A thirty-minute video is sweeping the nation, and Joseph Kony is the star. Director Jason Russell aims to make Kony famous. He wants everyone in the world to know the name of his leading man. Except, Joseph Kony is not a budding movie star, but the leader of the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army, and although Russell is a film director, he is also the co-founder of the humanitarian organization Invisible Children. During the course of the video Russell exposes the horrors committed by Kony and his supporters to the World Wide Web. The Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army is comprised of stolen children who are forced to fight for their adult captor.
Kony has abducted more than 30,000 children in Uganda. Many of them have been left orphaned after being forced to murder their own parents. Young boys are coerced into fighting as guerilla soldiers and their sisters often fall victim to sexual enslavement. Kony is at large despite the 33 criminal charges pressed against him, including those of murder, enslavement, torture, and rape. And hardly anyone knows his name.
Many Centennial students have had a strong reaction to the Kony 2012 video. Junior, Holly Hoang explained that there is another movement gaining momentum around the world to make Joseph Kony famous. On April 20, 2012 thousands of people plan to cover their cities with posters of Joseph Kony as to participate in the Cover the Night movement. Cover the Night intends to flood neighborhoods, towns, cities, and countries with Kony’s image in order to raise awareness about his brutality towards children. Participators desire to make Kony as infamous as bin Laden or Hitler.
People from across the globe are rallying behind the Kony 2012 campaign on social networking sites such as Facebook. On Twitter, #STOPKONY is the number one trending topic. Additionally, tags such as #InvisibleChildren, #Uganda, and #LRA are also trending.
Hoang and other CHS students plan to spread the word. Become informed and join the cause. For more information about Kony2012 visit www.invisiblechildren.com.
