People Need To Know What's Going On In The Chicago Neighborhoods

    See two previous posts,  https://www.ailantha.com/blog/my-daughter-lives-in-a-war-zone and https://www.ailantha.com/blog/my-daughter-lives-in-a-war-zone
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      Almost every day I communicate with my daughter, Claire, who lives in Chicago with her husband Miguel in the ethnically diverse and once peaceful Logan Square neighborhood.

      My daughter and son-in-law's neighborhood, along with other nearby neighborhoods with Latino populations, have been turned into war zones by brutal marauding bands of ICE agents in SUVs who seize, gas, flash bang and otherwise terrorize the residents.   

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​       ICE is likewise decimating the local businesses because people are afraid to go out to shop or eat.

   
      People who live in the targeted areas have been attempting to peacefully resist the ICE agents by patrolling their neighborhoods and keeping an eye out for the caravans of  black-tinted-window SUV's or any ICE activity, for which they will give warning by blowing whistles, documenting with their phones, and calling rapid response teams.

      But it's one thing to read about this brutality on the news and quite another to receive first hand accounts of it from one's child who lives in the middle of it, hears flash bangs and helicopters and smells the flash grenade powder from her house and fears for the safety of her neighbors and loved ones.  
       Here are some of Claire's recent Facebook posts:​

        I asked Claire if I should share some of our texts and our family texts. She thought it would be fine because people need to know what's going on.
           Here's our conversation from last Friday, October 24:

       
​        Here's what we wrote Tuesday, October 28, the day before yesterday. Claire had been out biking: 

        And this is from yesterday, October 29, on our family text thread. Claire was having a quiet morning at home, making coffee, doing laundry, and otherwise enjoying her day off, when she heard some neighborhood activity. She went outside and hopped on her bike to see what was going on. She witnessed one ICE vehicle smash into a parked car while speeding the wrong way on a one-way street, and she saw another ICE drive up onto the sidewalk.

     
​        If only it would stop happening.

                        

 

     If, perchance, you would like to donate to some ICE peaceful Chicago resistance group, my son-in-law Miguel made up a list of organizations for me to share:

•Belmont-Cragin United is a community organization that has taken on a growing role in the proliferation of whistle kits for residents of the neighborhoods being heavily hit by ICE terror (Belmont-Cragin, Hermosa, Austin, Logan Square, Humboldt Park)

Belmont Cragin Amazon Whistle and Wishlist:   https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2FW2BNE89APG1?ref_=wl_share&fbclid=IwY2xjawNbZ-lleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFtVGF5UDlyVkQ4TVEzdDRIAR5ghc9X5pU1eFr88RKYA3HvwU8VafNsOxSNhDGn4BRYCFRzxaH7keWdzl9cag_aem_p-ldYqqb1yDdaf5Zfv5Yvg

Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/belmontcraginunited?fbclid=IwY2xjawNbq9JleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF1NmxZSEV0OGJtdnhCY0F6AR7y_jEhp11hZft_CcpR3kFKYbcGM9BxXrmLP76JWko0c08EVvddeqGrIX0UDw_aem_S3rkhgnJHM5nwej7PWSr4Q

• Chicago Street Vendor Relief Fund
Fund that pays street vendors lost wages so they don't have to risk being out while ICE terrorizes their neighborhoods.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/chicago-street-vendor-relief-fund-protecting-vendors-suppo

• llinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights (ICIRR)
Statewide org that runs the Family Support Network. Money goes to printing and providing legal resources to people kidnapped by ICE
https://illinoiscoalitionforimmigrantandrefugeerights-bloom.kindful.com/?campaign=1242232
Podcast interview with Diego of ICIRR & Pilsen Rapid Response
https://chicago.citycast.fm/podcasts/how-to-spot-ice-in-chicago

•Latin Union of Chicago
Chicago org focusing protecting day laborers (think workers at Home Depot parking lots). Money goes to printing and legal workshops at their worker hall.
https://latinounion.nationbuilder.com/

•Pilsen PUÑO
Coalition of community orgs based in the predominantly Mexican neighborhood of Pilsen. Hosts ICE Watch trainings regularly at the Chicago Liberation Center. Money goes to printing materials and the ICE Bond Fund for people released from detainment.

https://pilsenunidos.org/#get-involved