Ryan ChartrandLocal rock bands Boycott Bravado and Quality Fridge Buzz are shaking things up at a benefit concert in the University Union today at 11 a.m. to kick off a month of events for the Invisible Children movement, which seeks to educate people about child abduction in northern Uganda.
The concert was organized by students from Raise the Respect to rally student interest and encourage activism in the name of the fight against the longest running war in Africa.
“The goal of the concert is to educate people about what exactly is going on in northern Uganda. I think the best way to relate to our generation is through music because it is such a big part of our lives,” said microbiology junior Jacqueline Chan, co director of Raise the Respect.
Raise the Respect is one of nine programs in student community services, which all work to bring about social change. Raise the Respect also has a small subdivision specific to the crisis in Uganda called the Invisible Children Task Force. Money the group raises goes directly to the foundation.
The Invisible Children Task Force and Raise the Respect students will be at the concert with information and sign-up sheets for Invisible Children’s upcoming national event Displace Me.
U.S. citizens participating in Displace Me will travel to one of 15 designated cities and be voluntarily displaced on April 28. All participating members of Displace Me will be left without the comforts of home for a 24-hour period to understand the situation in Uganda and those who have been displaced for as long as 10 years trying to escape the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
“I don’t want students to be afraid to come and take part in these events. One more person makes a difference and any small impact can have a ripple effect,” said social science sophomore Megan Underwood, an Invisible Children Task Force leader.
Raise the Respect will also caravan down to Los Angeles for Displace Me along with students who sign up at the concert. According to the Displace Me Web site, Los Angeles will have the largest number of participants, with over 2,200 people signed up.
The goal of Displace Me is to get as many Americans as possible to take action and send a message to Uganda about ending the war.
“These events are so important because we have so much here that maybe people don’t really know what is going on out there,” Underwood said. “The children of Uganda don’t know we are doing this concert, but their situation deserves to be known about, everyone deserves a chance to be known about.”
Displace Me is the follow-up to the success of the Global Night Commute in 2006, when 80,000 Americans walked to the downtown areas of their cities to camp out and show their support for the children of Uganda.
This year, participating cities include New York City, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Denver, New Orleans, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
To keep the momentum going from the film “Invisible Children,” a documentary about the war in northern Uganada and its affect on children. Raise the Respect is also having a movie marathon from April 23 to 26. During the marathon, the organization will play the film at 8 p.m. and again at 10 p.m. at various locations on campus. Specific time and location information will be available at Tuesday’s concert.