The BLM movement launched in 2013 following George Zimmerman's acquittal for shooting Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager. The case kickstarted the international movement to address the controversial deaths of Black people, particularly at the hands of police.
- The group has "been able to mobilise people from all groups of society, not just African-Americans, not just oppressed people ... in a way which has been different from their predecessors," Nobel nominator Norwegian MP Petter Eide said, per the Guardian.
- The mission spread in the years thereafter as protesters denounced police killings of Black Americans including Michael Brown and Eric Garner.
- BLM amplified calls for justice last year after law enforcement officers killed George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, resulting in mass protests and a global racial reckoning.
- He dismissed criticism that BLM is violent, citing data that shows 93% of Black Lives Matter demonstrations do not cause serious harm to people or property.
- "Awarding the peace prize to Black Lives Matter, as the strongest global force against racial injustice, will send a powerful message that peace is founded on equality, solidarity and human rights, and that all countries must respect those basic principles," Eide concluded.
Comment: Given the recent history of the Nobel Peace Prize, why not give it to one of the most destructive organizations to come around in the last decade?
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