The Black Lives Matter movement and failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams were among the many nominees for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
Abrams was nominated by Lars Haltbrekken, a Socialist Party member of Norway’s Parliament, who argued that the voting rights activist is a trailblazer following in the steps of civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr.
“Abrams’s work follows in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s footsteps in the fight for equality before the law and for civil rights,” Haltbrekken said. “[Her] efforts to complete King’s work are crucial if the United States of America shall succeed in its effort to create fraternity between all its peoples and a peaceful and just society.”
Another member of the Norwegian Parliament, Petter Eide, nominated the Black Lives Matter movement for the Nobel Peace prize, arguing the movement had a hand in forcing countries outside the U.S. to combat racism and inequality in their respective societies.
“I find that one of the key challenges we have seen in America, but also in Europe and Asia, is the kind of increasing conflict based on inequality. Black Lives Matter has become a very important worldwide movement to fight racial injustice,” Eide said. “They have had a tremendous achievement in raising global awareness and consciousness about racial injustice.”
Critics pointed out that Black Lives Matter activists were responsible for damage and violence throughout the U.S.’s cities last summer.
Specifically, Minneapolis, Portland, and Kenosha, Wisconsin were ransacked by BLM rioters and anarchists.
Eide denied that BLM played a role in last summer’s violence, arguing the violent “incidents” in U.S. cities were “caused by the activities of either the police or counter-protestors.”
Other nominees for the prize include teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, and former President Donald Trump.
