Two observations. First, as I’ve said before, the Department of Motor Vehicles is too often a p.r. disaster for race relations and for liberals generally. The average suburban white probably has very little interaction with the welfare-state services provided by their local city governments. Perhaps the only physical interaction they have, aside from perhaps jury duty, is at the DMV. When the staff at the DMV is rude, incompetent or just plain uncaring, that is the impression suburban residents get of the whole system. That’s bad news. The fact that these employees often tend to be African-American in major cities, only compounds the prejudices of suburban whites. (Of course, Patty and Selma are the perfect poster-women for white DMV workers).

Second, I was standing next to an black guy in a track suit on the line at the DMV yesterday and we were making small talk. As we endured the snail’s pace of the line to pay off tickets and fines, he pointed to the tellers and said, “Look at this! I ain’t never seen people take such a longtime to take someone else’s money. This is the only place in the world where people are slow at taking money.” I thought it was an excellent point.