Joseph Kony, the Ugandan leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, is being pursued by U.S. special forces and African armies. A 2012 video about him became an Internet sensation. The U.S. government has stepped up its hunt for Kony, but the story is attracting much less attention today.

Last week NPR released a story called “Kony’s Back in the News. Do Teenagers Still Care?”. NPR is a very a highly revered news outlet in the Invisible Children office. Odds are, if you walk past any of us with our headphones on, we’re listening to our favorite NPR podcast (S/O: Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me).

We don’t usually respond to articles, but since we consider NPR a dear friend, we felt it was the right thing to do. It’s like when you see someone walking around with their fly down, it would be wrong to just laugh and walk away. Plus the author discredited our amazing supporters, and we can’t stand for that.

“Kony [2012] became one of the biggest viral sensations in Internet history, turning a little-known central African warlord — briefly — into a household name among American young people.”

Correction: Kony 2012 has been viewed by over 100 million people in 185 different countries.This would indicate that Kony became a household name in more than just American households. And unless there’s a memory loss epidemic among teens that we are unaware of, it would be safe to assume that Kony is still a household name around the world.

“Kony is back in the news, with President Obama ordering 150 additional U.S. special operations personnel on the hunt for Kony.That was not the result of pressure from young people, who seemed to drop Kony as a cause just as swiftly as they elevated him.”

Correction: It is absolutely a result of pressure from young people. This recent development is the result of momentum that has been building for years. And our young supporters have played an undeniable role getting/keeping the ball rolling in the direction of Joseph Kony.

Let’s take a look at how Invisible Children supporters have influenced the U.S. government since KONY 2012.

*click the links to see exactly how our young activists were vital in each of these developments.

AUGUST 2, 2012 – Senate unanimously passed KONY 2012 Resolution

NOVEMBER 17, 2012 – Thousands of IC supporters gathered with leaders from 8 countries & institutions to be a part of the FIRST ever Global Summit on the LRA.

58 DAYS LATER ( JANUARY 15, 2013) – Congress passed the bi-partisan Rewards for Justice Bill

APRIL 2, 2013 – #kerrystopkony was tweeted every 19 seconds and the Secretary of State John Kerry wrote and editorial re-affirming his commitment to the counter-LRA mission.

AUGUST 4, 201398 members of Congress signed a letter to President Obama, urging him to remain committed to capturing Kony.

AUGUST 10, 2013 – The United State Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Powers, made her first public speech at Invisible Children’s Fourth Estate Summit.

OCTOBER 2013U.S. Advisory Mission extended for one full year, through October 2014

JANUARY 15, 2014 – Congress committed $10 million in the 2014 Foreign Aid Budget to support LRA-affected communities

January 15, 2014 – Congress committed $30 million in the 2014 Defense Budget for efforts to arrest Joseph Kony

January 15, 2014 – Congress authorized more thAn $80 million in the National Defense Authorization Act to help end LRA violence

MARCH 23, 2014President Obama deployed 4 Osprey and additional personnel to help pursue Joseph Kony

We, at Invisible Children, are so proud of how dedicated our supporters are to ending the LRA’s violence. Sometimes it’s not seen and most of the time it’s not recognized, but it’s all of the anonymous extraordinaries combined efforts that are changing the world.