In my last post, I talked about the encouragement to be collectively unbelievable, a quote from Bob Goff that stuck with me for months. Tonight I watch as millions of people around the United States rally around the movement of a San Diego-based organization that is fighting for justice. Today, Invisible Children, founded in 2004, released KONY 2012. This thirty-minute film, the 11th documentary-styled film made by IC, focuses on Joseph Kony. Have you heard of him before? Kony is the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Northern Uganda and has been forcing children into slavery through war, murder, prostitution, and other crimes. He tops the chart of the World’s Worst Criminals from the International Criminal Court.

Any time a non-profit organization steps up to start a movement, to raise a ruckus, or to speak out for what they are passionate about, they are going to be showered with “what if’s?“. The wonderings of their true vision and missions come up. Transparency, accountability, and finances are a huge deal in any NPO.  I’m certainly a part of a crowd that always wonders what the motives are and where the money is going (guilty of being a quick skeptic, always questioning). But tonight, I’m humbled by the team over at Invisible Children for what I predict will become more than just a social movement… rather, a social phenomenon. Invisible Children are going after one of the most destructive men on this earth and going after him with a hopeful plan: make Kony famous.

Every person born after the baby boomer generation probably has an inner desire to do something spontaneous. It’s the reason why we all have bucket lists, love the Buried Life, and wish that our 9-5 jobs involved travel. Invisible Children is acting upon that, encouraging everyone to flyer, poster, hang, paint, and stick their towns with IC awareness gear; putting Joseph Kony on our radar and making sure everyone knows what he has done in Uganda. His face will be in every major city and countless smal towns around the USA. Students will pursue their Shepard Fairey/ Banksy dreams and we’ll see an entire forest cut down to keep up with these prints. But the USA will know who Joseph Kony is. Invisible Children is focusing on 20 culture-makers (Zuckerberg, Clooney, Oprah) and 12 politicians that can make change. (Obama, Bush, 2012 presidential candidates). Through these people, IC intends to see action taken to find and arrest Joseph Kony, whom reportedly stated that he is changing his tactics to avoid being caught by the USA. Within hours of the video being released, the IC website went down (numerous times).   The movie released, and suddenly links started showing up on celebrity Facebook walls and Twitter accounts with requests to hop on-board. Take a look at tonights’ trending topics:

People are talking, the power of social media is proving itself, and it’s only been hours since the release. Much like everything viral, the energy and enthusiasm may die down, but on April 20th, the spark will reignite through IC’s big action event, “Cover the Night”. Watch carefully as millions of people, young and old, rally around this cry out for peace and justice. My biggest encouragement is that you educate yourself on the situation, learn more, and seek out an understanding of what is happening in Uganda as well as other nations around the globe.  Anyone can retweet a message, share to your wall, or like a video clip. This is the time for our generation to show it can live up to the hype that we’ve heard in the last 5 years about our ability to change the world. There are over 27 million people in slavery today, even some in your own neighborhood. We’re enabled by our social media and ability to connect. Don’t take that for granted.