Gainesville Goodies: #KONY2012

For all of you that are social media butterflies and follow Facebook posts and Twitter updates, you might have noticed that #KONY2012 is trending. No, this is not a late entry to this year's presidential race. #KONY2012 is a plea from millions of Americans for justice.

Who is Joseph Kony?

Joseph Kony is one of the world's worst war criminals and head of the Lord's Resistance Army (L.R.A). Kony abducts children, forces them to shoot their parents and to join his army. The girls become sex slaves and the boys are given guns and become young soldiers. The LRA originated in Uganda and has now moved to Congo, Central African Republic, and South Sudan. Active for 26 years, Joseph Kony's army has abducted more than 30,000 children. How could a criminal such as Kony go unnoticed for 26 years? Why are we just now fighting to bring him to justice?

What is #KONY2012? How can I be a part of this?

Invisible Children has been working for the past 9 years to end this conflict in Africa, and the United States has sent some of its forces to Africa to find and disarm the LRA and Kony. Here's the catch, though. If Kony isn't captured this year, the forces will leave Africa and the window to capture this war criminal will be gone. KONY2012 is the Invisible Children's campaign to raise awareness about Joseph Kony and hopefully get him arrested this year. Their actions have paid off, as this campaign is exploding with new followers and millions of young people determined to bring this man to justice. I am proud to say that I will be participating in KONY2012 as much as I can (which includes Cover the Night!), and I hope that you will too. Please take 30 minutes of your time to watch the video below that fully explains KONY2012 and the Invisible Children's mission better than I could ever do.