The Black Lives Matter movement is getting its well-deserved accolades!
The Guardian reports that the founders of Black Lives Matter movement will be awarded this year’s Sydney Peace Prize. They will receive the award at a Sydney Peace Foundation dinner in November. They’ll also be delivering a special lecture on peace at a public ceremony.
Syndey University in Australia has offered the award since 1998; similar to the Nobel Peace Prize, the Australian prize is awarded to those who promote human rights using nonviolence as a means of combating injustice. Until now, the prize has only gone to an individual peacemaker; the movement's trio will be the first group to receive the award.
Black Lives Matter was founded by Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi following the death of Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of his killer, George Zimmerman. Ever since then, the organization has evolved into an entire movement, becoming a global crusader against injustice.
The election of Donald Trump as president has further escalated their mission, and recently, the group helped bailout thirty black mothers from jail for Mother’s Day, as we reported.
“This movement resonates around the globe and here in Australia, where we have become inured to the high incarceration rates and deaths in custody of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,” Pat Dodson, the West Australian Laborer senator and the 2008 recipient of the Sydney Peace Prize, told The Guardian. “It’s as if their lives do not matter.”
“We’re not just about hitting the streets or direct action … it’s a humanizing project,” said co-founder Cullors. “We’re trying to re-imagine humanity and bring us to a place where we can decide how we want to be in relation to each other versus criminalizing our neighbors or being punitive towards them.”
Congrats to the BLM founders!