An Image of History

We’ve all seen how a moment of history can be represented in books, classes, and the media—a picture taken at the right moment that embodied a sea of change just as the world reeled from the events of an honest revolution. A young Chinese man stood in front of a tank in a barren city square. A tall black man spoke of poetic dreams to the masses who marched on our national monument. These images lit our passions, almost creating the desire to have lived in those turbulent times so that we might have held the opportunity to boldly stand alongside or march behind the people captured on film.

For those of us who have been raised with those impulses, we now face one opportunity for action in the form of calling for peace in northern Uganda at the Global Night Commute. On April 29th, in almost every major city around the United States, we will have the opportunity to show the world that people still act on struggles worth standing up for, that the violence against the children of northern Uganda needs to end, and that Christians can still lead lives focused on love.

As discussed in the previous issue of this publication, the children of northern Uganda have been assaulted for years by rebel forces, the Lord’s Resistance Army, and ripped from their homes. Once abducted, they are forced to participate in the civil war—either as child soldiers, servants, or wives of soldiers. To avoid this fate, they walk miles every night to sleep in the relative safety of parking lots, hospitals, and any available area, earning the name “night commuters.”

For the past two months, the documentary Invisible Children, which details their story, has been shared in high schools, universities, churches, bars, and living rooms across the country as part of a National Tour. It has resulted in more than tears in the eyes of viewers or donations in the coffers. The film also inspires new perspectives after the screening, especially when presented to younger viewers. Youthful students who have been told that they live in this world primarily as consumers learn that they can be something besides buyers of goods and recipients of advertising. Some Christians, whose only idea of outreach is aimed at religious conversion, after being opened to the experience of the children in Uganda, grow into a hope of changing the world to an image that more closely reflects God.

Including those more intangible reactions, the movement and the filmmakers also honestly desire to inspire meaningful action in everyone who views the film. To this end, they created the idea of the Global Night Commute. On April 29th, in every city visited by the Invisible Children National Tour, people will gather in their respective city centers in the same way that children of Uganda must gather to avoid abduction. Of the at least fifty-thousand participants Invisible Children hopes for, they already count among their ranks two US Senators who say that if this country provides the numbers in the streets that night, US foreign policy will change to strongly seek peace in Uganda.

This movement offers the opportunity to participate in something bigger than ourselves that our history inspires us towards. The roots of social justice which manifested in the civil rights, anti-apartheid, and other movements can also be expressed today by calling for action in Uganda, Africa, and the rest of the developing world. Just as the older generations were judged by how they acted or failed to act in respect to these violations of human rights, our generation—as a global community—will also be judged on why we allowed so many to die in Africa. We cannot be turned from action by the distance or the magnitude of the struggles there. The hope lies in solving each issue as it comes to us, and now we have the monumental - yet oh so simple - task of showing the world, with our feet, that the death in Uganda, cited at 901 excess deaths per week, needs to stop.

As humans of conscience, this need is obvious. As followers of Christ, it should be devastating. Disregarding the facts that many of these children call to Jesus and God for protection, or that a perverted version of Christianity seems to have inspired the Lord’s Resistance Army to begin this assault, we should still be called to remember that true religion comprises of caring for the widows and orphans.

The Jesus we know, who loves without measure and enters into the depths of our suffering for our own redemption, must weep for these children and desire to wrest from them the guns that were forced into their hands and to offer them solace from the sins thrust upon them. As followers of Christ, surely we should seek the same justice.

In this world, where Christianity carries with it such a heavy burden of preconceptions, we can act publicly in a manner that displays the Love that we have received, passing through us to the rest of the world. There is no way that this effort could make up for the years of struggles that we have caused in Africa through purposeful or inadvertent means in the name of spreading Christianity, but it could do something more to spread the intentions of Christ and inspire the believers of this country to a new global perspective of doing His work.

This is the image we could see on April 29th, as we stand and sleep in solidarity with the “night commuters” of northern Uganda. As I imagine each of the near 130 cities packed with people of all ages, disciplines, and lifestyles, I see a picture like those captured in history books, proclaiming the power of a small group crying out for proper treatment of others. In this picture I see Christians doing what is right - simply for the sake of its righteousness and justice. And I see myself, proud to be living the action and not reading about it later, standing tall with the hope in our ability to change the world.

Posted on April 15, 2006 12:00 AM