On Kony 2012

A topic of controversy in pop culture right now is the company Invisible Children, after their Internet video campaign Kony 2012 was released to the public. Because the video has garnered so much popularity and struck a chord with so many people, many bloggers and other Internet users sought to tear down the company’s reputation.

[Man hates feeling uncomfortable, so if anything causes him to question his peace of mind, he attacks it.]

Don’t get me wrong: it is good to be thoughtful and critical of any- and everything. The difference between being thoughtful and being ignorant is apparent when one only reads articles written from the perspective he agrees with. This goes for IC supporters as well: we should read and acknowledge the negativity of the articles.

However, this stance does not belittle the message and goal of the video, which was to raise awareness of Joseph Kony. The video did not seek out popularizing the company, Invisible Children. To say that one must research the company before watching/sharing the video misses the point of the video. I say watch/share it, then research the company (if you want to devote time/money to them).

I am a big IC supporter, and this is how I became a part of the movement.

In 2006, I saw the rough cut of the movie Invisible Children at a friends’. Though it was stirring and moving, I experienced it only as a movie. I didn’t think much about it afterwards…

…until I randomly found myself at a screening of the movie at my college’s student union. I don’t remember why I attended: I think the decision was based on having nothing better to do. At this screening, I was more captivated by this plight in Africa. I think that a large part of that was the presence of the roadies – guys and girls no older than me who pledged themselves to a just cause and really acted on it, instead of like me a few months ago: stirred, but complacent.

A little about me – I am not one who is okay sitting back and watching a cause I commit to. Invisible Children was a movement started by a few guys barely older than me with that same attitude. I didn’t want to commit to them based on their financial history, their pristine siphoning of their funding, or their flawless personalities. Invisible Children, to me, was a group started by guys who saw something wrong with the world and then used their efforts to right it. That night, in my student union’s theater, I made a silent decision. I committed to Invisible Children.

In 2006, I was a sophomore in college. My only real task shortly thereafter was to spread awareness for the screenings that came to my college twice a year. In my junior year, I thankfully mentioned the movie to my Honors class. My friend Ruth (I called you out) came, among others from the class. She was moved by the screening. (She later called it a life-changing moment for her.)

Ruth used her time and effort to make the Lafayette Street Team for Invisible Children. Through this team, we organized and advertised our own screenings, and didn’t only rely on the roadies to come through to show the movie. We organized screenings of the movies, other videos of the company, advertised about the crisis, had an art sale benefitting them, and had a lot of fun doing that. A memorable event we had was when we had a white flag parade through downtown Lafayette. We were silent, and only talked to people who asked us what we were doing.

Displace Me was an event put on in 2007 by Invisible Children to allow their supporters to experience life in displacement camps, like most of the population of Uganda had to in those times, because of fear of Kony’s child abductions. The event was held for one night in 15 different US cities. We slept outdoors with only cardboard boxes as shelter (like those in the displacement camps. The night included times where we would write letters to our senators and also times of silent meditation/prayer for those in Uganda. Because of Ruth’s organization and work, “Laffy Town,” the group from the Lafayette Street Team, was the largest group at the New Orleans Displace Me.

Check out the video.

I am proud to report that the northern Ugandans are no longer forced to move to displacment camps.

In 2008, I graduated from college and moved to that state capital for graduate school. My commitment to IC was rather stagnant for my two years of grad school, regrettably. It was awesome news when my friend Blake, who I’d introduced to IC in undergrad, told me that he was accepted to do a paid internship with IC in San Diego. He invited me to visit him there, so I gladly accepted. I’d planned to go one Friday in May 2011, tour the office maybe meet the founders Laren and Jason. (Bobby started his own nonprofit at this time.) The week I was scheduled to leave, Blake called and told me that the office would be closed on Friday, so I couldn’t tour the building and meet everyone. I was bummed at this, but my point of going was to hang out with Blake, and that was still the plan.

Blake asked me to consider stopping by the IC office on Monday morning, before my flight. I told him that I didn’t want to risk missing my flight, and it was just an idle wish of mine to tour the IC office.

That night I received a text from an area code I didn’t recognize. It read, “Hey Matt, this is Jason Russell. Blake told me you were coming to Sand Diego and I really want to meet you! Please come by on Monday morning.”

He twisted my arm. I went.

This guy  who just texted me, I wasn’t enamored by him, like he was a celebrity. It was more like deep admiration and respect. I believed in what he was doing, and being involved in his cause shaped my character, so it was awesome to get to see him as a normal guy who wanted to meet a strange kid from Louisiana.

On Saturday in San Diego, Blake and I stopped by an (almost) deserted IC building, where we stumbled upon Laren, one of the three main founders, at work in his office. We talked for a little while, then he allowed me to go to their merchandice room and get whatever I wanted. I was fortunate that Blake was with me, or I would have emptied the merch room. I got to snap a picture with him before we left.

Monday morning, I got to meet Jason (who was still on his marathon kick, and took a bike to work). He talked to me in his office, and asked to hear my story. I told him about me, then I asked to hear his. Somewhere in the hour I spent there, we went through both of our stories, he showed me the picture album of their trip to Africa when they filmed the rough cut, and he gave me a tour of the office. I left him, telling him I’d text when I landed in Louisiana and letting me know he’d be in touch.

Yeah, he is a cool guy.

Four months later, he texted me saying he’d be at the airport an hour from me briefly. I asked Ruth to go with me, and we got to meet again in that airport. I noticed his genuine interest and pride as we told him of the grassroots effort in Lafayette.

That is my story about how I became involved in IC and about how I got to consider Jason a friend of mine. My point in relaying that is this:

I believe in the mission of IC. A primary mission of the IC movement is to spread awareness of the humanitarian crises facing the people of Uganda. With the Kony 2012 video, they have done that.

An obvious response is for people to question the legitimacy of the company. That is a very good thing. We need to always be wary of everything in our lives. However, to use questioning the business as an excuse not to be aware of the campaign is… pitiful. If an aggravating neighbor told us that we had something in our teeth, would we ignore the message because we didn’t like where it came from? Any message voicing the good of others is worth listening to. To poke holes in the sender doesn’t make the message go away; it becomes more resonant.

“The Ugandan people don’t like what IC is  doing,” some say. A Ugandan girl is coming to the local screening Monday; I’ll ask her, rather than a blogger.

“Kony isn’t even in Uganda,” some say. Is he still a wanted terrorist?

“All trials before for peace and his capture have failed and resulted in a bigger bloodbath.” Hence we want American involvement.

“The only reason IC wants US troops in Africa is so that Americans can be near rich raw minerals.” Unfortunately, I did really hear this. Talk about reaching for something negative to say.

Finally, I consider Jason a friend, and before that I believed greatly in Invisible Children. My hope is that you, reader, find something to believe in so much that even if it becomes popular or ridiculed, you still acknowledge it.