Timothy Baldi
Senior Reporter
As Invisible Children’s two Joseph Kony videos continue to go viral across the United States, they plan to hold a special event on April 20 to spread more awareness of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) known for kidnapping children in Uganda and the surrounding countries.
Cover the Night is intended to spread posters throughout major cities across the United States to inform audiences outside the internet about Kony’s crimes and to encourage citizens to write or e-mail their state representatives.
The goal is to make Kony famous, said junior Rose Prince, “like Osama Bin Laden.”
Cover the Night hopes to get the United States involved in saving the victims of sex slavery and child soldiers and to discourage “slactivism” by promoting action and not just “liking” and “sharing” a video on the internet, according to freshman Erica Thompson.
Kony has led the LRA for 26 years, kidnapping girls as sex slaves and boys as child soldiers, said Prince.
Kony has kidnapped approximately 30,000 children according to Invisible Children, some of these children have been forced to kill their parents while in the LRA.
“We are going to do everything that we can to stop them,” said Jason Russell, co-founder of Invisible Children, to an escaped child soldier named Jacob whose brother was killed by the LRA.
“We have seen that stories change lives,” said the second Kony 2012 video “Beyond Famous.”
Participants are encouraged to avoid vandalism or illegal activities while spreading the posters throughout these cities. Some people are contacting their local police departments to make sure their actions are legal before joining in the event.
Several Bryan students plan to join Cover the Night, including several members of the SSTOP team. However, Cover the Night is not an official SSTOP sponsored event because of potential legal concerns.
Students considering participation can contact Prince and sophomore Katie Morgan.
For more information, go to http://www.kony2012.com/ for the option to pledge support for Cover the Night and pledge support for this statement “Joseph Kony is one of the world’s worst war criminals, and I call on my leaders to support the international efforts now led by the United Nations and African Union to arrest him and his top commanders, bring the child soldiers home, and restore lasting peace.”
To learn more about Invisible Children and Kony 2012, visit invisiblechildren.com.