Symone Makes Powerful Statement About Police Brutality on the Drag Race Runway

Light spoilers for RuPaul’s Drag Race ahead.

Symone made a powerful statement honoring Black Americans whose lives have been taken by police brutality on Friday night’s episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

For this week’s runway challenge, the category was: “Fascinating Fascinators.” While other queens took the prompt in a more whimsical direction (like Denali, who wore a sculptural pot that looked like it was pouring out coffee into a mug) or into style editorial territory (like Gottmik, who donned a huge punk safety pin that looked like it was piercing through her skull), Symone came to the stage merging fashion with an activist message.

As she first started slinking down the runway, it appeared as if she was just wearing a fitted white gown (made by fashion designer Marko B) with a matching headpiece resembling a white lily (created by stylist and designer Marko Monroe). But when the Los Angeles-by-way-of-Arkansas queen turned around at the end of the stage, she revealed that her fascinator actually read “Say Their Names” in red rhinestones, while the back of her dress depicted two dripping red bullet holes that looked as if they were piercing her abdomen.

“I really wanted to take this opportunity to do some activism in my drag and personify that Black angelic being,” Symone explained in a confessional interview. “As I turn around, you see on the back, there are two bullet holes, and I put my hands up. ‘Don't shoot.’”

“It's not a moment. It is a movement,” she continued, before reciting the names of several victims of police brutality, including those who were Black and trans. “We need to continue to say their names. Breonna Taylor. George Floyd. Brayla Stone. Trayvon Martin, Tony McDade. Nina Pop. Monika Diamond.”

Over the weekend, Symone followed-up the stunning runway presentation with a moving video. In the clip directed by Gilbert Trejo and the House of Avalon, the queen reflects on her Black identity while wearing the “Say Their Names” gown and fascinator.

“I'm proud. Proud to be Black,” she declares in the video. “I'm proud of my ability to stand with those whose lives have been taken from them, simply because they were born darker than white. This is for you. Y'all are Black, and y'all are beautiful. But above all things, you were human.

“So say their names,” she concludes. “Say all of their names. Not just to remember, so that we never forget.” See the full transcript of the video below.

For so long, I was afraid to act, to live my truth. Growing up, I was praised for not being that kind of Black person. Sometimes my Blackness was even questioned. Oh, you ain't Black. You're so articulate for someone like you. Those kinds of words made me so scared to speak. Because what if the very people who tolerated me, praised me, finally realized that I'm actually Black too. And not only am I Black, but I'm talented, smart, capable, and angry.

Angry that my skin threatens you. Angry that my skin terrifies you. Angry that I have to work twice as hard to get half as much in this life. Angry that my skin gives you permission to take away my life. And that even in death, you still get to write how I live to justify your sin.

But I'm no longer afraid. I'm proud. Proud to be Black. I'm proud of my ability to stand with those whose lives have been taken from them, simply because they were born darker than white. This is for you. Y'all are Black, and y'all are beautiful. But above all things, you were human. So say their names. Say all of their names. Not just to remember, so that we never forget.

Symone also shared a post by @fashioncandrag, an Instagram account dedicated to pointing out the connections between drag and fashion, that noted the instantly-iconic look seems to reference a particular dress worn by Naomi Campbell for Mowalola’s SS20 collection entitled “Coming for Blood.” As @fashioncandrag points out, the Nigerian British designer Mowalola Ogunlesi has said “this dress is extremely emotional to me — it screams my lived experience as a [Black] person. It shows no matter how well dressed you are or well behaved, we are time after time, seen as a walking target.”

Symone, who has excelled in season 13’s comedy challenges so far, also made RuPaul laugh in the “Snatch Game” challenge with her hilarious Harriet Tubman character. Even while incorporating facts about the leading abolitionist’s life, she still managed to crack jokes about the Underground Railroad and quickly recovered when she mistook actor Jennifer Lewis for Jennifer Lawrence.

The self-professed Ebony Enchantress has stunned viewers with every runway challenge so far, which are often steeped in references to Black fashion icons like Lil’ Kim, Rihanna, and Grace Jones, as writer Mikelle Street noted in a January Wall Street Journal interview with Symone.

Even Bob the Drag Queen said in the latest episode of the Drag Race recap show The Pit Stop that Symone was his frontrunner to win season 13. With eight queens remaining on the show, this race is still in its middle leg, and only time will tell if Symone will take the crown.

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