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How Beyoncé Stood With Black Lives Matter at the VMAs

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August 29, 2016, 10:50 AM ET
2016 MTV Video Music Awards - Red Carpet
NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 28: Mothers of gun violence Lesley McFadden, Gwen Carr, Wanda Johnson and Sybrina Fulton attend the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards at Madison Square Garden on August 28, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images)Larry Busacca Getty Images for MTV

This article originally ran on People.

Beyoncé shared the spotlight with mothers of the Black Lives Matter movement at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards.

The singer made a powerful statement of protest while walking the carpet with her daughter Blue Ivy at the New York City event on Sunday night.

She was accompanied by Sybrina Fulton, Gwen Carr, Lesley McSpadden, and Wanda Johnson – the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Oscar Grant, respectively. Standing alongside one another, they posed for the world press.

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Lance Bass also made his own statement on the carpet, wearing a jacket with the words “Love Trumps Hate” written on the back of it. During the broadcast,a fresh-faced Alicia Keys honored the 53rd anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech with an emotional poem.

Beyoncé, 34, also took a stand for feminism during the show broadcast with a lengthy medley from her smash visual album Lemonade: “Pray You Catch Me,” “Hold Up,” “Sorry,” “Don’t Hold Yourself” and “Formation.” Each of the songs contained messages of female empowerment, and the stage itself formed a feminist icon symbol.

https://twitter.com/FeminismDaiIy/status/770094761411743745

Beyoncé capped off her night by taking home the moonman for Video of the Year for “Formation” – which also contains Black Lives Matter imagery.

“I’d like to thank my beautiful daughter and my incredible husband for all their support,” she told the crowd. “I’d like to thank the choreographers that worked so hard. I have the most incredible team, they work so hard … I dedicate this award to the people of New Orleans.”

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