The Black Lives Matter movement received a Nobel Peace Prize nomination for 'raising global awareness and consciousness'
- Black Lives Matter was nominated by a Norweigan politician for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.
- In nomination papers, Petter Eide said BLM "had a tremendous achievement in raising global awareness and consciousness about racial injustice," the Guardian reported.
- Black Lives Matter was founded in 2013 by three Black women, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi.
The Black Lives Matter movement received a nomination for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for its "tremendous achievement" in leading the fight against racial injustice on a global scale, The Guardian reported.
Petter Eide, Norwegian politician, nominated the organization, the Guardian reported.
"They have had a tremendous achievement in raising global awareness and consciousness about racial injustice," Eide wrote in his nomination, according to the Guardian.
Eide said the Black Lives Matter movement was able to "mobilize people from all groups of society, not just African-Americans, not just oppressed people, it has been a broad movement, in a way which has been different from their predecessors," the publication reported.
As Business Insider previously reported, the Peace Prize should be given to organizations or individuals who"have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses," according to the will of Alfred Nobel, the prestigious award's namesake.
"We hold the largest social movement in global history. Today, we have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize," the organization tweeted on Friday. "People are waking up to our global call: for racial justice and an end to economic injustice, environmental racism, and white supremacy. We're only getting started."
Co-founded by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, the organization launched online on social media in 2013 after George Zimmerman's acquittal for the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. The organization continued to amplify the call for justice and became more prominent in 2014 during protests for Mike Brown in Ferguson. Years later, the movement has grown tremendously and in 2020 protests erupted worldwide following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other lives taken at the hands of law enforcement.
The winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize will be selected in October.
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