Messaging Roundup: Finding the light

Like we mean it, Julie Subrin, and Kate Dalton

Dec 19, 2025

Greetings Resisters!

It is perhaps fitting that we bring you this last newsletter of 2025 during Hanukkah, a time to reflect on the importance of light in times of darkness. It has been a harrowing week at the end of a harrowing year that has tested and even changed most of us. Let down by our institutions and leaders throughout society, we’ve had no choice but to be the light through our humble but committed actions. There shouldn’t be so much darkness, but it has been something to behold to witness others around us striving to be light bearers in their own way.

Nighttime photo of about a dozen people in winter gear on the pedestrian path of a parkway, with Freedom Friday signs ("Honk 4 Democracy," "Melt Ice," "Democracy Needs Your Courage," "Join Us Freedom Fridays," "Hands Off NYC! No ICE.") Two people are seated behind a table with 2 large bowls on it for whistle and zine distribution.

Freedom Friday. Image Credit: Kate Fermoile

We saw this striving last weekend in the Community Days of Action throughout the city. It was amazing to connect with so many fellow New Yorkers and let them know that we’re doing something to stand against this regime, and that they can too. We handed out thousands of whistles, zines, and Know Your Rights cards, and struck up numerous conversations with people sharing a range of emotions from gratitude to genuine fear. It was gratifying, empowering, and chilly. If you step back to look at our actions collectively, you can see massive noncompliance, defiance in the face of fascism, and a chipper unruliness that reflects the masses of people throughout this country who refuse to dim their light.

Today, we bring you dispatches from some of those people.

Image of men and women in front of a table with two signs that say " says "We heart immigrants. Hands off NYC" with a hand on it" On the table are baskets with whistles and zines.

Mel and the Flatbush Marketplace team. Photo credit: Kate Fermoile

Mice vs. ICE vs. Us

From Kate Fermoile

Last weekend, I was lucky to participate in and check in on five different actions around my little corner of Brooklyn. It was energizing to see so many people show up in different ways.

We kicked it off with Freedom Friday which was fun and full of good energy, which we needed because it was SO cold! This time we set up a table for whistle distribution and handed them out to folks in cars as well.

On Saturday, it was wonderful to see Caren R leading a Kensington group in business canvassing. Later, I met up with Mel at the Flatbush Marketplace leading a large and energetic group in business canvassing and whistle distribution. Later on that afternoon I tabled with Kimmianne outside of the Lofty Pigeon bookstore. It was SO cold! To try and warm up, I ducked into Hinterlands bar to pass out whistles. The patrons were receptive and supportive! I might do that again :-)

On Sunday, it was incredible to be part of the Cynthia King Dance Studio Mice vs ICE performances. The energy in the room was powerful and the audience was genuinely excited to receive their whistles. Julie P., Jennifer W., Susan B., Teri G., Kat J., Lena K., and Julia T. came out in the bitter cold, and because we were flush with volunteers many were able to head out to Kensington Plaza as well.

Overall, it was a weekend that felt both joyful and meaningful, and a reminder of how strong and committed this community is. Great weekend!

two women smiling and holding a sign that says "We heart immigrants. Hands off NYC" with a hand on it

Regina & Eman at the event in Bed Stuy. Photo credit: Cory Choy.

New Connections in Newkirk Plaza

From Ann Simkins

Canvassing at Newkirk Plaza this past Saturday was a GREAT experience.

When I initially suggested I would give out whistles at Newkirk Plaza, I just assumed it would be me walking around by myself. Then a bunch of people said they could help, and then when it was listed on the calendar a few more people signed up. Honestly, as it got closer, I got more nervous because I have never canvassed or led a group. Julie S gave me some great advice: “I think you can let folks know that, just like them, you are new to all this and that you’re learning together. That will inspire folks!”

The event went great and I met so many wonderful people. Thank you Delia, Carolyn, Rachel, Betsy, Megan, Amy, Richard and Brian. We had whistles/cards, some zines and KYR info in Bangla and Urdu and some signs for store owners to hang up. We went in pairs and walked on Foster, Newkirk, the plaza and the subway, talking to businesses and people walking around. Mostly everyone we met was very happy to get the tools we were giving out. One woman in a medical office we went into even hugged me. And on my walk home I asked a woman I passed if she would like a whistle and her face lit up and she asked for 4 for her children as well.

