A Global Fight For Freedom: Black Lives Matter Movement Nominated For 2021 Nobel Peace Prize
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Eight years after it was founded to honor the lives of Black people globally while advocating for equity across economics, social justice and environmental factors, the Black Lives Matter movement was nominated for a 2021 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.
The nomination was made by Petter Eide, a member of the Norwegian Parliament, according to USA Today.
“To carry forward a movement of racial justice and to spread that to other countries is very, very important. Black Lives Matter is the strongest force today doing this, not only in the U.S. but also in Europe and in Asia,” Eide told the outlet.
In 2013 Black Lives Matter leaders Opal Tometti, Patrisse Cullors and Alicia Garza co-founded the movement after the vigilante killing of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida and gained momentum after the police killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York City.
Birthed out of the leadership of the Black civil rights, womanist, and queer movements across the globe which came before, Black Lives Matter gained reinvigorated at the height of the pandemic after the repeated lynching’s of Black community members, starting with Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. Since that time, many others have lost their lives or have been brutally victimized by the police and detractors.
“Today, we hold the largest social movement in global history. And today, we have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize,” the organization shared in a post on Instagram. “People around the world are waking up: no one is free until Black folks are free. And this call for better isn’t one that just lives in our country. This is a global call: for racial justice and an end to economic injustice, environmental racism, and white supremacy.”
Black leaders in the movement have been awarded the prize prior including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1964, and anti-apartheid leaders, Albert Luthuli and Nelson Mandela in 1960 and 1993, respectively.
In addition to the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize nomination, the organization was awarded the The prize is awarded by a fund established by the Swedish Social Democratic Party and the family of Olof Palme, a former prime minister of Sweden who was assassinated.
The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in October, with the official ceremony to follow on Dec. 10.
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