black man at the Galleria on Thanksgiving.Ĭhaverst was wearing a mask, which he argued was due to the below-freezing temperatures.

The Attorney General’s office did not respond to repeated requests for comment for this story.Ĭarlos Chaverst of Birmingham is one of the few known individuals to be charged under the statute. Unlike the clear-cut mask of the KKK, it is unclear how a judge might rule on whether the Patriot Front combination constitutes “being masked.” Patriot Front members also wear dark sunglasses to conceal their eyes and top the ensemble with a baseball cap, effectively concealing their entire face from view. Unlike a surgical mask, these masks also conceal the sides and back of the lower part of the head. Patriot Front use gaiter-style masks that many people used during Covid-19, which cover the neck and the entire bottom of the face including the nose, mouth and ears. Just as statutory interpretation requires common sense, so does the enforcement of said statues.” “In this context, the commonly understood use of the term ‘being masked’ read in context with the rest of this law, would not include wearing medical masks that covers the nose and mouth. “As numerous Attorney General’s Opinions have noted, ‘words used in a statute must be given their natural, plain, ordinary and commonly understood meaning,’” the attorney general’s office said in a statement to AL.com at the time. But the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama raised concerns about the law in 2020 as everyday Alabamians became required to wear masks in public near-constantly, prompting Attorney General Steve Marshall to share his opinion on the law. There’s not much information readily available on the usage of the law over the past 70 years, although there are a few examples. The rest of that bill focused on targeting loitering on public roadways, but the section that scales violations up to misdemeanors applies to all violations of the loitering law.

Exceptions are made for masquerade parties, public parades, presentations of historical, educational of religious characters and for sporting events, none of which would apply to the Patriot Front members.Ī violation of the state’s loitering law comes with a fine of up to $200 and up to 30 days in a county jail.Ī new section of the law will come into effect in August, making second and all subsequent violations of the loitering law in the same jurisdiction a Class C misdemeanor punishable by up to $500 and up to three months in a county jail.

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