Black Lives Matter award spotlights Australia racial issues
SYDNEY, Australia — The awarding of the Sydney Peace Prize to the Black Lives Matter movement for its work highlighting American race issues is being hailed by local activists as a progressive step, but is also shining a spotlight on Australia’s own struggles with race relations.
The Sydney Peace Foundation, a body within the University of Sydney that has previously bestowed its prize on individuals such as South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu, will deliver its award to the group this week. It’s the first time in the award’s 20-year history that an organization will receive the honour.
The group has been at the forefront of U.S. activism against police brutality, mass incarceration and racial inequality.
The social media hashtag with which it shares its name began after neighbourhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman was acquitted of killing unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2013. It gained traction when a police officer fatally shot another unarmed black man, Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri the following year, sparking protests.