Students’ protests in Chicago inspire Oprah

CHICAGO – The Windy City has been saved.

On May 1 of this year, up to 450 people ended their protest to the atrocities occurring in Africa in downtown Chicago when the movement was broadcast on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”

The activists were supporting the Invisible Children movement that represents the victims of Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army that is ravaging the population of northern Uganda and surrounding areas. Among the supporters present was Franklin College senior, Kenny Verrill. 

Verrill was one of a handful of Franklin students who attended the “saving” of Indianapolis a few days before. After Indianapolis was saved with Rep. Andre Carson, Verrill went on to the Chicago site. 

Joseph Kony is the leader of the LRA, which abducts children, mutilates them and forces them to fight for the LRA’s cause against the Ugandan government. 

“We are asked to abduct ourselves,” Verrill said. 

This entails the defacing of a photograph of your family before sleeping in public until the city is saved.

“What we do is, we all line up single file and march through the city with flags to a public place where we set up camp,” said junior Brittany Lafferty.

Lafferty became aware of Invisible Children when she visited their headquarters on a Franklin-sponsored trip to Uganda.

To be saved, the city must draw out a “mogul,” which has to be a person with close ties to the government or an A-list celebrity. Of the 100 major cities in 10 countries throughout the world, Chicago was the last city to be saved. There were people at the Chicago site from as far away as California. When Oprah saved the city, she took the risk of upsetting her live show an hour later. 

Oprah was reported to be so inspired by the movement’s goals that she donated the proceeds of the first eight minutes of her live broadcast to the cause.