For me, this was courage building experience for sure and having so much support from within BK Resistors was monumental.

Image of four women in front of a table that has a sign that says "ICE Out of NYC" One woman is holding a sign that is shaped like a whistle. It is red and white and says "HANDS OFF NYC! NO ICE"

Little Haiti event with Julie S, Lily, Lora and Adelia. Photo credit: Kate Dalton.

Ice vs. ICE vs. Us

From Julie Subrin

Our Sunday event, just outside Target in Little Haiti, got off to a rocky start. Kate D got lost on her way to me, I was behind schedule, our ICE OUT OF NYC sign had to be bent out of shape to fit in the Lyft, and we were late getting to Adelia’s. Next, the three of us could barely carry all our materials, chairs and table to our chosen spot. And it was slushy, windy and absolutely bone chillingly frigid outside.

But then helpers showed up: Lora and Lily, two people we’d never met, whom we didn’t even know had signed up, and who didn’t know each other. With them, this ragtag operation picked up steam. Adelia imposed order on our display of zines, stickers and KYR cards. We filled one bowl with whistles, and another with chocolate kisses. And then we began the work of stopping people in their path and asking them if they wanted information on how to protect our neighbors from ICE. This is a little challenging under any circumstances, but even more so when people are rushing to get out of the cold, and weighed down with bags after holiday shopping. Given those conditions, I was surprised by how many people stopped, took a moment to understand what we were offering, and then accepted the whistles and zines with gratitude. Many even asked for more to share with others.

Our message didn’t always land–not, for the most part, because people disagreed with what we were doing, but because it turns out talking about ICE, as in Immigration Customs Enforcement, is a little bit of a challenge when you’re surrounded by ice. One person took a “How to Report ICE” zine, and nodded appreciatively, saying something like, “That’s right, it’s not safe out here. People can slip and fall!” And she wasn’t the only one.

I don’t know what that woman made of it when she got home and had a chance to look at the zine. And I think it’s kind of funny that she and a few others believed that the five of us had painted signs, printed out materials, and were standing out on a street corner on a brutally cold day to encourage folks to report actual ice. Then again, she wasn’t wrong about the spirit of what we were doing, despite the confusion between frozen ice and ICE of the gestapo variety. We were there to dispense information that might provide some protection from a real threat to the community. Of course ICE is not ice. But ultimately, if our presence out there was understood as a gesture of neighborliness, and of community empowerment, then some part of our intended message was conveyed.

That Smalltown Feeling

From Dana Wehle

On Saturday, at the start, six of us sat outside in the cold in front of Walgreens gathering our thoughts and materials for business canvassing in Kensington. Kate F - with her ever present beautiful smile - unexpectedly bicycled over to us to see if we had what we needed!! What a symbol of the growing small town feeling that emerged for me during community weekend, beginning with Kensington, Park Slope and Windsor Terrace resisters all communicating and organizing on one Signal chat!!!!

On Sunday, no longer officially canvassing, I couldn’t find my usual item at Carnival and after the helpful salesperson warmly called me “mami,” I got the courage to start chatting with her, and ended up giving her a whistle, KYR card and sticker with the Report ICE hotline number. I had a similar encounter with a man stocking the green leafy section. I had already known that another team had a very positive experience speaking to the manager or maybe owner of Carnival, and felt a great sense of gratitude for all the organizing and “return to the same places” strategy that made Community Action Weekend so successful!

Johnny Appleseed Runs Errands

From Cheryl Pearlman

Cheryl completed a DIY day of action, distributing zines and whistles wherever she went, a testament to the power of working our activism into the everyday.

In retrospect I felt like Johnny Appleseed on Saturday giving out the zines and whistles I had in my pocket. I hadn’t thought about giving any out until I was taking Lyft to my meditation and Tai Chi classes. When we stopped at a light, I leaned over and handed one to the driver. He then took out his passport to show me and said in the 37 years he was in this country from Pakistan he has never carried it until recently. There was extra worry in being stopped by ICE as he travels all over the city and never knows where they might be.

Cheryl went on to distribute materials at various locations, including a local church that wants its congregants to know their rights, a carpet store, and to customers and staff at a restaurant.