This afternoon outside our little storefront space in the International District there was a little scuffle. Two men had wrestled another man to the ground claiming he had stollen money from one of them. The conflict was over quickly and was never really that intense. The two got their money back and no one got hurt (unless you consider getting pinned down to the sidewalk painful).

I couldn't help but compare that event with what I saw on Saturday night. On the corner of Third and Yessler, a stretch of sidewalk known for extensive drug trade, the Narcotics Squad of the Seattle Police jumped out of unmarked SUV's and quickly arrested 3 people. The crowded area became all but empty soon. One man seemed to speak up to the cops (I don't know what he said or did) and one, two, then three police officers pushed him up against a brick wall despite his plea that he wasn't doing anything to them, threw the sandwitch we had just given him on the ground and spent at least 5 minutes yelling at him for interfeering with their investigation. They left, cursing him and promising to nail him for using.

Now, I don't know what he did - it might have been bad or threatening, but if it was bad enough to deserve the force the Narc. officers used, he should have been arrested for some crime. He wasn't. I have met drug dealers who are nicer than those police officers.

People ask how it can be so bad downtown, how people can ruin their lives so continuously. I think part of the problem is that it can be hard to tell who is right and what is wrong.