I so enjoy W. Kamau Bell’s many talents. Here’s one of his substack posts. There is video along with text. Enjoy!
Who’s With Me… at the Food Bank? Episode 2 by W. Kamau Bell
I’m talking to a Food Bank volunteer about why it is awesome to be a food bank volunteer! Read on Substack
snippet:
In the second episode of Who’s With Me… at the Food Bank?—our new shortform series on Substack—I’m back at the Alameda County Community Food Bank in Oakland, CA. I’m talking to Audrey Curbo, one of their lead volunteers. Audrey began volunteering at the food bank during the early days of COVID, a period that she (unsurprisingly) calls a “dark time”. Audrey has been volunteering there ever since and is now a part of leading and organizing volunteers, including those with disabilities. Audrey does all this work with a smile on her face, a song in her heart, and American Sign Language in her fingers. Audrey talks about learning ASL from Youtube, just so she could better communicate with deaf and hard of hearing volunteers. She is one of those people who makes you feel better about the world when you are done talking with them. Audrey comes of less like a volunteer and more like the host of children’s show. I loved talking to her. Let me know what you think in the comments below. (snip-go see the video!)
I’d been thinking of this song over this past week; today I was pleased to see it on another blog, so this one from the Isley Brothers is my choice. There are other covers, maybe almost equal to this one, which you can see at the page linked “another blog.” Enjoy! It’s smooth.
I can’t believe this month is past half over! Anyway, I think the guys here will particularly enjoy Bee’s selection for Wednesday, “Peace Somehow.” It sounds like it fits with other music the guys have posted, genre-wise.
As Bee participates in the bloggers’s Global Strike For Gaza, here is her Thursday Peace Music post early (not to us, of course, as it’ll be Thursday when this post goes up.) Bee’s message with this one is important for each of us to take to heart.
Bee’s post is eloquent! There is/was not a video in the post, but she named the song, and gives great background on the artist and the song. I checked YouTube, found the one I hope is the right one, and posted it beneath Bee’s entry here. She has posted this one in the past; I recall it. It’s beautiful and perfectly expressive. Well worth a repeat listen!
Last week when I was flying home I was scanning the ocean because I’m always certain that I’ll see Godzilla or a sea serpent if I look hard enough, but instead I saw a rainbow from the plane window and it was a perfect circle over the ocean. I was so excited I hit my head on the window and scared the person behind me. I didn’t have time to capture it on my phone but I shook Victor awake and was like, “YOU’LL NEVER BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SAW OUTSIDE THE WINDOW” and he said, “Was it a colonial woman churning butter on the wing?” and I was like, “…yep…that’s exactly what it was” because a circular rainbow feels anticlimactic after that guess.
Aaanyway, that leads to this week’s drawing, which I’m fairly certain counts as a scientific illustration:
CHICAGO (AP) — Baltazar Enriquez starts most mornings with street patrols, leaving his home in Chicago’s Little Village on foot or by car to find immigration agents that have repeatedly targeted his largely Mexican neighborhood.
Wearing an orange whistle around his neck, the activist broadcasts his plans on Facebook.
“We don’t know if they’re going to come back. All we know is we’ve got to get ready,” he tells thousands of followers. “Give us any tips if you see any suspicious cars.”
Moments later, his phone buzzes.
As an unprecedented immigration crackdown enters a third month, a growing number of Chicago residents are fighting back against what they deem a racist and aggressive overreach of the federal government. The Democratic stronghold’s response has tapped established activists and everyday residents from wealthy suburbs to working class neighborhoods.
They say their efforts — community patrols, rapid responders, school escorts, vendor buyouts, honking horns and blowing whistles — are a uniquely Chicago response that other cities President Donald 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 and ‘no,’” said Anna Zolkowski Sobor, whose North Side neighborhood saw agents throw tear gas and tackle an elderly man. “We are all Chicagoans who deserve to be here. Leave us alone.”
Baltazar Enriquez, president of the Little Village Community Council, walks with a Chicago Public School’s student walkout in protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents around Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Talia Sprague)
The sound of resistance
Perhaps the clearest indicator of Chicago’s growing resistance is the sound of whistles.
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 and 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 and physical force. In early November, Chicago police were called to investigate shots 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 and unlawful arrest.”
By October, neighborhoods citywide were hosting so-called “Whistlemania” events to pack the brightly colored devices for distribution through businesses and free book hutches.
“They want that orange whistle,” said Gabe Gonzalez, an activist. “They want to nod to each other in the street and know they are part of this movement.”
Midwestern sensibilities and organizing roots
Even with its 2.7 million people, Chicago residents like to say the nation’s third-largest city operates as a collection of small towns with Midwest sensibilities.
People generally know their neighbors and offer help. Word spreads quickly.
When immigration agents began targeting food vendors, Rick Rosales, enlisted his bicycle advocacy group Cycling x Solidarity. He hosted rides to visit street vendors, buying out their inventory to lower their risk while supporting their business.
Irais Sosa, co-founder of the apparel store Sin Titulo, started a neighbor program with grocery runs and rideshare gift cards for families afraid of venturing out.
“That neighborhood feel and support is part of the core of Chicago,” she said.
Enriquez’s organization, Little Village Community Council, saw its volunteer walking group which escorts children to school, grow from 13 to 32 students.
Many also credit the grassroots nature of the resistance to Chicago’s long history of community and union organizing.
Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan said Chicago area residents were so familiar with their rights that making arrests during a different operation this year was difficult.
So when hundreds of federal agents arrived in September, activists poured energy into an emergency hotline that dispatches response teams to gather intel, including names of those detained. Volunteers would also circulate videos online, warn of reoccurring license plates or follow agents’ cars while honking horns.
Protests have also cropped up quickly. Recently, high school students have launched walkouts.
Delilah Hernandez, 16, was among dozens from Farragut Career Academy who protested on a school day.She held a sign with the Constitution’s preamble as she walked in Little Village. She knows many people with detained relatives.
“There is so much going on,” she said. “You feel it.”
A difficult environment
More than 3,200 people suspected of violating immigration laws have been arrested during the so-called “ Operation Midway Blitz.” Dozens of U.S. citizens and protesters have been arrested with charges ranging from resisting arrest to conspiring to impede an officer.
The Department of Homeland Security defends the operation, alleging officers face hostile crowds as they pursue violent criminals.
Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol commander who’s brought controversial tactics from operations in Los Angeles, called Chicago a “very non permissive environment.” He blamed sanctuary protections and elected leaders and defended agents’ actions, which are the subject of lawsuits.
DHS, which oversees CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has said operations won’t end in Chicago.
Interest nationwide
Alonso Zaragoza, with a neighborhood organization in the heavily immigrant Belmont Cragin, has printed hundreds of “No ICE” posters for businesses. Organizers in Oregon and Missouri have asked for advice.
“It’s become a model for other cities,” Zaragoza said. “We’re building leaders in our community who are teaching others.”
The turnout for virtual know-your-rights trainings offered by the pro-democracy group, States at the Core, doubled from 500 to 1,000 over a recent month, drawing participants from New Jersey and Tennessee.
“We train and we let go, and the people of Chicago are the ones who run with it,” said organizer Jill Garvey.
Awaiting the aftermath
Enriquez completes up to three patrol shifts daily. Beyond the physical exertion, the work takes a toll.
Federal agents visited his home and questioned family members. A U.S. citizen relative was handcuffed by agents. His car horn no longer works, which he attributes to overuse.
“This has been very traumatizing,” he said. “It is very scary because you will remember this for the rest of your life.”
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