NEWS:  Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz To March On Washington
 
 
Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz
Photo: Scott Wintrow/ Getty Images
Feb 14, 2008 02:35 AM
Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz will march on Washington, D.C., on February 26, with more than 1,000 activists, hoping to help end the Civil War in Uganda.
from  MTVNews
By  James Montgomery

On February 26, Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz will march on Washington, D.C., along with more than 1,000 young activists, in an attempt to help end the 22-year civil war in northern Uganda.

The event, called "Uganda Lobby Day," is sponsored by Invisible Children, the not-for-profit organization aimed at raising awareness of the plight of children displaced by the bloody war in the Central African nation. Wentz will be part of a group that is scheduled to meet with members of Congress, to urge them to declare open support for the ongoing Ugandan peace talks, and to appropriate funds for the displaced.

"All of the volunteers — including Pete — will break up into smaller groups, and go talk to their respective senators and representatives. For example, Pete is from Illinois and lives in California, so he could talk to Senators Obama or [Barbara] Boxer," Invisible Children spokesman Kenny Laubbacher told MTV News. "The goal is to meet with them and say, 'We know about the situation in Uganda and we want you, as our representative, to do something about it.' "

Last year, Invisible Children lobbied to have the U.S. government dispatch a senior advisor to the region — something Wentz told MTV News about when we spoke with him at the opening of his bar, Angels & Kings, in May — and by the summer, the State Department had appointed Tim Shortley to oversee talks taking place in Juba, Sudan, between the government of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army. The two sides have warred for more than two decades.

"Last year was a huge example of the power young people can have, and it showed that our representatives will listen to us if we make them," Laubbacher said. "This year, our goal is just as big, because we don't want the issue of Uganda to disappear from minds of the public, or our elected officials."

And it certainly won't if Wentz and his bandmates have anything to say about it. Last July, they made a humanitarian trip to the nation with Invisible Children, and ended up shooting a video for the song "I'm Like A Lawyer With The Way I'm Always Trying To Get You Off (Me & You)." And then, just last week, FOB frontman Patrick Stump took the stage at the Roots' pre-Grammy jam session in Los Angeles wearing an Invisible Children T-shirt.

 
 
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