{"id":134540,"date":"2026-03-10T15:40:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T15:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/134540\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T15:40:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T15:40:07","slug":"pittsburgh-bookstore-hands-out-anti-ice-whistles-owner-says-shes-not-worried-about-losing-followers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/134540\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh bookstore hands out \u2018anti-ICE whistles,\u2019 owner says she\u2019s not worried about losing followers"},"content":{"rendered":"

A business owner in Pittsburgh is saying she\u2019s not worried that her\u00a0anti-\u200b\u200bU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement<\/a> (ICE)\u00a0social media posts could cost her customers, saying she is more concerned about her anti-ICE advocacy than anything else.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lizzie McCoy, who owns Blythe Books in Brentwood,\u00a0told\u00a0Pittsburgh Public Source<\/a> that she posted a warning about ICE being present through her Blythe Books Instagram page.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease check in on any neighbors you have who might not be able to leave their house in these conditions,\u201d she wrote. \u201cYou\u2019re always welcome to tag our store, and we will do our best to spread any [sightings] we see,\u201d using the ice cube emoji, and writing, \u201c[ICE] out of Pittsburgh!\u201d<\/p>\n

McCoy said the prospect of losing followers is not something that worries her.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, that\u2019s really not important,\u201d she said. \u201cIf I lose followers, but I let the community as a whole know that there\u2019s ICE presence in Brentwood, at the end of night, I lay my head down and sleep. It doesn\u2019t bother me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The bookstore even offers free ICE whistles, with a sign next to a whistle container full of whistles that reads, \u201cAnti-ICE whistle. Free. Take and share! Please don\u2019t test in store, they work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marla Solnik, who owns Creative Chem Co, also in Pittsburgh, was part of the national Jan. 30 \u201cICE Out!\u201d protest where some businesses closed their doors to show their opposition to ICE.<\/p>\n

Lizzie McCoy, who owns Blythe Books in Brentwood,\u00a0told\u00a0Pittsburgh Public Source that she posted a warning about ICE being present through her Blythe Books Instagram page. @blythebooks_pgh\/Instagram<\/p>\n

Blythe Books was closed on January 30th for the National Anti-ICE strike. @blythebooks_pgh\/Instagram<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an unprecedented moment, and it is a\u00a0human issue,\u201d Solnik said. \u201cIt is not OK to be pulling people off the streets. It is not OK to not be doing due process. It\u2019s not OK to see violence like this happening in our communities, and I am not going to stay silent in these moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some businesses, however, remained open and donated funds to anti-ICE organizations such as Frontline Dignity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source reported that\u00a0Trace Brewing\u00a0raised $300 for Frontline Dignity on Jan. 30, an organization that\u00a0holds anti-ICE trainings<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I lose followers, but I let the community as a whole know that there\u2019s ICE presence in Brentwood, at the end of night, I lay my head down and sleep. It doesn\u2019t bother me,\u201d McCoy said. @blythebooks_pgh\/Instagram<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can grab someone\u2019s attention with a printed flyer or a QR code, I think that\u2019s really important,\u201d Katie Rado, general manager of Trace Brewing, said. \u201cAttending some of our fundraising events, which are always free, gives more access to that specific charity or anti-ICE movement, or that\u2019s creating a greater, stronger community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Aadam Soorma, who also works at Trace Brewing, said anti-ICE advocacy is a \u201cmoral obligation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of the people you talk to in Pittsburgh embody that characteristic,\u201d Soorma said. \u201cI think of it more as a bit of a moral obligation to provide that space and be like, yes, you can thrive here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

McCoy offers free ICE whistles, with a sign next to a whistle container full of whistles that reads, \u201cAnti-ICE whistle. Free. Take and share! Please don\u2019t test in store, they work.\u201d @blythebooks_pgh\/Instagram<\/p>\n

Protesters hold signs during a demonstration against ICE in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. SOPA Images\/LightRocket via Getty Images<\/p>\n

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Aadam Soorma, head of marketing and guest experience at Trace Brewing, said the company is not concerned about losing business.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, most of our day-to-day guests at Trace are a reflection of our own staff and community here in Bloomfield,\u201d Soorma said. \u201cWe\u2019re lucky to be surrounded by compassionate people, and we\u2019re intentional in how we program and activate our space to prioritize access and inclusion. I don\u2019t foresee us losing business for peeling off a portion of our sales proceeds to benefit Casa San Jose and Frontline Dignity. We\u2019ll be doing more benefit nights throughout the calendar year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fox News Digital\u00a0attempted to reach Blythe Books and Creative Chem Co.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A business owner in Pittsburgh is saying she\u2019s not worried that her\u00a0anti-\u200b\u200bU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)\u00a0social media…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2443,741,2341,73,75,74,302],"class_list":["post-134540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-ice","tag-immigration","tag-media","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}