Lindsay Deutsch

USA TODAY Network

Today at 7 p.m. ET, from Hawaii to New York, hundreds of groups plan to take to their communities in the U.S. in peaceful protest of what they describe as excessive police force.

It all began with the Twitter hashtag #NMOS14, which calls for a national moment of silence, coming days after unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown was killed by police in Ferguson, Mo.

"It's not just Ferguson. Police brutality is pervasive. It's happening in so many cities," New York-based social worker and community activist known online as Feminista Jones told the USA TODAY Network.

After an activist posted on Twitter that there would be a vigil in downtown Manhattan for Brown, Feminista Jones reached out.

"I wonder why they always have vigils so far removed from the people who are most likely to be affected by police brutality," she wrote back to the poster. "I just know that people in the Bronx and Brooklyn will struggle getting there on Sunday trains." (The correspondence is documented in a Storify.)

Plans for the peaceful assemblies began through that platform, then moved to Facebook. It's an update to activism Jones compares to "phone banking and letter writing — just reaching 90,000 people."

"We're having a national moment of silence — one chord, one silent voice — to honor not only Mike Brown, not only Eric Garner, but all victims of police brutality, especially those who have lost their lives," she said.

The social media movement has sturdily moved offline in preparation for the national moment of silence Thursday. Jones held a conference call with more than 75 organizers Wednesday night, and says when she went to sleep, more than 90 communities had committed to hosting the silent vigil.

Her inbox was flooded Thursday morning.

Jones, whose real name is Michelle but chose not to give her last name, references the Boston concert James Brown put on the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, providing a peaceful way for people to "show resistance and protest while also stopping the risk of loss of life."

"I wanted to have a moment of peace and self reflection for those who have the same feelings, a massive group therapy moment we can use moving forward to figure out the next steps to improve relations on a community level and stop these acts," she said.

"We must mourn the loss of people who have become victims, and give them a place to find healing with people who care," she said.

From there, Jones hopes activists will "take the next steps at their local level."

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