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CHICAGO (RNS) — Amid the blare of an ambulance siren, a bus rolling by and an elevated train passing down the block, the Rev. David Swanson was determined to keep praying.

Asking a crowd of more than 150 evangelical church members, activists, pastors and college students gathered across the street from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in downtown Chicago to raise their candles in the air, Swanson quoted the famed journalist Ida B. Wells as he began praying Monday night (Oct. 26).

“The way to right a wrong is to shine,” he said, waiting for the siren to fade before going on.

“Sojourner God, we ask you today for justice,” Swanson prayed.…