{"id":305795,"date":"2025-10-15T16:32:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T16:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/305795\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T16:32:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T16:32:13","slug":"we-have-to-stand-up-for-one-another","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/305795\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We Have To Stand Up For One Another’"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOGAN SQUARE \u2013 Hundreds of people showed up Tuesday night at events across the Northwest and West sides to assemble whistle kits<\/a> that Chicagoans can use to alert neighbors when immigration enforcement agents are nearby.<\/p>\n

Participants put together the kits that included a whistle, a Know Your Rights printout, a zine with instructions on how and when to use the whistle and rights cards that can be handed to an immigration officer if someone is detained. Ultimately, people helped pack more than 17,000 whistle kits that can help protect neighbors, said Alonso Zaragoza, one of the organizers and leader of Belmont Cragin United.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is amazing. We\u2019re showing them in deeds and actions that we care about them, that the city of Chicago and our neighbors care about these individuals, even if the federal government doesn\u2019t,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The events came as Chicagoans are increasingly looking for ways to peacefully resist federal operations Midway Blitz and At Large, immigration enforcement programs that kicked off in September.<\/p>\n

Besides using whistles to alert neighbors when immigration agents are near, attendees were encouraged to join school ICE watch teams<\/a>, do grocery store runs for neighbors who are afraid of leaving their homes and support local immigrant-owned businesses.<\/p>\n

Jackie Walter, of Ukrainian Village, walked into the packed lobby of Intuit Healing, a therapy center at 2514 W. Armitage Ave. in Logan Square Tuesday night. Dozens of volunteers packed the room next door as one of the event\u2019s organizers gave out instructions for assembling whistle kits.<\/p>\n

A few minutes later, Walter was part of a team of eight people who sorted through printouts in English and Spanish and worked out the best way to fold them. After folding dozens of printouts, they placed them inside a plastic bag with an orange whistle.<\/p>\n

Walter learned about Whistlemania after a friend shared the event in a songwriters and activists group chat and decided to join to \u201cdo something\u201d about the federal administration\u2019s intensified immigration enforcement operations, she said. <\/p>\n

Walter\u2019s friend, Mike Delgado, said he wanted to attend because \u201cspeaking out is just not enough.\u201d Delgado and Walter recently participated in an ICE watch training.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our responsibility to watch out for each other,\u201d Delgado said. \u201cIt\u2019s important, being Latino or not, not letting kidnappings and abductions happen, not being complicit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Neighbors volunteered to assemble whistle kits at a Whistlemania meetup organized by Belmont Cragin United, as seen on Oct. 14, 2025. Credit: Francia Garcia Hernandez\/Block Club Chicago<\/p>\n

Other Whistlemania events were in Hermosa, Avondale, Belmont Cragin, Portage Park and Austin.<\/p>\n

About 70 volunteers coordinated the seven events, Zaragoza said. Each of the events hit their capacity limits soon after starting, Zaragoza said on social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tuesday night\u2019s events were organized after 400 people showed up last week to a whistle assembly meetup at Pozoleria El Mexicano, organized by Belmont Cragin United, Zaragoza said. All events were possible thanks to neighbors in and out of state who bought whistles through Belmont Cragin United\u2019s Amazon Wishlist or donated via Venmo to help with printing costs and materials, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we could do this again because there\u2019s a need for the whistles, especially in our community, but also in other communities,\u201d Zaragoza said. <\/p>\n

\"\"A sign at the door of Intuit Healing informed volunteers the Whistlemania event held inside was at capacity after dozens of neighbors showed up to assemble whistle kits, as seen on Oct. 14, 2025. Credit: Francia Garcia Hernandez\/Block Club Chicago<\/p>\n

Jesse H., one of the lead organizers for the Logan Square Whistlemania event, volunteered to host a Logan Square event after attending last week\u2019s Whistlemania in Belmont Cragin, she said. She joined the first event because it aligns with her values and it\u2019s a \u201cform of resistance, not only resistance against ICE, but also the current administration,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a way to resist. It is a way to form community. It is a way to share information,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

More than 1,000 people have been arrested during Operation Midway Blitz, Russell Hott, ICE field director in Chicago, told Block Club earlier this month. While claiming they are targeting the \u201cworst of the worst,\u201d ICE has repeatedly refused to provide information on the vast majority of the people it has taken in.<\/p>\n

Over the past month, federal agents have\u00a0shot at least two people<\/a>,\u00a0killing one<\/a>; repeatedly\u00a0tear-gassed protesters<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0first responders<\/a>;\u00a0shot rubber bullets<\/a>\u00a0at protesters;\u00a0detained U.S. citizens<\/a>,\u00a0including children<\/a>;\u00a0smoke bombed and tear-gassed more than one Chicago street<\/a>;\u00a0fired a chemical weapon at a TV reporter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0detained a journalist<\/a>, among other incidents.<\/p>\n

Cameron Lacy, owner of Intuit Healing, volunteered to host the event because she doesn\u2019t want to \u201clet another horrific moment in history happen in our neighborhoods,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe minute that Black Hawk [helicopter] and ICE came into town, I think everything changed for every Chicagoan,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd the fact that we can actually do something, show our kids that they can do something and gather in safe ways that aren\u2019t just going to a No Kings March is really valuable.\u201d <\/p>\n

A few minutes before 7 p.m., volunteers had finished packing over 1,000 whistle kits at the Logan Square meetup. Neighbors surpassed the initial goal of 700 kits thanks to additional donations of over 500 printouts and whistles made on the day of the event, Jesse H. said. Financial donations that were not needed to cover printing costs will be given to the Street Vendors Association of Chicago\u2019s GoFundMe<\/a>, she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Dozens of neighbors attend one of seven Whistlemania events organized by Belmont Cragin United on Oct. 14, 2025. Credit: Belmont Cragin United Facebook<\/p>\n

The next Whistlemania meetups will likely be held in the suburbs, as concerned officials and neighbors there have asked Belmont Cragin United for support organizing the events, Zaragoza said. <\/p>\n

Michelle MacPherson, an Arcadia Terrace neighbor who attended the Logan Square Whistlemania, said it is great that people show up in numbers and show the federal administration that \u201cwe\u2019re not letting this happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re able to do something that works, we\u2019re setting up a blueprint for other cities,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast:<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOGAN SQUARE \u2013 Hundreds of people showed up Tuesday night at events across the Northwest and West sides…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":305796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,1322,5386,1818,17834,121074],"class_list":{"0":"post-305795","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-featured","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-migrants","13":"tag-operation-midway-blitz"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115379146185182338","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}