In early March, a 20 minute YouTube video created by Invisible Children president Jason Russell was released to the public. It told of a man named Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, which originated in Uganda. Kony and his band of guerilla soldiers have allegedly abducted children in Uganda, and now other parts of Africa, and forced them to commit horrendous crimes, such as killing or torturing innocent people in Africa. Russell and the Invisible Children started up a campaign politically-titled Kony 2012, in order to spread this information. It was reported by Invisible Children that the information was brought to the attention of the United States government, in an effort to send a few troops to capture Kony, who has reportedly now fled to different areas of Africa, successfully hiding in the jungle of Congo for the majority of the time. However, with our government response stating that not enough people in our country are even aware, let alone care about what is going on in regards to Kony, they have given a sort of deadline (December 31, 2012) for the last chance activists and supporters of the Kony 2012 campaign have to get troops to Africa. Russell designated April 20th to be the day to “Cover the Night”, where supporters of the Kony 2012 campaign had the opportunity to join in a worldwide movement to cover cities with posters and fliers supporting Kony 2012, in an attempt to make people curious, and eventually aware, of the acts that Kony is committing.
Despite the controversy surrounding Russell and the Invisible Children organization, the Colton High School Interact Club, and the Pepper Bough joined forces in order to play a part in the Colton for Kony 2012 campaign. During the Awareness 2012 fair, a table supporting the Kony 2012 campaign held sign-up sheets for people who wanted to volunteer to join Interact and Pepper Bough members to Cover the Night. Though over 50 signatures poured in, around 20 CHS students came out, armed with posters, fliers and anything they could use to advertise Kony, in the Colton and Grand Terrace areas. The group covered the main roads in both cities, posting the advertisements in any public business that allowed, as well as public areas that generally host a lot of traffic.
Interact president Christian Orellana, who took it upon himself to initiate and organize the movement in Colton, and made sure the group was participating in a legal way (when it came to the rights we have to post advertisements in public areas without a permit), commented, “Taking initiative is like a motto of mine. If I see a cause or something that needs to be done, I do it. With this Kony 2012 campaign, I felt inspired to go beyond just partaking in a worldwide event; I wanted to lead it! I want to change the world for the better, but why not start with my community? Why not start in high school?” It was apparent that the students who joined Orellana felt the same way, as being young posed no imposition on them, as they took this opportunity to try and make a difference in the world.
Sophomore Kat Nava had nearly the same ambition as Orellana, but took her role a step further, and used her creativity to appeal to the public, using a self-made Kony stencil, chalk, labels, and vibrant red tape that stood out in the community. Nava said, “I want to change the world, so why not start with Cover the Night: Kony 2012? I didn’t want people to just see the flyer, so I used tape, and I love chalk, so I used red chalk.”
On April 21st, residents of the Colton and Grand Terrace areas awoke to see their cities covered with red Kony symbols, posters, and fliers, and many more people were inquiring about the name “Joseph Kony”, making the group of CHS students proud of the role they played in hopefully helping this important cause. Orellana put the message of this movement best, “You can’t tell me the sky’s the limit when there are footprints on the moon. Anything is possible, as long as you can envision it. Innovation is the destination.”