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Last week Invisible Children received an open letter from one of our supporters via Twitter. We were so inspired by the letter–especially the question it raised–that we passed it around the office. Ben Keesey, Invisible Children’s CEO, read it and wanted to respond personally.

And he’s not the only one. A lot of us here want to weigh in. So we decided to post a variety of viewpoints here at the Invisible Children Blog in the coming weeks.

Katie, you’ve really started something. Thank you.

– Azy

An excerpt from Katie Dwyer’s full letter:

There are a lot of reasons why I support the work that Invisible Children is doing in the world. It seems that we have very similar dreams for how we want the world to look one day. It seems we both begin with an acknowledgement of universal human dignity and value.

Though this is true, I must confess that I still squirm in my seat a little bit each time I hear someone in my vicinity speak about Invisible Children.

….

The reason I squirm in my seat is because I think to myself, “I wonder what Joseph Kony’s favorite color is.”

I think about that because Joseph Kony is human too. And he has equal and inherent value, no matter how many atrocities he has committed, is committing, and will commit.

And every time I hear about Invisible Children, I worry that in the noble attempt to save the world from the unfathomable wickedness and violence imposed on so many innocent people by Joseph Kony and the rest of the LRA, you have created an enemy out of a man. I worry that you have turned a human being into the most vile object people who care about justice and love could ever dream about. I worry that those who zealously support the mission of Invisible Children to put an end to the violence of the LRA are bound together not for their love of the oppressed, but for their hatred of the oppressor.

As I said before, my hope in writing this letter is to open up a dialogue between us. And the easiest way to dialogue is to ask questions.

So, my question for you is this: How are you promoting the inherent value of Joseph Kony?

A personal response from Ben Keesey

Dear Katie,

Thank you for writing to us and thank you for your support. Your words are powerful and wise and I am very glad you raised this important and difficult question because its something that I have spent a lot of time thinking about recently and something that we’ve often discussed as a staff.

At the beginning of our Invisible Children journey, my life was changed by meeting people whose lives had been impacted by the violence of the LRA. It was out of a friendship, love and compassion for these amazing people that I started working with IC. And many others in the Invisible Children movement have a similar story. During this time, my mentality towards Joseph Kony has ranged from confusion (why is he doing this?), to frustration (why can’t we stop him?) to anger (how can he keep doing this to these innocent people?). I must be honest, I have never wondered, even for a moment, his favorite color.

And while for most of us, it has been this motivation out of a love for the oppressed and a desire to see the end of suffering that has kept our movement moving, you are probably correct, that there are people who support our organization whose motivation is more against Joseph Kony than in support of the victim. And while I believe that standing up against injustice is powerful, I agree with you that standing for justice is even more.

We believe in the inherent value of all human life, even Joseph Kony, and we do not want to see him hated or dehumanized. Joseph Kony is not the human embodiment of all worldly evil but he does represent a terrible injustice that must stop. Every day that goes by, he continues to be responsible for the abduction, rape, mutilation, and murder of innocent people.

I speak for Invisible Children when I say that it is our goal to see Joseph Kony captured alive and tried through a credible system of international justice. And our work does not stop there. After the capture of Kony we will focus our efforts on supporting and assisting as many of the war affected communities as possible, in their long journey towards real peace.

Earlier this year the death of an LRA commander prompted me to write down my thoughts about the possibility that Kony will be killed in battle. I’d like to share that full piece here.

But, through all of my words above, I still have not answered your question: how are we promoting the inherent value of Joseph Kony? I think that the frank answer after searching my heart is that we are not. At least not very much. But I commit that in the coming months, we will start to try.

I would love to hear your thoughts (or thoughts from anyone reading this) on how we could.

Sincerely,

Ben Keesey