KONY 2012 – Kelly Erin Gray

June 17, 2025

When Ms. Lyons went to write on the smartboard with the digital pen, her curly script rendered two inches to the right from where she pressed down. This meant it was time to recalibrate. As part of this process, red targets appeared across the screen that she had to strike with precision. 
        With her back turned to us, Sarah passed the first paper from where she sat on the far right side of the classroom. When Sarah nodded her way, Emily pulled another sheet out her backpack and passed it from the left. From where I sat in the middle, I could watch it all unfurl. Both notes spread quickly, passed along with a fervor. The bare white arms of my classmates flashed between desks in succession like they were the rolling crest of a wave about to break. Some read through them carefully, and others merely glanced down before nodding sternly and passing it on, like it was their duty or like it was beyond their power to stop. 
        Ms. Lyons was still refining her aim when both sheets hit me at once. The one from the right was a red flyer with the outlines of an elephant and a donkey merging to form an 8-legged cartoonish beast in the middle. When I looked up, I watched as some of my classmates rolled up their sleeves to reveal bracelets, plastic Livestrong styled bands in bright red or silver charm bracelets, catching and throwing off the overhead fluorescence with each turn of the wrist. 
        Who is Kony? I heard Jason from the baseball team whisper to Megan without an H. Is he running for president? I didn’t know who he was either, but I suddenly felt like I should. Jason from baseball was an idiot and Megan without an H always pretended not to know things, twirling her fingers through her hair as she spoke to all the sweat-stained boys in our grade. 
        The murmuring grew louder as I looked over the second sheet. Whereas Sarah’s was clearly something she downloaded online and printed out in color, Emily’s was a homemade petition. Liberty Upper Middle School has to pull together to stop him once and for all! On the left there was a numbered list where everyone was signing their names (1. Sarah, 2. Emily), and on the right there was a black-and-white stock image of a Black child with sad, glinting eyes. In emboldened comic sans, Emily wrote out their purpose to SAVE THE CHILDREN! Cole from the football team leaned over my shoulder and asked me, What children? 
        Before I could answer, Ms. Lyons turned around. What is that? 
        I shifted in my plastic seat. Nothing. 
        It’s nothing? You’re holding nothing?
        Well, I, I stammered out, my face growing hot with embarrassment. 
        It’s a petition, Emily interrupted. 
        To stop Kony! Sarah added. 
        Ms. Lyons looked back and forth between them for answers. Who? 
        Kony, Emily repeated. In Africa? She made eyes at Sarah from across the room as she spoke. You haven’t heard of Kony? The whispering started up again, a rising tide in the classroom. 
        There’s a documentary, Anthony added in his nasal whine. He was the genius boy who had skipped two grades but had no friends, so his word carried weight with the teachers. 
        To save face, Ms. Lyons looked it up. This is Social Studies, after all, she told us. 
        Clicking on the internet browser, she typed with a single pointer finger across the smartboard pop-up keyboard. Sure enough, there was the documentary, boasting a hundred thousand views. After confirming this, Ms. Lyons turned back to face us. While she was thanking Sarah and Emily for their “…enthusiasm,” we all stared at the screen behind her, at the search hits below. 
        We pieced it together slowly at first and then all at once. 
        Police Detain Maker of Viral Uganda Video. Documentary Maker’s Wife Speaks Out on ‘Irrational’ Outburst. Family of Director Says No Drugs or Drinking Involved in Incident, Asks for Privacy During This Time. Activist Suffers from Psychosis, Hospitalized During Possible Manic Episode. Invisible Children Co-Founder Taken into Custody in Pacific Beach, Not Charged. Public Meltdown, Public Indecency. Activist Addresses Flip Out: “That Wasn’t Me.” Star Activist Suffers from Extreme Dehydration and Extreme Exhaustion. #Kony2012 Director Arrested for Alleged Public Masturbation. Cars Vandalized, Children Terrorized. The Horror, The Horror, And The Irony. 
        The murmuring died out.
        Those with bracelets moved their hands into their laps or pulled their wrists into their sleeves. Ms. Lyons was speaking in white noise, and I passed the sheets either way past me, letting the tide roll on. When the bell rang, we shot up from our seats, both frantic and dazed. As we shuffled out into the hallway, we moved like we were meant to move, like cattle in a pasture or men following marching orders. Tomorrow, there would still be flyers up, taped along lockers and bulletin boards. No one wanted to be the one to take them down because doing so might mean they were the one who put them up. 
        Well, I heard Sarah tell Emily, it was nice while it lasted. 
        Despite myself, I envied them. Them and their passion. As I walked through the hall, I kept my head lowered and pulled my own sleeves down past my wrists, concealing nothing.