Surviving Deception, the Occult and Heartbreak in the Fight for Purpose

by

After the George Floyd murder in May of 2020, Frank Nitty became one of the top Milwaukee Black activists, leading large protest marches all over town. By the end of summer, through his dynamic Facebook posts, Nitty had attracted interest from many parts of the country. In August of 2020, he organized his followers to walk 750 miles to Washington D.C. to honor the 57th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s famous speech. After 24 days of walking, Nitty himself gave a two-minute speech to a huge noisy crowd at the Lincoln Memorial. 

After the protesters all returned to Milwaukee, Nitty told me, “It was an amazing spiritual journey. God was really moving out there for everyone. God talked to us all the time.” For several of his followers, Frank Nitty became like a God.

Two years later, Nitty had moved out of Milwaukee, leaving behind personal and credit card debts, broken promises and accusations of deception and sexual abuse. 

Two of the Washington marchers were the 20-year-old twin daughters of Vietnamese refugees, Leena and Leean Le. Their experiences with Frank Nitty were so emotionally damaging that they have written a memoir book about the experience. WILLderness: Losing My Way to Find It: Surviving Deception, The Occult, and Heartbreak in the Fight for Purpose is available on Amazon.

I met the twins, now 24, at the inner-city Sherman Perk coffee shop where they shared their heartbreaking story.

As first-generation Americans, what was it like growing up around Milwaukee?

Leena: We didn’t speak English in our home, just our native language, so when we went to school, we had to learn to speak English, and we struggled with academics. We enrolled in a Second Language Elementary School.  

Leean: We acclimated well because we were grouped with other kids who had to learn English. Then, our parents took us out of public school, and we went to St. Monica Catholic School through the 8th grade. That’s when we experienced being in the minority. From freshman through junior year, we went to Divine Saviors Holy Angels. Our senior year, we transferred to Menomonee Falls Public High School. I did not feel I fit in Catholic schools. I needed a change.

Reading from an excerpt in your book—"My family pressured me to pursue the traditional path … get a higher education, get married, and get a well-paying job, being the stereotypical docile Asian American woman, society’s portrayal of us as ‘model minorities.’” As I understand, you took a different path. In college, you focused on social justice and social work, correct?

Leena: Yes, we went to UWM for two years. When the Covid pandemic hit, we stepped away from college.

When you two were 20 in 2020, after the George Floyd murder, you joined the Black Lives Matter movement, and you became involved in protest marches in Milwaukee. You marched with Frank Nitty, the popular Black activist. How did this experience affect you at first?

Leena: For me, I just wanted to be more active and get involved in this Black Lives Matter movement affecting the country. A lot of people were protesting, and I wanted to see what protesting was like. It felt right to be involved and hear other people’s perspective. Protesting made me feel like I was contributing to something bigger than myself. It was summer, and this was the height of Covid when many young people were free. 

Leean: For me, I felt like we never fit in with our own Vietnamese culture when we were growing up. One of our best friends was from the Black community, and we were always welcomed by her family, and we became immersed in her Black culture. 

How did you get to know the protest leader, Frank Nitty?

Leena: We knew of him through his Facebook posts. We joined him on his marches, but we did not get to know him well until the Black Lives Matter march to Washington.

Leean: We did get to know his two young women assistants, and we got to be friends. We built relationships that way. I found myself unreasonably starstruck over Frank Nitty. From then on, I decided to participate in his marches as much as I could. I was desperately searching for community and belonging, and I became obsessed and addicted. I followed his livestreams and began to idolize him because his way with words moved me so deeply.

In August of 2020, over 24 days, you and a number of followers walked with Frank Nitty on his 750-mile Black Lives Matter march to Washington D.C. to call attention to injustice. In your book, you described the experience as “the level of deception and bitter disappointment.” I assume you are referring to your disillusionment with Frank Nitty. 

Leena: Yes. The mission Frank Nitty told us we were trying to accomplish turned out to be completely different in reality.

I was fairly close with Frank Nitty and was surprised that he made that quick decision to march to Washington. He was working on some good plans in Milwaukee, for instance, rehabbing old city houses and buildings for youth and community use. Back in Milwaukee after the march, Frank never followed up on those plans. Can you describe some things that happened on that 24-day march that made you disillusioned?

Leean: The initial red flag was the way he treated the group. We all were marching for Black Lives Matter, and Frank began to make the journey about himself, about his own platform. My sister’s and my job was to organize the group, book the motels, book rooms for 50 people, and get the food. That was a lot of pressure, but there was no clarity on what our destination would be each night. Frank would never tell us that. 

Why wouldn’t Frank tell you each night’s destination?

