In the corner of Kaleb Lutterman’s home office in Minneapolis’ Longfellow neighborhood, amid video game memorabilia and electronics in various stages of repair, a 3D printer is piping out small rectangles of red plastic.
They don’t look like much yet, but in a few hours the printer will have made 100 small – but incredibly loud – plastic whistles to be distributed throughout the Twin Cities. Ideally, Lutterman would like for them never to be used.
The whistles, inspired by activists in Chicago opposed to ramped-up federal immigration enforcement, are to alert neighbors to the presence of federal law enforcement and to prepare them for potential immigration raids. Like-minded activists in the Twin Cities, organized under social media handles like mspwhistles, have been ordering, distributing and now making whistles since at least October.
Lutterman had attended protests to oppose immigration crackdowns, but when whistle campaigns started showing up in his social media feed, he realized that with his new 3D printer, he could do more.
Demand has been high. “I’m on about 700,” Lutterman said last week, following several days of stepped up enforcement in the Twin Cities. “I went through about 400 [the previous] weekend and I have another 200 here,” he said, motioning to a box filled with whistles.
Related: Amid fears of ICE raids, Minneapolis businesses say some customers are scared and staying home
He’s given away hundreds to local businesses and “rapid response” teams organized by neighbors and nonprofits. But demand is running up against the reality of limited resources. A $15 roll of plastic filament makes 800-1,000 whistles and to print 100 of them takes 6-8 hours, he said.
Lutterman has been asking friends who have 3D printers to pitch in, and a lot of them have. Together, they’ve formed part of a loose network of residents looking to do what they can to oppose what they see as unjust enforcement actions.
“I don’t know if it’s enough,” Lutterman said, “but it feels really good to do something about it. It’s definitely better than just wishing it would go away.”
‘We run out of toner fast’
Many of the whistles come packaged with a small folded “zine” with contact numbers for legal and immigration services and instructions for how to use them: Short whistle bursts if immigration agents are nearby; a sustained blow if someone is being detained.
In Northeast Minneapolis, Samuel Spenader-Roark has been on a printing spree of about 1,000 zines and whistles since a Dec. 3 post in a local Facebook group took off.
The following weekend was “absolutely nuts,” he said, adding that simply folding the zines and taping on the whistles presents the biggest challenge. He’s hoping to combat that with an upcoming “folding party.”
“It’s so very affirming to see that there are so many people in our community that want to get involved,” Spenader-Roark said. Still, “being a single person who’s running these off of a 3D printer as fast as he can, it’s challenging.”
Part of the appeal of the whistle campaign is how simple it is to participate. Still, he said, a more structured volunteer network to direct efforts and pool resources would be nice. “We run out of toner fast,” he said.
Whistles that are more than a toy
In St. Paul, a basket of the whistles sits on the countertop at Mischief Toy Store. Co-owner Dan Marshall credits his business partner and daughter, Abigail Adelsheim-Marshall, with the idea.
“It’s simple,” Marshall said. “We are a toy store that believes in social justice, and what ICE is doing, what Trump is doing in the Twin Cities is immoral and illegal.”
Patrons have picked up more than 300 whistles, he estimated. And the store is printing the accompanying zines. Marshall said he saw the whistles in part as a tool for parents to talk with their children about federal immigration enforcement throughout the metro area.
“A whistle in a way is just a toy,” he said, “but in another way it can be used as a tool of resistance.”
The post Not just a toy: How whistles became a ‘tool of resistance’ against ICE immigration enforcement appeared first on MinnPost.
Want more insights? Join Working Title - our career elevating newsletter and get the future of work delivered weekly.
