Activism
Black Lives Matter, Stacey Abrams Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
“We hold the largest social movement in global history,”


Patrisse Cullors

Stacey Abrams

Patrisse Cullors
The Black Girl Magic just keeps on keeping on.
Black Lives Matter, founded by Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi and Oakland’s own Alicia Garza, won Sweden’s Olof Palme human rights prize for 2020 on Saturday and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize along with voting rights activist and lawyer Stacey Abrams.
BLM was founded in 2013 after the acquittal of the man who killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin who was attacked on his way home from a walk to the local store in Sanford, Fla., in February of 2012.
Seven years later, after the high-profile killing of George Floyd and others, about 20 million people took to the streets in protest in the U.S. and around the world using the name of the loosely structured organization.
“This illustrates that racism and racist violence is not just a problem in American society, but a global problem,” Palme prize organizers said.
In awarding the $100,000 prize last weekend, organizers said the foundation had “in a unique way exposed the hardship, pain, and wrath of the African-American minority at not being valued equal to people of a different colour.”
Around the same time, BLM was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by Norwegian lawmaker Petter Eide. In his nomination papers, Eide said BLM deserved the award “for their struggle against racism and racially motivated violence… BLM’s call for systemic change have spread around the world, forcing other countries to grapple with racism within their own societies.”
“We hold the largest social movement in global history,” Black Lives Matter tweeted in response on January 29. “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 injustice, environmental racism, and white supremacy. We’re only getting started.”
Eide has since taken some heat from critics who believe BLM is a violent organization. But he reminded them that similar criticism arose when Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was nominated and later received the Nobel prize in 1964.
BLM, to Eide, follows in King’s footsteps as well as in those of anti-apartheid freedom fighter Nelson Mandela in 1993.
Eide’s sentiments paralleled those of Lars Haltbrekken, a Norwegian legislator who nominated Stacey Abrams for the Nobel Peace prize on Saturday.
Abrams, the powerhouse who fought the voter suppression tactics that are believed to have led to her defeat in Georgia’s gubernatorial race in 2018, was nominated for the prize for helping to boost voter turnout in 2020 through nonviolent activism.
In a statement released to Reuters, Haltbrekken said, “Abrams’ work follows in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s footsteps in the fight for equality before the law and for civil rights.”
Abrams launched Fair Fight, a voting rights movement encouraging voter registration, after she lost the gubernatorial race by 55,000 votes as her opponent, the Georgia Secretary of State at the time, purged thousands from the voter rolls.
“In the wake of the election, my mission was to figure out what work could I do, even if I didn’t have the title of governor,”Abrams said at the time. “What work could I do to enhance or protect our democracy? Because voting rights is the pinnacle of power in our country.”
Fair Fight was her answer to that question.
“Abrams’ 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,” Haltbrekken said.
If she wins, Abrams would join fellow Georgians King and former president Jimmy Carter, who won in 2002, as Nobel Peace prize winners.
Abrams’ declined to comment on the nomination.
Nominating someone is relatively easy, though not taken lightly. Members of national legislatures, universities, international courts of law and former Nobel winners are among those who can put a name to the Nobel committee. Last year, there were 210 individuals nominated and 107 organizations were nominees for the peace prize, which comes with a cash award of$1,145,000.
The Nobel committee will announce the short list of nominees in March.
Reuters, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, BBC News and CBS news are the sources for this report.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of June 18 – 24, 2025
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 18 – 24, 2025

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Activism
Juneteenth: Celebrating Our History, Honoring Our Shared Spaces
It’s been empowering to watch Juneteenth blossom into a widely celebrated holiday, filled with vibrant outdoor events like cookouts, festivals, parades, and more. It’s inspiring to see the community embrace our history—showing up in droves to celebrate freedom, a freedom delayed for some enslaved Americans more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.

