Anonymous is no Longer a Woman, Virginia

Why do people love masquerading? Throughout human history, people have dressed up to be something they are not. Shamans altered their appearance to “become” spirits who could communicate with the dead. Hunters donned animal skins, not just to trick the herds they were stalking, but in order to summon the spirit of the animals they sought. People’s clothing can be a way of taking on a new identity, or a different class of society. Marie Antoinette sparked a fashion movement by dressing in her version of what a simple shepherdess would wear. One can tell the rank of soldiers and religious leaders by their outfits; and often, by how costly and ornate they are. 

There are other reasons for hiding one’s identity. TV protagonists sometimes disguised themselves to fight “the bad guys.” The Lone Ranger, comes to mind, as does Zorro. Super heroes, too, masked their faces, the better to hide their double lives as mild-mannered reporters and such. The really bad guys simply pulled their neckerchiefs up over their noses and mouths. In horror movies, rubber masks and even hockey masks are the choices for slashers.

We humans have a dark history of wearing masks to avoid identification when we perform cruel or cowardly deeds in public. Executioners often wore hoods as they stood above the crowd on a platform where they lopped off the heads of the unfortunate. Here in America, the most infamous masqueraders are member of the Klu Klux Klan, who don white priestly-looking robes and pointy white cone hats. The outfit’s origins can be traced to Spain, where it was worn during Holy Week ever since the Inquisition as an act of humiliation or penance by those who had transgressed church doctrine. In recent times, penitents still wear the cone hat as they re-enact Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.

The Klan does not wear its outfit as an act of penance; rather to hide the identity of people acting as vigilantes. Founded on December 24, 1865, in Pulaski, Tennessee, the KKK was established by six Confederate veterans who were opposed to federal Reconstruction efforts and aimed to restore white supremacy in the South through violence and intimidation. While there were several iterations of the Klan, the general purpose was always to suppress African American equality or progress. “The Birth of a Nation,” one of the highest grossing film ever made, adjusting for inflation, portrayed the KKK as heroic, chivalric saviors of innocent white maidens. African Americans played by white actors in blackface, were depicted as ignorant and sexually rapacious. The film was so openly racist, it was banned in five cities. One theatrical release poster shows a Klansman decked out like a knight from Camelot, a crusader’s cross in red on the front of his robe, riding a rearing stallion. Clearly, gangs of disaffected white men bent on bullying people while hiding under a sheet, lacked any of the nobility the image tried to portray. 

In 2025 America, another group of masked people inspiring terror has arisen: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Agents work for the Department of Homeland Security. Their job is to protect Americans from cross-border crime and illegal immigration. In other words, the men and women who are agents are federal employees who work for us, just like other governmental officials. These are people with homes, families and jobs, like other workers. But, increasingly, they have been donning masks to hide their identity when they are conducting operations. Officials have stated the masks are necessary to prevent harassment of ICE agents in their personal lives. If that is the case, why are other public workers such as policemen, tax assessors, military personnel, school principals and even the town dog catcher not wearing masks? For that matter, if everyone who feared being hassled for doing their job wore masks, you would think we had entered another epidemic.

There are videos of ICE agents seizing people in public. They could easily be mistaken for thugs because of the masks. Lacking identification, a group of guys roughing up a shopper or a student, dragging them off and stuffing them in a van resembles nothing so much as a contract hit or a kidnapping. What is to prevent a passer-by who mistakes them for criminals from whipping out a gun (which our congress hasn’t the political courage or moral conscience to ban) and shooting an agent or getting shot themself? 

When officials remove their badges or ID before doing their jobs, nothing good comes of it. Accountability flies out the window. Agents who have injured someone get off free while others are mis-identified as perpetrators. The public, witnessing such events, becomes traumatized. Societies allowing anonymous seizures end up being infiltrated with secret police, fears of being “ratted out” by a vengeful neighbor, and being encouraged to “name names.” Detainment without due process in secret holding places closed to inspection is sure to follow. 

Being anonymous can be a freeing break in an otherwise boring routine. It is something all humans have enjoyed participating in. Just ask an October tourist in Salem, MA. But anonymous police forces are used by autocrats and dictators throughout human history to arrest dissenters without consequences as well as to protect and forward their own political agenda. Being an ICE agent is, like many jobs, full of risk. Agents know that before they join. There is always the threat when one enforces the law in any manner, of someone seeing vengeance against you. But the harm done through the use of unidentified policing agencies is not just un-safe and un-reparable; it is un-American.