Eight Biola students headed into downtown Fullerton after Mock Rock Friday night to tape red posters with the name of Joseph Kony, an alleged leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, as part of the Invisible Children campaign KONY 2012.
“Knowing is half the battle,” according to the campaign, and on April 20, activists demanding justice were asked to put up hundreds of thousands of posters of Joseph Kony, a criminal of the international court, on every street corner of the globe. The “KONY 2012” video, advocating for awareness of the warlord and his ultimate demise, has received more than 88 million views since its launch by Invisible Children on March 5.
“I was just excited to be a part of it,” junior art major Patrick Gillespie said. “People are caring about other people, and that’s a big deal.”
Students hang signs as part of Invisible Children's Cover the Night event
The entourage was encouraged to view chalk art and posters on the streets and inside businesses when they arrived in Fullerton, Gillespie said, revealing that other Kony supporters were also active in Cover the Night. After their time in Fullerton, the students embedded red cups spelling the word “Kony” in the fence of an overpass on Interstate 5 to Los Angeles, according to Gillespie.
Kony 2012 signs lining Imperial Highway included one on the Blockbuster sign on the corner of Imperial and La Mirada Boulevard, showing evidence that other activists were also busy late Friday night. Gillespie reported talking with a group of supporters who stated that they were heading to Whittier.
Fewer participants than expected
The Cover the Night Facebook page has more than 42,000 attendees. However, the Los Angeles area was hardly covered in red after the long-awaited event. The smattering of Kony 2012 posters on Hollywood Boulevard hardly came close to achieving the campaign’s goal to “blanket every street of every city.”
Three students who had travelled from Burbank to Los Angeles for the event stated that they were disappointed but not surprised.
“They kind of set the date a little too long after the video,” supporter Juan Perales said.
“The original goal of Cover the Night, as introduced in the ‘KONY 2012’ film, was to make Joseph Kony famous,” said Noelle Jouglet, director of communications at Invisible Children, in a Fox News article. “That happened in a matter of days thanks to millions of people around the world who shared the ‘KONY 2012’ films.”
The new aim of the event, according to Jouglet, expanded past mere awareness to earning the right for advocates to be heard globally by serving locally.
“Just seeing tonight and the lack of involvement for [Cover the Night] and even seeing people rip [posters] down, I think the people need to step it up a little bit before the government is even going to consider stepping in,” Charlie Dobaston said.
