Yes, I saw you sneaking around the tent when you knew its occupant would be out working. I’ve watched him take care of that tiny Belltown empty lot for weeks without problems. Since you wanted to destroy the tent in secret, I called out, "Hey, I see you!" When you ignored me to pull out a tent stake, I asked "What's wrong in your life that you need to mess with poor people?” You told me he should go be poor somewhere else, and I replied, “Hey, he’s our neighbor too. How'd he hurt you?"

Since you skulked away as you replied, "But it's the Guatemalan!" I'll let you know here that your casual bigotry didn't convince me that you were being right, just, or fair. Sneakily, passively-aggressively destroying the flimsiest of homes is not a better solution than settling things person to person. Sweeping people is not better than creating housing and non-congregate shelter.

When he returned to his tent, he packed up and left. Let’s hope it was because he found a better home than our corner, not because you scared him off to somewhere worse. It only took one day for the lot to fill with litter again.


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