Beyoncé leads the MTV VMA nominations tonight with 11 different nods for her visual epic Lemonade – a powerful ode to the strength and suffering of black women. On the red carpet, she showed up with those who made a cameo in the chart-topping love letter. Queen Bey and princess Blue (as glittering fairytale royalty) were joined by Parkwood protégés Chloe and Halle, Oscar-nominated actress Quvenzhané Wallis, model Winnie Harlow, and the mothers of four black men who have lost their lives to police violence. Gwen Carr, Lezley McSpadden, Wanda Johnson, and Sybrina Fulton – the mothers of Eric Garner, Mike Brown, Oscar Grant, and Trayvon Martin – looked as regal as Beyoncé herself as they stood for cameras in elaborate evening gowns.
The four mothers are also known as the Mothers of the (Black Lives Matter) Movement. Carr, McSpadden, and Fulton all appeared in Beyoncé’s video for “Freedom,” holding photos of their slain sons. All four mothers on the VMA red carpet tonight also took the stage at the Democratic National Convention last month to voice their support of Hillary Clinton. “You don’t stop being a mom when your child dies,” said Lucy McBath, mother of Jordan Davis, who was killed in a dispute with a white man over loud music.
The VMAs have long been a vehicle political statements – in 1992, Kurt Cobain had wanted to play “Rape Me” during a Nirvana performance and decided to sing the first few bars as a statement on free speech – so it’s no surprise that police brutality has become a red carpet topic of conversation. Last year Vic Mensa made headlines when he showed up in an outfit emblazoned with tributes to Assata Shakur, a black activist and former member of the Black Panther Party.
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Text Hannah Ongley
Image via Twitter