By Leo Adam Biga
In the acclaimed new feature-length documentary My Omaha progressive white filmmaker Nick Beaulieu sets out to understand his historically segregated hometown. His search coincides with Black Lives Matter, Trump America and the social-political divide. In trying to reconcile the two Omahas and to heal a frayed relationship with his conservative father he meets African American community organizer Leo Louis II, who educates him on what it means to be Black and to find common ground in this fraught time.
Beaulieu’s journey to enlightenment and reconciliation grows more urgent when his father’s diagnosed with terminal cancer and tragedy mars a social justice protest. As emotional as the father-son moments are, Louis’ incisive conversations with Beaulieu and impassioned community talks steal the show. In the same way a young Ernie Chambers came into national focus via his role in the classic 1966 doc A Time for Burning, Louis is being noticed for his part in the new doc soon to hit streaming services.
The filmmaker feels fortunate to have found such a guide and sage as Louis, whom he calls “the people’s mayor.” The two have forged a friendship through the decade-long journey of My Omaha. Louis joined him for screenings and panels at Slamdance Film Festival in Los Angeles and Omaha’s Dundee Theatre.
“I think what’s special about Leo is that he really leads by example,” said Beaulieu. “He’s one of the most authentic people I’ve ever met. When you’re a storyteller trying to tell the story of a place through people you always want to find someone who’s as honest with you as possible. The audience can detect if someone’s just performing for the camera or holding something back. In the whole time I’ve known Leo he’s always been unwaveringly authentic and committed to his principles. He genuinely does put the people and the community first … and I’m glad this film helps people see that.”
A colleague and admirer of Louis’, UNMC public health professor Dr. Keyonna King, is glad My Omaha showcases this once “diamond in the rough” who “has become a bright and shining diamond for the world to see.” Given how blatant racism is again in the U.S., she said, “Leo’s work is only about to ramp up, and we need him and others like him because they remind us to be human first and that we must take care of one another, especially those who have a difficult time taking care of themselves.”
For Louis, former Malcolm X Memorial Foundation (MXMF) president and frequent participant and organizer of social advocacy events and initiatives, being authentic comes naturally.
“In the work that I do authenticity is my calling card and the currency that’s needed in order to do community organizing,” he said. “When you work with community, people want to know that you are genuine and that you are who you say you are. You can’t organize effectively if you don’t actually live the work. I do my best to live it. If you don’t, people will know. They’ll recognize you as a pretender or grifter. So, you’ve got to be in the right heart space.”
Louis knows people have a hard time listening amidst all the noise and divisiveness, but he said hearing from each other is crucial if change happens.
“The most effective organizers listen to the people.
You listen beyond words. You listen to their heart. Those are the things that produce quality communication. Those experiences trump anything I’ve ever read or watched. I always stand on the principle that you take the position the people want.
If people as a whole say we’re against this then as an organizer if it aligns with your values, you stand with the people on that issue. If it doesn’t align with your values, then you have to stand down and let somebody else lead in that space.”
A powerful scene in the film shows him addressing a crowd at a peaceful rally saying:
“ When I realized my Blackness had marked me for something I went on a mission like most Black people do when you find your identity. And guess what it takes for us to find our identity? Someone dying. That’s how lost we are. ”
Everything uttered on camera, he said, was impromptu. “Nothing in that film was scripted. Not a single word I say was planned. Whatever Nick captured me saying is what I said in the moment.”
At that same rally Louis challenges the crowd to commit themselves to study the Black struggle. He said several people we see raising their fists in solidarity followed through on that commitment.
When Beaulieu first approached him to be his guide, Louis was cautious but eventually let his guard down. He did with Beaulieu what he does with everyone.
“The only thing I could do was tell my truth. I believe in that. I believe in our lifetime we have to tell the truth
because if we don’t we set up the next generation to have to discover those truths the hard way.”
Something he says early in the doc that the filmmaker references at the end sums up how Louis, who brands himself “Visionary Lion,” thinks:
In humankind we’ve got to spend time together.
To really be educated, the best way we possibly can is to have a shared experience. That’s what really changes the world.
Louis said the initial question Beaulieu started out trying to resolve of how the city can breach its Black-white divide “doesn’t have an answer” because it’s an ever-unfolding story. Added Louis, “Omaha is still very segregated with its silos. There are moments when Omaha does come together, and we do achieve things but then we go right back to the status quo. It’s built into the fabric of history. The geographic demographic of our city is a great deal of the reason why. It’s easy to live in your corner and not venture out.”
