Owner Vanessa Aguirre-Ávalos was busy watching over a small group of young children at Luna y Cielo Play Café when she heard what sounded like a helicopter circling over the neighborhood.

Concerned, she stepped outside to figure out what was going on. She watched as federal immigration agents passed by in trucks. Aguirre-Ávalos immediately blew the whistle hanging around her neck.

“I was blowing the whistle several times. I don’t know if I was even using the right cadence,” she said about the scene she witnessed last month, which devolved into the agents throwing smoke canisters into the street just steps away from Funston Elementary School and her Logan Square play space. “But it was my first reaction, just to get people to know what was happening.”

Aguirre-Ávalos said the small, inexpensive devices are useful in alerting neighbors to ICE activity, which is why she hands them out for free at her business.

From coffee shops to bars to adult stores, businesses and other volunteers have handed out thousands of whistles across the city in solidarity. Hundreds have also assembled whistle kits at “Whistlemania” events. The kits include “Know Your Rights” information, whistles and a zine with instructions on how to use them. They have been passed out to businesses, schools, Little Free Libraries and more.

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In Rogers Park, Mark Selner said handing out whistles at his adult store called Red Vault was an easy way to help. {snip}

“I’m in the middle of a neighborhood that’s very Latino, and I worry,” he said. “I figured I’d take advantage of my white privilege.”

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