How activists got a Black Lives Matter sign into the hands of Beyoncé's dancers

Beyoncé’s Super Bowl homage to the Black Panther party was already creating a political firestorm when a group of her beret-clad dancers were photographed with their fists raised in a Black Power salute, holding a sign that read “Justice 4 Mario Woods”.

It was the doing of two Black Lives Matter activists, Rheema Emy Calloway and Ronnisha Johnson, who recounted in a phone interview how they “chased the dancers down” after the performance to help bring national attention to the story of Woods, a 26-year-old African American man who was shot and killed by San Francisco police officers on 2 December 2015.

“From the look on the faces of the dancers, they’d already heard about the case,” Calloway said.

Calloway and Johnson, two organizers with Black Lives Matter Bay Area, had managed to get tickets to the show through a contest and traveled to Levi’s Stadium with a school band that was to perform during the show.

After watching Beyoncé’s performance of Formation from the field, they were able to snag a few seconds with a group of dancers and asked them if they would be willing to make a quick video in support of their cause, a video that quickly went viral.

Gwen Woods, Mario’s mother, said she was hoping to find a way to reach the dancers and express her gratitude: “I am so thankful to those dancers that they acknowledged this.”

Mario Woods was allegedly armed with a kitchen knife when he was stopped on the street and surrounded by about a dozen police officers. When Woods failed to drop the knife, five police officers opened fire, killing him.

Cellphone video of the shooting was widely circulated on social media and prompted outrage in San Francisco’s black community. The police department publicly stated that Woods had extended a knife toward an officer, justifying the shooting, but additional video of the shooting appears to show that Woods’s arms were at his sides when police opened fire.

Community activists such as Calloway and Johnson have organized ongoing protests to draw attention to Woods’ case, including showing up at San Francisco mayor Ed Lee’s second inauguration.

But the Super Bowl provided an opportunity to get the message on the street onto a much bigger platform.

The group marched through downtown San Francisco to “Super Bowl City” with “Justice for Mario Woods” banners and attempted to crash a gala for NFL team owners at city hall on 4 February.

According to Calloway, Alicia Keys’ agent reached out to Black Lives Matter Bay Area before her 6 February performance at Super Bowl City in order to learn more about local issues facing the black community. Johnson was able to speak with the agent and share the story of Mario Woods.

“I want to thank you for your commitment to making sure justice is done for Mario Woods,” Keys said at her Saturday night concert, which attracted thousands of people. “As the mother of two black sons, it breaks my heart to see what we’ve been seeing, the killings we’ve been seeing on camera and all the people that we’ll never see. Black lives matter, and we all of every color need to come together to end systemic racism.”

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Activists also tracked down NFL running back Adrian Peterson, who recorded a brief video message about Woods.

But none of these efforts brought the kind of national attention to Woods’s killing until Super Bowl Sunday, and Beyoncé’s release of the explicitly political Formation set the stage for Sunday’s viral photo-op.

“For her to make a visual statement endorsing this movement is so powerful,” said Calloway of Beyoncé’s performance. “She’s rekindling the spirit of Nina Simone. I hope it can shift the conversation about what it means to be black and proud.”

Woods’s family members said he was a huge football fan and that it meant a lot to them to hear his name at one of the world’s biggest sporting events.

In a phone interview Monday morning, Gwen Woods said she had been feeling low on Sunday and that when she got a text message about Beyoncé’s dancers, it raised her spirits.

“I was really depressed, and that gave me a jolt,” she said. “To see them with the sign in the stands, it jolted me back into reality. It uplifted me.”

She said she hopes more people across the country will learn about her son, about the racism that has plagued the San Francisco police department, and about their fight to hold the police department accountable: “Beyoncé carries weight.”

“I would hope people would take away that all lives matter,” she said, adding through tears: “We black mothers shouldn’t have to see our kids shot down like animals … We have to do something, it’s just too much.”

Beyoncé’s half-time show referenced Black Lives Matter, Malcolm X and the Black Panthers, making the performance one of the most radical political statements in her career.

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Woods said she was also moved by Keys’ message on Saturday night during her performance at Super Bowl City.

“I was so happy, because she put the word racism out there, which a lot of people are in denial about.”

Monroe Whitt, Mario’s older brother, said he wanted to see football fans take the time to research his brother’s death and watch the footage of the shooting.

“I would hope people would just Google him and see for themselves,” he said, adding: “I’m very appreciative that they shouted my brother out and kept the name out there in a mega way.”

“He was a big football fan,” Whitt, 34, continued, noting that Mario had a great time at Levi’s Stadium last year attending a San Francisco 49ers game against the Dallas Cowboys.

Watching the Super Bowl this year was bittersweet, Whitt added. “I got to enjoy Super Bowl weekend with my brother and mother. It’s very nice, but sad at the same time. Because he’s not here. It’s a reminder that he’s not here.”