Hundreds of students gathered at the Oklahoma City National Memorial Saturday and symbolically “abducted” themselves to draw attention to the hundreds of thousands of Ugandan children kidnapped and forced into military service.
The “abducted” students then marched in groups to the State Capitol, awaiting “rescue” in the form of support from either a powerful media figure or influential politician.
Saturday, that “rescue” came from Rep. Mary Fallin, R-Oklahoma City, who pledged to relay the group’s message to Congress when she returned to Washington Monday.
“Joseph [Kony], I hope you can hear me here in Oklahoma,” Fallin said. “We’re not going to stand for you. And I’m going to take the message back to the United States Congress that the students in Oklahoma, we are standing for something important tonight.”
Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, is known for organizing the genocide in the region and is wanted for several crimes by the International Criminal Court.
The Oklahoma City rally was one of a hundred “Rescue of Joseph Kony Child Soldiers” events in 10 countries put on by Invisible Children, Inc. Invisible Children is a non-profit organization that strives to spread awareness about the plight of Uganda’s people, especially its children.
Three students from California founded Invisible Children in 2005 after filming a 2003 documentary about the war raging between the Ugandan government and the Lord’s Resistance Army.
In addition to drawing attention to war-torn Uganda, Invisible Children will attempt to organize events and pressure the international community until Kony is apprehended, according to their Web site.
Student leaders of OU’s Facilitating African Rehabilitation program, Mark Nehrenz, journalism senior and former Daily employee, and Michelle Richards, political science senior, worked in coordination with Invisible Children workers to organize Saturday’s event.
Students from several Oklahoma universities who either saw the film or heard about the event composed the majority of Saturday’s crowd.
Aubrey Delafield, University College freshman, said she saw the documentary in high school and has been involved since.
“It really just broke my heart and I really wanted to do anything I could for these kids,” Delafield said. She said publicists from Invisible Children came to OU a few months ago to promote the event and get students involved.
Sergio Lopez, University College freshman, said people should feel they have a personal responsibility to aid worldwide events like The Rescue.
“Things don’t just happen here in the United States,” Lopez said. “We can’t fix all of the problems, but we can always do something about it.”
Most attendees brought sleeping bags and food for the night and camped in front of the Capitol. Volunteers encouraged participants to write letters to Sens. Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn. Students also passed time creating art, playing Frisbee, praying with others and dancing.
But students also understood the serious tone of the rally.
“We want to remember what we’re really here for,” Nehrenz said while addressing the crowd. “Keep in mind why you’re meeting all these people. We can continue to have fun in an attitude of understanding that this is serious stuff we are here for.”
The atmosphere increased when the crowd heard Fallin was on her way from Tulsa to “rescue” the students. When Fallin took the stage amid the cheering crowd to make a statement, she gave the students what they wanted.
“The murdering and kidnapping of the children is wrong and we’re not going to stand for that,” she said. “The war must stop.”
Fallin said Inhofe called her to visit the rally because he had visited Uganda and was very passionate about the crisis there.
She admitted she knew little about the crisis in Uganda until the weekend’s events, but said the events are a good tool for spreading awareness.
“This is a great way to educate the communities about what’s going on and even Congress,” Fallin said. She said these issues are very important to her.
The rallies during the past weekend are meant to set the stage for an event scheduled on June 22 and 23, when Invisible Children volunteers and workers will hand deliver letters to the U.S. Capitol.
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JJanowiak 3 years ago
I'm sure the children of Uganda were heartwarmed by the "symbolic" abduction of some middle/upper-middle class White people in some cushy sleeping bags outside of a place where they're not going to be abducted, robbed, or murdered.
michelle_richards 3 years ago
Actually, the children and other citizens of Uganda were aware of the Rescue events being held all across the world AND they even held their own event in Gulu, Uganda. Furthermore, the citizens of Northern Uganda are very thankful for all the work Invisible Children does and the work they are doing is actually bringing about good results (http://vimeo.com/4286055).
Maybe you should do a bit of research before you bitch about something you know nothing about. Check out invisiblechildren.com and get educated.