Black Lives Matter Nominated For Nobel Peace Prize: Report

LONG ISLAND, NY — The Black Lives Matter organization has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

According to a report in USA Today, Petter Eide, a member of parliament in Norway, nominated Black Lives Matter because of its work to bring forward awareness about racial justice.

"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 USA Today.

He added that the movement echoes similar fights for civil rights in history including the struggle against apartheid and the Civil Rights movement, according to the report.

On the East End and across the United States, thousands, black and white, young and old, waved signs that read "Black Lives Matter," "Justice for Floyd," "Silence = Violence" and "Be the Change" as they crowded streets in small towns and cities during protests to cry out against the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May.

The group were passionate but peaceful in Bridgehampton and at other BLM events held across the East End as they marched from the Bridgehampton Community House to the monument and back twice, chanting "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" and "Black Lives Matter."

In a dramatic show of solidarity, protesters lay on the street, hands behind their back, some with tears running down their faces, chanting "I can't breathe" for eight minutes and 46 seconds — the same amount of Floyd begged for help and cried out for his mother before he died with a police officer's knee pressed to his neck.

Also according to the USA Today post, any member of a national assembly or a head of state can submit a nomination, as per Nobel Peace Prize rules, with the Norwegian Nobel Committee crafting the shorter list of nominees later in March. Eide said, in the post, that while it was a "long shot" that the group would win it was important to "spark this discussion."

Black Lives Matter Tweeted about the acknowledgement: "We hold the largest social movement in global history. Today, we have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. People are waking up to our global call: for racial justice and an end to economic justice, environmental racism, and white supremacy. We're only getting started."

Locally, organizers of BLM protests and supporters reacted to the news: "We've all been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize," wrote Lisa Votino of Southampton.

And, wrote Vanessa Leggard on Facebook, "I am so happy about this. 2020 was horrible and watching the murder of George Floyd was horrific, but it brought awareness to systematic racism and I am hoping this trend of elevating Black and Brown people in all areas continues."

The USA Today post also noted that Donald Trump was nominated for a second time by Norwegian Parliament's "far-right Progress Party," Christian Tybring-Gjedde.

To read the full USA Today report, click here.