When is Enough, Enough?!

KONY 2012! Make KONY Famous! Have you read about this yet? Here is the video that is circulating right now. A friend of mine posted it on my Facebook to watch. I was aware of this awful man before hand but not aware of this organization {Invisible Children} trying to bring about awareness and stop him.

This video has received A LOT of criticism. Anything from being to simplistic to financials not being sound to wrong timing. Since this video went viral on Facebook on Monday the 5th, it has received over 65,000,000 hits! {It is also on Vimeo.com} That is crazy! And awesome!

Everyone seems to have an opinion regarding this 30 minute video, so why not give mine as well.

I certainly don't claim to know everything regarding this issue or politics or military strategies or financials for charities. I believe every human being has the right to live in a safe home, to be protected by their government and have a quality of life. Joseph Kony has terrorized Africa for more than two decades. He and his group LRA {Lord's Resistance Army} specialize in kidnapping children from their homes and turning them into child soldiers. Other atrocities include mass murder, rape, sexual slavery, mutilation and torture. Girls aren't safe either. They are kidnapped to be sex slaves for his army. Estimates range from 30,000 to as many as 105,000 children kidnapped by and Kony and the LRA.  As a result of all this violence 1.7 million people have been displaced.

I don't know what the solution is but I do believe that other countries can't just sit on the sidelines and do nothing. Look at the Holocaust. As a human race, aren't we responsible for each other? I don't know how anyone can think "Well I live in the United States, so this isn't my problem. Africa needs to fix it herself." Or "Hey, this doesn't affect me. I don't need to worry about it." Or "That is how Africa is. They fight and kill each other. Let them be." Yes, Africa does have corrupt governments and rebel armies but that doesn't mean the average African doesn't want or deserve peace. They are caught in the middle of all this injustice. The complexity of the problems in Africa are not easily solved but does that mean we don't even try to fix them?

History will repeat itself if we don't learn from it. The Kony 2012 video may not be perfect BUT many, many people are now aware of this issue. This issue that has been around for two plus decades.

There are many articles now about Kony and the video. Here is one and here is another. In the first article, the last paragraph says "So, instead of continuing to debate the strengths and weaknesses of the Kony 2012 video, or attack Invisible Children for their lack of financial transparency, let's figure out how to turn this momentum into a constructive opportunity that can result in smart policies that will have a positive, real-time impact in the affected areas of central Africa. Let's harness this energy and turn it into something productive that ensure we're telling the right stories, inspiring well-informed advocacy, and working together across governments, academia, grassroots activists and local populations to help bring this chapter of the LRA--and the impact in affected areas--to a close." I LOVE this! So true.

In the first article one man talks about the White Savior Complex. One paragraph responds with this "Is humanity so bitter and divided that anytime someone wants to help those in need or dedicate themselves to a cause that inspires them to action, they must meet racial, national and political requirements, before they are allowed to step up and help? Would a child soldier from Uganda refuse to be rescued because the person extending his hand is white and American? If the angry assertions of  people like Teju Cole become the standard by which we are judged when we want to right a wrong and put a stop to evil, then the world will soon become even more violent and divided than it is now." I know that not everyone who helps is actually helping but at least they are doing something {well to a point}. However what is Teju Cole doing besides ranting about those who want to make this world better?

The second article is from the NY Times Opinion Page. I love this article because it is about someone living in the United States who is and was impacted by Kony and the LRA. However she still has family living in Africa that is affected by Kony. What annoys me about the critics of the video and of Invisible Children is that they seem to forget that a human being has been terrorized for 26 years. The article in the NY Times gives us the personal story of what has been happening in Africa for way to long. We see how it has impacted her life and her families. When is it okay for someone to go through something like this? And how long is it okay for it to keep happening? What if this was OUR family being impacted? What if it was OUR children being kidnapped? What if it was OUR home being destroyed? What if WE were the ones getting displaced?

WHEN IS ENOUGH, ENOUGH?