CALICO JUSTICE: On Masks, Memory, and the New Face of Protest

By Black Cloud, Chief Poetic Justice Warrior

Preamble — Council Position Statement

The Council-of-Concerned-Conservationists salutes the Calico Indians[1]—those masked, moonshine-fueled farmers who dressed like woodland demons to defy unjust rents and a meddling governor. We consider them early patrons of poetic justice and folk sovereignty. This post draws a deliberate line from their masquerade of rebellion to the modern resistance against the COVID mask mandates, which we view as less about health and more about obedience theater.

Back then, it was illegal to wear a mask. This time around, it was illegal not to. Same trick, different century. In both cases, the crime wasn’t what you wore—it was that you didn’t kneel.

“… [I]n early 1845, [the governor at that time] requested that the legislature pass a law making it illegal for any individual to appear with ‘his face painted, discolored, covered or concealed’…”

— New York State Anti-Mask Law, 1845 [²]

Once upon a time, in the Catskills and hill country of old New York, a group of tenant farmers transformed themselves into something more than mere men. They became Calico Indians—masked, adorned, misidentified, but suddenly powerful. They wore sheepskin and stag horns, calico gowns and tassels, ribbons and pig ears. Some played at demons; others at women. Their costumes were crude parodies, amalgams of misunderstanding and rebellion—but they worked.

“By mixing their playfulness with criminality and righteous defiance, they were able to claim their land and a small, but significant, measure of dignity.”

— Thom Metzger, “Transform and Rebel” [³]

What were they resisting? A rent system that kept them in perpetual servitude. What did they wear? Anything but their ordinary selves.

Fast forward.

Today, the law that once outlawed face coverings in the name of state order has been reversed in the name of public health. What was once criminal—concealing your face—is now mandatory in airports, hospitals, and even Whole Foods. But those who refuse the mandate have flipped the old Calico code again, donning no mask, but plenty of camo, American flags, and lawfully slung rifles. Their message? Not servitude, not mockery—work, autonomy, resistance to managerial overreach.

“The next time you call the people who don’t fully accept the Covid coup stupid idiots, think of the Calico Indians. Only difference this time is that they flaunt overreaching and overreacting law by donning camo and paramilitary regalia and NOT wearing masks—and also legally carrying firearms…

And that’s poetic justice of a sort.”

— Black Cloud, Chief Poetic Justice Warrior [⁴]

Let it be remembered: playfulness is not weakness, and masks do not always hide. Sometimes they reveal the truer self—sometimes they grant permission for the beast to speak.

And yet, as Metzger reminds us:

“Looking more like animals dressed in women’s clothing than the original inhabitants of the land they worked… they allowed themselves, most likely without knowing it, to play at being women.”

The Council is not quick to praise confused pantomimes of other peoples. But we do recognize the strange magic that occurs when the human spirit disguises itself to escape control. Whether in feathers, scrubs, Guy Fawkes masks, or yellow neck gaiters—we know the real disguise is often the unmasked bureaucrat holding the reins.

In the spirit of conservation, we archive this as another chapter in the eternal war between face and façade.

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Footnotes

[¹] The Calico Indians were tenant farmers in upstate New York in the 1840s who resisted feudal-style rents by disguising themselves in outlandish costumes—animal parts, women’s dresses, and theatrical masks—and engaging in organized rural rebellion. Their name came from the calico fabric many wore, and their rebellion played a central role in the Anti-Rent War.

[²] The 1845 New York State law was passed during the Anti-Rent War in response to masked tenant farmers rebelling against landlord power. It is one of the earliest recorded “anti-mask” laws in the U.S.

[³] Thom Metzger, “Transform and Rebel: The Calico Indians and the Anti-Rent War,” published at The Anarchist Library. A meditation on disguise, revolt, and agrarian theater.

[⁴] From internal correspondence by Black Cloud, Council’s Chief Poetic Justice Warrior. Citation archived under Council Bulletin: Facework & Facades, Vol. IX.