By Wayne Wilson, Public Affairs Campaign Manager, Caltrans
Juneteenth marks an important moment in our shared history—a time to reflect on the legacy of our ancestors who, even in the face of injustice, chose freedom, unity, and community over fear, anger, and hopelessness. We honor their resilience and the paths they paved so future generations can continue to walk with pride.
It’s been empowering to watch Juneteenth blossom into a widely celebrated holiday, filled with vibrant outdoor events like cookouts, festivals, parades, and more. It’s inspiring to see the community embrace our history—showing up in droves to celebrate freedom, a freedom delayed for some enslaved Americans more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.
As we head into the weekend full of festivities and summer celebrations, I want to offer a friendly reminder about who is not invited to the cookout: litter.
At Clean California, we believe the places where we gather—parks, parade routes, street corners, and church lots—should reflect the pride and beauty of the people who fill them. Our mission is to restore and beautify public spaces, transforming areas impacted by trash and neglect into spaces that reflect the strength and spirit of the communities who use them.
Too often, after the music fades and the grills cool, our public spaces are left littered with trash. Just as our ancestors took pride in their communities, we honor their legacy when we clean up after ourselves, teach our children to do the same, and care for our shared spaces.
Small acts can inspire big change. Since 2021, Clean California and its partners have collected and removed over 2.9 million cubic yards of litter. We did this by partnering with local nonprofits and community organizations to organize grassroots cleanup events and beautification projects across California.
Now, we invite all California communities to continue the incredible momentum and take the pledge toward building a cleaner community through our Clean California Community Designation Program. This recognizes cities and neighborhoods committed to long-term cleanliness and civic pride.
This Juneteenth, let’s not only celebrate our history—but also contribute to its legacy. By picking up after ourselves and by leaving no litter behind after celebrations, we have an opportunity to honor our past and shape a cleaner, safer, more vibrant future.
Visit CleanCA.com to learn more about Clean California.
Activism
OPINION: California’s Legislature Has the Wrong Prescription for the Affordability Crisis — Gov. Newsom’s Plan Hits the Mark
Last month, Gov. Newsom included measures in his budget that would encourage greater transparency, accountability, and affordability across the prescription drug supply chain. His plan would deliver real relief to struggling Californians. It would also help expose the hidden markups and practices by big drug companies that push the prices of prescription drugs higher and higher. The legislature should follow the Governor’s lead and embrace sensible, fair regulations that will not raise the cost of medications.

By Rev. Dr. Lawrence E. VanHook
As a pastor and East Bay resident, I see firsthand how my community struggles with the rising cost of everyday living. A fellow pastor in Oakland recently told me he cuts his pills in half to make them last longer because of the crushing costs of drugs.
Meanwhile, community members are contending with skyrocketing grocery prices and a lack of affordable healthcare options, while businesses are being forced to close their doors.
Our community is hurting. Things have to change.
The most pressing issue that demands our leaders’ attention is rising healthcare costs, and particularly the rising cost of medications. Annual prescription drug costs in California have spiked by nearly 50% since 2018, from $9.1 billion to $13.6 billion.
Last month, Gov. Newsom included measures in his budget that would encourage greater transparency, accountability, and affordability across the prescription drug supply chain. His plan would deliver real relief to struggling Californians. It would also help expose the hidden markups and practices by big drug companies that push the prices of prescription drugs higher and higher. The legislature should follow the Governor’s lead and embrace sensible, fair regulations that will not raise the cost of medications.
Some lawmakers, however, have advanced legislation that would drive up healthcare costs and set communities like mine back further.
I’m particularly concerned with Senate Bill (SB) 41, sponsored by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), a carbon copy of a 2024 bill that I strongly opposed and Gov. Newsom rightly vetoed. This bill would impose significant healthcare costs on patients, small businesses, and working families, while allowing big drug companies to increase their profits.
SB 41 would impose a new $10.05 pharmacy fee for every prescription filled in California. This new fee, which would apply to millions of Californians, is roughly five times higher than the current average of $2.
For example, a Bay Area family with five monthly prescriptions would be forced to shoulder about $500 more in annual health costs. If a small business covers 25 employees, each with four prescription fills per month (the national average), that would add nearly $10,000 per year in health care costs.
This bill would also restrict how health plan sponsors — like employers, unions, state plans, Medicare, and Medicaid — partner with pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to negotiate against big drug companies and deliver the lowest possible costs for employees and members. By mandating a flat fee for pharmacy benefit services, this misguided legislation would undercut your health plan’s ability to drive down costs while handing more profits to pharmaceutical manufacturers.
This bill would also endanger patients by eliminating safety requirements for pharmacies that dispense complex and costly specialty medications. Additionally, it would restrict home delivery for prescriptions, a convenient and affordable service that many families rely on.
Instead of repeating the same tired plan laid out in the big pharma-backed playbook, lawmakers should embrace Newsom’s transparency-first approach and prioritize our communities.
Let’s urge our state legislators to reject policies like SB 41 that would make a difficult situation even worse for communities like ours.
About the Author
Rev. Dr. VanHook is the founder and pastor of The Community Church in Oakland and the founder of The Charis House, a re-entry facility for men recovering from alcohol and drug abuse.
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