BEAUX II MEN
Beautillion is modern tradition to support Black teenagers
On a sunny October day, a group of North Carolina debutantes learned what to do when they are stopped by the police.
“Do we have any bad police stories?” asked Capt. Norman Garnes, Army veteran, grandfather, Kappa Alpha Psi brother and second-generation Black police officer.
People did. The room held more than 50 people: parents, Kappa alumni, teenagers in the Kappa League and the stars of the show: the 11 high school seniors in Charlotte’s annual Kappa Alpha Psi Beautillion Militaire.
In its 46th year, the Charlotte Kappa beautillion is among the oldest in the country.
Among those listening intently was Peyton Patterson, 18. He wondered what a white officer would say, what a white officer sees when he looks at a young Black man like himself.
Patterson has a supportive community behind him including his parents and the people he’s met through church and basketball.
When asked about his dreams, Patterson responds with a tailored professional plan: either to own a marketing firm or to work as a business systems analyst for a large corporation (“the ultimate IT person,” he said).
Patterson’s dad calls him a “steady Eddie.” Still, the Kappas know that young people need support for their dreams, no matter how carefully thought out. That’s why they have the beautillion program. David Taylor said: “We know that this is it. You’re about to leave home, you’re about to become an adult.”
The beautillion program teaches dance, table manners and how to tie a tie. But the Kappas think that young Black men need more than that. Those sessions are outnumbered by ones on mental health, interview skills, money management, careers in STEM. The beaux met Harvey Gantt, Charlotte’s first Black mayor. Patterson had to give a speech about the most influential person of our time – Vice President Kamala Harris, he said – and submit an essay from school (he chose to write about DNA identification databases).
Patterson is hungry for all of it, hungry to better himself. “I know most kids my age, 18, probably don’t care about that stuff,” he said.
But he doesn’t think about what’s popular. “I can be ahead of the game if I take advantage of this,” he said.
At least since W.E.B. Du Bois coined the concept
of the “talented tenth,” successful Black adults have felt a sense of community responsibility, the need to work toward collective betterment in a world that sets up barriers.
The kind of mentoring the Kappas provide can make a difference. Research shows that mentoring is particularly important and effective for young Black men, especially in helping them succeed in college.
The beautillion encircles young men with supportive adults and like-minded peers. The brothers serve as role models for success and brotherhood. Their names are painted on their Kappa Hall parking spaces. Patterson’s parents were thrilled when their son was invited to apply for the program.
These groups require a combination of dues, four-year college degrees, vouching and serious volunteer hours, and thus shut out all but, as the late Lawrence Otis Graham put it, “our kind of people.”
The beautillion took root in the wake of the 1960s civil rights movement. It expanded in the ‘70s and ‘80s, responding to the police crackdown on the Civil Rights Movement, the return of political conservatism, and the demonization of young Black men that came with urban renewal and the war on drugs.
“It’s trying to combat and change this narrative of the criminal, pathologically deviant Black male. Particularly the urban Black male,” Ford said.
The Kappa beautillion requires nomination from a member, and getting in requires interviews with the prospective beau and his father. There is no financial obligation. They raise money for college scholarships, and the first $750 covers program costs such as tuxedo rental.
Some critique cotillions and beautillions, Ford said, for emphasizing personal responsibility and encouraging individual solutions to structural problems. The beaux are reading the self-help book “The Magic of Thinking Big,” published in the 1959, which says you can do anything you set your mind to, no excuses.
“Adherence to the notions of respectability is a way that Black parents try to protect their children,” Ford said. But “dressing well will never save us. Going to college – that will not save you from police brutality.”
Patterson and his family know that personal responsibility doesn’t solve everything.
“Working at Harris Teeter(a supermarket), I get a lot of stares from old white people,” Patterson said. Sometimes they feel threatened when he tries to help them to their cars.
Garnes knows it too. In a police department filled with multigenerational white officer families, it wasn’t until 2002 that he and his father became the first Black father-son pair.
“You can do everything right and still things will go wrong for you in the end,” the officer told the beaux. He was being realistic, not trying to scare them, he said. But no matter what, “We have to do something. We have to be in control when we’re driving. … We can’t control what other people do.”
Patterson agrees. He’s found “The Magic of Thinking Big” inspiring.
“In a world where systemic racism still exists,” he said, the beautillion mentors are trying to “prepare us for that so we can possibly better it in the future.”
Confidence and humility
This year’s beaux have already raised more than $38,000. Patterson is the top fundraiser so far, with 59 donors. He sweated over his pitch. He chose to lead with his school responsibility of cochairing the athletic prefect committee and his many volunteer commitments.
“I plan to continue my passion for serving throughout college, spreading God’s light to everyone I come in contact with,” he wrote.
What has the beautillion program given him so far? “Confidence,” Patterson said. His voice dropped. “I’ve battled a lack of confidence for a very long time.”
He thought he was being humble.
“What I’ve learned in the program – being humble doesn’t mean putting yourself down under people. It’s bringing them up with you, to your level,” he said.