Leena: He had the plan to march 30 miles per day regardless if the group could catch up with him. It wasn’t really a community effort. Frank did not build unity. Whenever he got upset with a marcher, he would call a group circle and have that marcher stand in the center, and he would humiliate and tear them down.

Leean: I began to notice Frank’s womanizing tactics. Frank was in a relationship with a woman on the march, but he flirted endlessly with other women.

He didn’t put the moves on you sexually, did he?

Leean: At one point, he wanted to share a room with the two of us, but we did not do that. 

So, night after night, you have trouble booking sleeping accommodations and food preparations because Frank won’t commit. I believe he had you trying to procure donations. At times, you even had to pay for food and lodging. 

Leena: It was a massive financial loss using much of the money I set aside for college. (Her money was never paid back.)

How many protesters were on the march?

Leena: It started with about 20, but we picked up a lot of people along the way. There was a group of three women from Indiana that joined us. They called themselves the “Queens.” They were considered our spiritual guides, and they worshipped Frank. Each morning, they would offer body healing oils and ointments for aches and pains. If someone brought up a problem, these women would always defend Frank. These Indiana Queens became Frank’s spiritual shield. They told people they practiced polygamy. Then, there were the other devoted women who followed Frank online. They called themselves “Nitty Wives.”

Leean: This kind of shifted the culture of the group and made us realize the experience is not what we expected. At one point, the Queens were alongside Frank, and he was streaming live on his smartphone, and he pointed out that the sun formed a halo around his head. The Queens later claimed that Frank was anointed, the “living and walking Word.” They equated him to a messiah figure. The night before we finally made it to Washington, Frank was having a conflict with one of the women marchers. He called many of us into the room and had us watch while he destroyed this woman’s character. While he was doing this, the three Queens were washing his feet. 

Somewhere along the way, did you think about leaving?

Leena: Partway into the march, we were looking for a way out, maybe booking a train back to Milwaukee. 

Leean: But we knew Frank lacked organizational skills, and we decided to stay on and help.

When you got to Washington, what happened?

Leena: We had walked 82 miles the night before, but we made it in time for the speeches at the Lincoln Memorial. Frank gave his short speech, and then we all went to a hotel suite with two big rooms. Frank had the goal of meeting with national politicians and making demands, but that never happened.

Here is a quote from your book: “I learned a lesson that I guard my heart and use caution in trusting people.”

Leena: Frank Nitty seemed to have the power to speak from his heart, and that is why we wanted to follow him. He was charismatic. The major lesson I learned was to make sure I guard my heart and not let people play on my emotions.

Leean: People like Frank Nitty know how to pull on people’s heartstrings and manipulate people for their benefit. I need to have that guard around my heart to make sure my true passions aren’t taken for granted.

Tell me about your recent book and why you wrote it.  

Leena: I was feeling lost and confused, wondering why I had to go through that ordeal on the march. I was trying to find healing, and writing about the march helped me. I was asking God what it was all about. I went through the Biblical scriptures and started to heal. We wrote the book to help people who have gone through similar experiences and need hope. 

Leean: I firmly believe that God never wastes any experience. For a long time, I was running away from the memory of the Washington march and never wanted to reflect on it. But we realized if we did not share our healing and breakthrough, we’d be preventing others from healing. The book is a general lesson that can help others, especially young people who are looking for a purpose. Young people are subject to many different voices trying to steer them in certain directions.

In your description of the book, you wrote, “So many voices and influences in the world are competing for our attention (especially targeting Millennials and Gen Z) to convince us that they have the way to go if we just follow their lead. Unfortunately, when you’re young, it can be easy to be led astray.” Can you expand on this concept?

Leena: We were looking to people who exhibit leadership and who could inspire us. If we follow a leader who claims to be a voice of the people and has a plan, we have to make sure we don’t lose ourselves.

During that march with Frank Nitty, it seems to me you evolved from innocence to experience, from idealism to reality.

Leena: That’s true.

What are you doing currently in your lives? I believe you are involved in providing affordable housing for residents that have questionable credit.

Leena: We have a duplex, and we are having a new tenant in the lower part. Recently, we enrolled her in a first-time homebuyer’s course at ACTS Housing. With their coaching, she should be able to become a homeowner herself. Long term, we want to develop affordable housing for communities. 

Leean: I previously worked with Hope Street as their fund development director. Hope Street helps people live in transitional housing until they can find their own places. We try to help people make that transition. Generally, we want to expand affordable housing, and we are working on business plans. We are also taking classes in business.

At the end of their book, Leena made this observation: ‘I came to realize that what we went through was a cult, defined as “a system of religious devotion toward a particular figure or person.”’