Jason Russell is a director and activist who co-founded Invisible Children, the organization on the front line of an international movement against the Lord’s Resistance Army and its leader, Joseph Kony, in Central Africa. Jason is also the man behind the viral campaign Kony 2012 (y’all, it has over 102,242,971 views on YouTube alone).
That campaign produced an onslaught of criticism and accusations and negative publicity which led a sleep-deprived, stressed out Jason to a mental breakdown that was equally as publicized. He shares his experience candidly in our interview with a candor and strength that is inspiring, and he shares his experience in the aftermath of that experience.
He has since stepped back in his role in Invisible Children (although he is still on the board) and has stepped back out into the world. Quite literally. He and his wife recently sold all of their stuff and took their kids around the world on an activists’ adventure. Radical.
(But y’all, most importantly, OPRAH HAS BEEN TO HIS HOUSE.)
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IN THIS EPISODE WE TALK ABOUT:
How Jason got into USC Film School, one of the most competitive programs in the country (hint: he didn’t take no for an answer) The creation of Invisible Children and the process of putting it out into the world (hint: he didn't take no for an answer) How Jason talks to his kids about the tragedies and injustices of the world, and what it was like for him to bring his children to the Rwandan Genocide Memorial How every single person is really doing the best they can (yes, really) How Jason got Oprah’s attention… more than once (hint: he didn’t take no for an answer) Using social activism to move legislation and create a movement His experience with having a public mental breakdown The importance of sitting with the shadows of life and getting really honest about ourselves and the world around us Plus much more…
RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE
Mentioned:
Onsite Workshops
Invisible Children
Connect with Jason:
Website: www.alittleradical.com
Instagram: Jason Radical
Twitter: JasonRadicalRussell
Email: jason@broomstickengine.com
QUOTES
“When I look at approaching any project, I’m always really curious about how to do it differently. How to do it, like, no one has ever done it like this before… and then taking the risk.”
“I didn’t really know about the tragedies or injustices of the world until I went to college or post-college and I think that is a disservice to young minds. I think it is important for them to grasp some of the challenges in the world early on. I think that they actually have solutions or ideas that grown-ups aren’t thinking of. The older you get, the more you start to believe that the way things are is the way things have to be, but children don’t see it that way because they haven’t been brainwashed into the politics or media.”
“I can’t tell you how freeing it has been to tell my story, which is different than yours, but there are similarities. And you can look at each other and say, me too.”
“My story might help someone else. I love the idea of encouragement because encourage at its root means to give courage. So it’s like I am giving courage to other people to go speak their truth.”
“Even just right now I feel like I am coming out of the idea that life will go on outside of Invisible Children, even though my identity was so wrapped around it. I didn’t view it as my work, I viewed it as my life.”
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I said to God, ‘Let me love you.’
And he replied, ‘Which part?’
‘All of you, all of you.’ I said.
‘Dear’ God spoke, ‘You are as a mouse wanting to impregnate
a tiger who is not even in heat. It is a feat way
beyond your courage and strength.
You would run from me
if I removed my
mask.’
I said to God again,
‘Beloved I need to love you – every aspect, every pore.’
And this time God said,
‘There is a hideous blemish on my body,
though it is such an infinitesimal part of my Being-
could you kiss that if it were revealed?’
‘I will try, Lord, I will try.’
And then God said,
‘That blemish is all the hatred and
cruelty in this
world.’
-St. Thomas Aquinas
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