November 3, 2008

Election Day: SWAT Teams at the Ready

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Early%20Voting.jpg

I voted the good ol’ fashioned way today—in person at my Oakland polling station (though a day early to beat tomorrow’s chaos). I was nervous when I saw the nightmarish line at Alameda County Courthouse, but surprisingly, I got out in about an hour fairly unruffled. The place was fully staffed, the line efficient, and the mood upbeat. A guy quipped, “Obama better appreciate this,” as he dutifully made his way to the back.

Not a whiff of the tension that riot police and SWAT teams are gearing up for tomorrow in Oakland—a phenomenon that, strangely, hasn’t been very widely reported. Troubling, considering that it’s happening mostly in cities with large black populations like Atlanta and Chicago.

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—Nichole Wong

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It’s risky, but also unavoidable: A full one-third of the dollars that we need to pay for the journalism you rely on has to get raised in December. A good December means our newsroom is fully staffed, well-resourced, and on the beat. A bad one portends budget trouble and hard choices.

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