From Rev. Tom Martinez, Desert Palm UCC:

We had around 50-60 people at the vigil, all masked, with lots of folks none of us organizers knew. I counted about a dozen from Desert Palm. Word spread through the Tempe Interfaith Fellowship (TIF) on Facebook.

We read (Rev. Bill Lyons’) "Letter to White Christians" and then stood out by the road with a large banner that stated "WHITE SILENCE IS VIOLENCE." I had copies of the letter on hand and gave several out, as it was very well received. Thank you so much for crafting that powerful letter, the historical overtones of which are not lost on me.

I was a little worried that we'd be heckled or worse but as it turned out the overwhelming response was one of supportive honks, thumbs up, power fist and flashing peace signs.

We were all feeling rather hopeful in the end and there's talk of it moving each Wed. night to other locations. We're going to try to avoid a lot of social media pre publicity to keep the numbers down and to try and minimize counter protestors....