Their efforts—community patrols, rapid responders, school escorts, vendor buyouts, honking horns & blowing whistles—are a uniquely #Chicago response that other cities #Trump has targeted for federal intervention want to model.
“The strategy here is to make us afraid. The response from Chicago is a bunch of obscenities & ‘no,’” said Anna Zolkowski Sobor, whose North Side neighborhood saw agents throw tear gas & tackle an elderly man. “We are all Chicagoans who deserve to be here. Leave us alone.”
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Perhaps the clearest indicator of #Chicago’s growing #resistance is the sound of #whistles.
The activist Baltazar Enriquez is credited with being among the first to introduce the concept. For months Little Village residents have used them to broadcast the persistent presence of #immigration agents.
Furious blasts both warn & attract observers who record video or criticize agents. Arrests, often referred to as #kidnappings because many agents cover their faces, draw increasingly agitated crowds.
#Immigration agents have responded aggressively.
Officers fatally shot one man during a traffic stop, while other agents use tear gas, rubber bullets & physical force. In early November, Chicago police were called to investigate shots allegedly fired at agents. No one was injured.
Activists say they discourage violence.
“We don’t have guns. All we have is a whistle,” Enriquez said. “That has become a method that has saved people from being kidnapped & unlawful arrest.”
By Oct, neighborhoods citywide were hosting “Whistlemania” events to pack the brightly colored devices for distribution through businesses & free book hutches.
“They want that orange whistle. They want to nod to each other in the street & know they are part of this movement,”said activist Gabe Gonzalez.
Even with 2.7M people, #Chicago residents like to say the nation’s 3rd-largest city operates as a collection of small towns with Midwest sensibilities.
People know their neighbors & offer help.
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