The film is the latest Omaha-based project dealing with racism to receive national attention after the docs A Time for Burning, Out of Omaha and Divisible and the books The Education of a WASP and The Lost Sons of Omaha. Louis said it’s no coincidence the city frames U.S. race dialogue.
“Omaha is the fulcrum, it is the middle of the map, it is the balancing point of the country,” he said. “You have great leaders like Malcolm X birthed in Omaha and he became the balance of the civil rights movement. So, for all of the conversations around MLK and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference there was Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam that became a counterbalance to a movement that didn’t have another voice at the table.
“Omaha has always been the place that has elevated the balance of both sides of the struggle. I think for that reason we’re very important.”
He’s glad Beaulieu saw the film though to completion as it provokes discussion about forces that divide and oppress by race, gender, politics.
“I am proud to be part of this film. I think it is important especially at this time when people are questioning the identity of America in general. This country is built off division. We must have a new system that doesn’t do that damage.”
For activists and reformers like himself, he said, “We have way more tools now and I think the system knows that. That’s the biggest threat to those who have thrived off the status quo. The more distracted we are the harder it is for us to see that we have the tools in front of us to do more.” He feels the film itself is a tool. “This film is bringing about change and some people don’t like change. Change is hard. You can see that in our country right now. Things are changing and a lot of people are taking negative points of view rather than seeing the positive. I think the most important thing this film offers is letting people know they’re not alone in questioning and we all can begin the process of soul searching. Knowing other people are feeling the same can itself bring us together.”
His role with My Omaha started in 2015. By the time Beaulieu finished visiting with him in 2023, he said, “I’d gone through several changes – transitioning from a volunteer at MXMF to critical board member to board chair. All that transition was through organizing efforts. I grew in organizing, I grew in my understanding of my skill set and what I can bring to community.”
His community work all started when he looked around and didn’t like the options open to him after graduating from Omaha North High. He dabbled with street life only to reject it and to help others find a new path. He, along with his brother Latron “Chrome” Louis and a friend formed the support group, Found Period, for those wanting to leave street life. “We heard from a lot of guys who said they couldn’t get jobs because they had criminal records.” When a Nation of Islam group from Kansas City brought food, they’d grown themselves, Louis made it his mission to learn “what it takes to grow our own food.”
He volunteered with Omaha City Sprouts and recruited North O residents to participate in its 40th and Decatur community garden. Urban farming gave him more than a means to grow food. He said he found it “relaxing and meditative,” adding, “I really fell in love with the peace and the connection to nature.”
A grant enabled him to hire young men needing work and a fresh start.
“I was very intentional about finding young men who may have had criminal backgrounds or hard times and were close to the streets because that’s who we were talking to every Sunday in our support group.
“Folks in the philanthropic space started to hear about the work I was doing.” That led to support for the Grown in North Omaha Project that saw him establish community gardens, including one at MXMF. He taught hundreds of urban farming tenets,
Meanwhile, Found Period turned into gang intervention. “We got introduced to other people in the nonprofit space. Those introductions showed us there are organizations working on some of these social issues trying to make good change.”
He said some of the young men and eventually young women he worked with “are now leaders in their own right with their own organizations, some have created families and settled down,” adding that others “have gone back to jail.”
Gardening at MXMF led to him volunteering there in other ways before heading its board. He and executive director JoAnna LeFlore-Ejike helped MXMF secure a $20 million grant in 2024 that will build its long envisioned Malcolm X Cultural Center.
“The organizing around it is something I’m very proud of,” he said. “Working with Sen. Terrell McKinney, Willie Hamilton, Willie Barney and other community influencers like Preston Love Jr. was very significant. There were so many people on the back end.”
A first attempt to secure the grant failed. “It meant going back to the table, sitting at the drawing board, and coming up with a new strategy to make sure the legislation got passed,” he said. “I watched people sit across the table from each other who historically had not gotten along and really communicate and start to work together. Everybody put aside their differences to seize the opportunity for North Omaha,”
He and LeFlore-Ejike also had a hand in finally getting Malcolm X inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame.
Louis, a husband and father, took an active part in bringing attention to disproportionate suspensions of Black schoolchildren. “Some of the highest suspensions rates existed among pre-kindergarten to second grade,” he said. “We started an initiative, Justice for Kids, under the Malcolm X Memorial Foundation. A number of parents and volunteers stood up and advocated. Through their advocacy we introduced legislation to Sen. McKinney, who continued to advocate for it and was able to get the legislation (LB632) passed. We tried to work with area school districts. When we could not get any traction there we decided to go to the state.”
