Beyonce's Opening Act
Before Her Concert, Music Star Drops In To Chat With D.C. Girls as Part of Forum Against Violence

By Darragh Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 10, 2007

The first group of teenage girls arrived before 4 p.m., and D.C. Council member Kwame R. Brown greeted them, asking, "Aren't y'all tired of the drive-by shootings?"

He said nothing about The Surprise.

Nothing about Beyonce.

Nothing about how Beyonce was supposed to be there soon, in the Verizon Center's exclusive Acela Club, meeting privately with 70 girls ages 12 to 18 before her concert last night.

"Aren't y'all tired of people getting killed?" Brown (D-At Large) continued.

"Yes!" answered the girls, all in skirts and summer dresses, headbands and heels, who had come to this anti-violence gathering called Defining Our Own Destiny Forum.

Then Brown added, ever so slyly, "There might be a surprise tonight."

"Tickets!" a few girls shouted.

Brown just smiled. And held the smile, with some effort, for a few hours.

At 4:45 p.m., Brown told them they were getting concert tickets.

At 5 p.m., they were listening to speeches.

At 7:10 p.m., Brown told the girls to put away their camera cellphones and stay in their seats. The concert was 20 minutes away.

At 7:30, the concert began. The girls were still waiting. A few got up and left for the concert.

Finally, shortly after 7:45, the door opened and in walked Beyonce, clad in silver high heels, skinny jeans and a gray blouse and sporting Barbie-doll hair. There was a smattering of cheers from the visibly bored crowd.

For the next 15 minutes or so, Beyonce shook hands and engaged in chitchat, posing with the girls in groups of 10 as a photographer in her entourage snapped pictures. Media and Verizon Center photographers were banned from taking her picture, though.

But her brief, late appearance was a far cry from what Brown had hoped for: a few choice words from a role model on healthy eating and living. That's why Brown invited her: "She promotes young girls loving themselves," he said.

By 8, all the girls had left for the concert. Beyonce stayed behind, waiting for her cue to go onstage.

The forum for girls -- and Beyonce's brief appearance -- was orchestrated by Brown and his staff members as a counterweight to the many anti-violence programs in the city for teenage boys. The forum was devoted to stopping violence in the girls' troubled neighborhoods and spreading the message that they can overcome any challenges.

Organizations that participated included Covenant House Washington, Peaceoholics/C.H.O.I.C.E. and the Mayor's Youth Leadership Institute.

The forum featured presentations on perseverance despite obstacles, maintaining a healthy self-image and trying to become a peacemaker in the community.

The girls came from across the city -- from such neighborhoods and public housing projects as Anacostia, Sursum Corda, Trenton Park, Kenilworth, Barry Farms, Bruce Place, Trinidad, Columbia Heights and Garfield Heights.

The Callahan sisters were there: Madina, 18, and Davina, 16, who just graduated from Anacostia Senior High, and Melvina, 19. All are headed this week to North Carolina to start college.

The two younger Callahans once typified the kind of girls that Brown most worries about. They were members of Choppa City, the Southeast Washington gang named for a type of gun, Madina said.

"I was always fighting," she said. "Before I met Peaceoholics, I was the type that you wouldn't see here," she said, sitting in a room reached by a private elevator, named for an expensive train and overlooking the stage.

"I was not peace and quiet," Madina continues. "When we fought someone, we thought it was fun." She stops. This is how she used to think. "But that was being immature, and we weren't thinking about the other side."

She began thinking about the other side in the spring of last year, after Peaceoholics made overtures to the Choppa City girls. The group also made the girls think about a future that included college.

"I wanted to go to college, but I never thought I'd be able to say, 'I'm going to college,' " Melvina said.

Said Madina: "I wanted to go to college, but there's a lot of things you want and you're never gonna get."

This week, Peaceoholics will accompany the girls to their freshman year in college. Madina and Melvina will attend Shaw University in Raleigh. Davina is heading to Winston Salem State University, to study forensic science.

It seemed, in this room with the backstage sounds of concert preparation, a far cry from Brown's concerns.

"We have so much youth violence in this city," he said. " So many people shooting each other up. So many drive-by shootings, and young girl gangs are on the rise in this city. But these girls have a lot of power getting this to stop."