MTV VMAs 2016: Beyonce brings police shooting victims' mothers to red carpet
Superstar singer Beyonce didn’t just bring daughter Blue Ivy to the 2016 MTV VMAs; she also brought the mothers of police shooting victims Mike Brown, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and Oscar Grant to the red carpet.
Brown, Martin, Garner and Grant are some of the most important names to catalyze the Black Lives Matters movement. Beyonce brought in the mothers of Brown, Martin and Garner to partake in her visual album, “Lemonade,” as well. They held photos of their late sons in the video.
Beyonce first created waves with her support of Black Lives Matter in February, when she released the music video for “Formation,” which had imagery that evoked Hurricane Katrina, with Beyonce being submerged on top of a sinking police cruiser, graffiti reading “stop shooting us” and an image reminiscent of Trayvon Martin.
She then stirred controversy at the Super Bowl during her halftime performance when her dancers donned berets, sported Afros and wore all black, drawing comparisons to the Black Panther party.