The new law bans suspensions of children in pre-K through second grade.
In 2020 he organized the Omaha in Solidarity March that thousands joined. He’s coordinated emergency trauma classes for activists and advocates.
Some of his ongoing efforts include supporting the work of Ladonna White Griffin and her Leaders to Legends Academy home school. The pair co-authored the book The Grownfolks and the Magic Wand: The Discipline Guide. Said Louis, “The book encourages parents, teachers and other caretakers to work together for the collective benefit of children. We take a community organizing and educational lens approach.” He’s authored two children’s coloring books. With Omaha 360 he provides community-led public safety strategies for Omaha Public Schools sports contests and Juneteenth and Native Omaha Days events. As a UNMC College of Public Health part-time faculty member he co-teaches two Community Based Participatory Research courses with Professor Keyonna King, who taps his real-world community experience.
Not unlike the role he played with Nick Beaulieu on My Omaha, Louis is happy to share his boots on the ground expertise with academics. “Most research is done in a way where it kind of exploits community,” he said. “Researchers come in, they ask a few questions, they get their data and then they leave. But participatory research requires they build true relationships with community members and engage at a deep level, thereby empowering community to not only own the information but also to participate in the creation of the research itself.
King describes Louis as “a kind soul with strategic fight,” saying she and her students benefit from his high “emotional intelligence” and expert “knowledge and insight.” Added King, “He inspires me to be a better researcher in my partnerships with community. Leo’s grassroots work really is inspiring to our students, too. He challenges them to unlearn practices that may be inherently paternalistic in research and strives for a more partnered approach to developing, executing and sharing about the research they will embark on. I’m extremely grateful to have him as a co-instructor.”
Another aspect of Louis’ community advocacy work finds him walking alongside families impacted by gun violence to help them seek the healing and justice they seek.
Though largely self-taught, Louis has studied other community organizers. He also attended a Nebraska Civic Engagement Table community organizer school.
With added experience and expertise, he said, “I’ve become savvier about the work I do in community. I think in the beginning of any art, any discipline when you learn a couple strategies or techniques you tend to lean on them hard. You use those as your foundation. Over time you become more complex. That’s how it was for me. I realized there were things I relied on heavily in the beginning that no longer served me. As I got more mature and learned more, I realized I could do more. I could also sit back and make space for others to lead in areas that I didn’t need to lead in.
Not all organizers are built the same. “Some community organizers make very strategic relationships. Then there are organizers who are very people-centered and build relationships with a lot of different people. I tend to be the latter,” he said.
Civic Nebraska recently recognized Louis with its Strengthening Democracy award. His nominator, Claire Cornetta, described him as “a seasoned bridge-builder whose work reminds us that democracy is built at eye level, through relationships and accountability. His leadership demonstrates democracy isn’t abstract, it’s lived daily, in gardens, gyms, classrooms, streets, and neighborhoods.”
Omaha community organizer Kimara Snipes likes how Louis operates. “I admire his dedication to fairness and ability to remain calm and bring people together. I admire his helping people see the bigger picture and how they connect to the work. I admire his desire for fairness and equity and being the voice of reason. I admire his diplomacy and ability to give words to what many of us are often thinking but can’t really relay in the moment,” she said. “He has a way of being able to get our emotions and feelings understood by those who just don’t get it.”
In My Omaha we meet his wife, Nicole Louis, an author and life coach. Her ardent support is clearly on display. They’ve been there for each other through individual and collective struggles and journeys.
“When we met, we were both in a place of transition in our lives,” he said. “We both wanted more for ourselves as individuals. We started our relationship on the grounds of true friendship, not a boyfriend girlfriend thing. We started putting in place certain disciplines and regimens that we could grow up so that if we walked away from each other we could still keep those habits and behaviors that make us better people. We went to church together, we prayed together, we fasted together. She was committed and I was committed. That built trust in each other.”
As he shares in the film, he’s more optimistic than pessimistic about what a new generation of change agents can do:
We have the wisdom of them, the wisdom of now, and then we also have the energy of the future, the energy of those to come who can move this thing forward.
That’s what I’m excited about.
The Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center in Lincoln, NE is screening My Omaha December 12-21-25. Louis and Beaulieu will participate in a Dec. 21 panel.
Louis anticipates he will do more around My Omaha as new opportunities arise. “We’ll just see what’s next,” he said.
Individuals or organizations wishing to collaborate to make change can connect with him via Facebook or his website, www.visionarylion.com.
