Jim Crow or a Metaphor of Modern Life?

If you haven't read my report from my caucus, please read it below before reading this.

I've been reading the stories of the caucus catastrophes and stories of the pure Jeffersonian bliss experienced by FW'ers yesterday. I'm struck by how the chaotic stories tend to happen in minority rich areas (like mine) and the Jeffersonian stories are from predominantly white areas. I've received feedback about how nobody in my precinct knew how to run a caucus, a fact that was self-evident to everybody waiting in that line last night. And that if we had people that were experienced, it would have run better. I don't know about that because the facilities we were given were not suited to the crowd that showed up. There would have had to have been outdoor heaters, PA systems, hundreds of chairs, etc.

After thinking about it, it just appears like another situation where people don't allocate resources or planning for minorities (see Katrina.) It was my first caucus and I could have been, and should have been, trained up on caucusing. But I was just as bewildered as fellow line-standers. Had I been fully trained, I would have needed an army of people and a facility ten times bigger to deal with the crowd.

Hundreds of people in our precinct were told to caucus where you voted, even if you voted early. The S-T printed that. It wasn't true. If you voted early at place x, you likely caucused at place y.

I can guess how it appeared to the folks in the crowd that remembered Jim Crow. Short-end again. The man ain't letting us vote. These are sentiments I heard many times while standing in line, and I don't blame them because I had the same feelings, minus 150-300 years of disenfranchisement.

So was my experience just a witnessing of classic Jim Crow voter suppression? I don't think so. I think it's more endemic of modern life, where the minorities and the lower classes always seem to end up with less resources and less education than the rest. Were there not enough people that knew how to run a caucus? Apparently there were plenty in lilly-white precincts where Jeffersonian democracy prevailed. There damn sure weren't any in my precinct, which was probably 50% black, 20% latino, and 20% white. I guess it's just like schools, though, no good teachers and no proper resources where they are needed most.

Seems like we continue to provide the most help to those who need it least, and provide the least help to those who need it most.