Editors’ Note: This feature appears as it was published in the summer 2021 edition of UT Dallas Magazine. Titles or faculty members listed may have changed since that time.
Nifa Kaniga
A literature senior at The University of Texas at Dallas who was frustrated by the toxic rhetoric on social media launched a campaign last summer to engage people in face-to-face conversations about race.
Nifa Kaniga took to the streets for a week from noon to sunset in his mostly white and conservative community of Dripping Springs, Texas. He wore a sign that read “Ask Me Anything” and “Make Yourself Uncomfortable.”
The response was “very, very positive,” Kaniga said.
“I was trying to give people an opportunity to learn rather than stay in the echo chamber that supports only what they believe,” he said. “There’s a lot of misinformation on social media. People hide behind their screens and post nasty comments about Black Lives Matter. And the other side responds with ‘That’s racist,’ or ‘That’s ignorant. Shame on you!’ People are a lot more behaved when you can talk to them in person.”
Kaniga grew up exposed to differences in how people think. He was raised in California, attended middle school in New Jersey and completed high school in Dripping Springs, where his parents still live.
His interest in learning how to engage people and understand different perspectives is one reason he chose UT Dallas and its School of Art and Humanities. When he visited campus, he liked what he saw: a pretty campus, close proximity to a metropolitan area, a diverse student population and plenty of skateboarding – a hobby he’s loved since second grade.
He credits his high school teacher and mentor Travis Crain, who had taught creative writing classes and put him in charge of the school’s literary magazine, for inspiring his career path of becoming a literature teacher.
“Our personalities just synergized. He taught me writing, leadership and how to finish that last year of high school well,” Kaniga said.
His favorite genres are science fiction and fantasy, and he ranks Fahrenheit 451, The Maze Runner and The Giver as among his favorite books. But he also loves classic literary fiction as well.
“I find it fascinating to explore different cultures over time. Literature, for me, is a way to study the human experience – what it is to be human. I find that to be very beautiful. You have to be able to understand how different people think. It’s motivated me to be a teacher even more,” Kaniga said.
He especially wants to encourage young people to close their screens and take up the “lost art” of reading.
“We’ve forgotten how to do that. Social media is easy to digest, and it’s a passive experience. You have to think harder when you’re reading a book,” Kaniga said.
“I just want people to have these uncomfortable conversations. It we don’t talk about it, we won’t have empathy for one another, and we won’t move forward together.”
Nifa Kaniga
His desire to engage people in critical thinking and more authentic conversation prompted his decision to take to the streets last summer after the death of George Floyd and reaction to mass protests across the country.“George Floyd was the straw that broke the camel’s back for everybody. I just wanted to do my part,” he said.
No questions were off limits for Kaniga. The Black Lives Matter movement, in particular, raised questions from those in his community. To encourage conversation, his sign included starter questions like “Why are people angry and rioting?” and “Why is everything about race?”
“It’s a platform to raise awareness of police brutality,” Kaniga explained to neighbors and passersby. “You can’t chastise anyone. It only makes them more ignorant. But after we talk, a lot will end up saying, ‘I never thought of it that way.’”
Kaniga’s unorthodox approach to engaging strangers in conversation around race issues garnered national media attention, as local television reports were carried by CNN. He shrugs off the extra attention.
“It’s been pretty interesting. I’ve seen a very rapid increase in followers on social media — I have about 25,000 on Instagram now. But I’m still me at the end of the day,” Kaniga said. What was more gratifying was the response from people he met on the street.
“People of different political ideologies and races were coming over and having a discussion with me, and I was hearing them out. Most people are more confused and scared than angry, and this type of conversation pops that bubble they’re living in,” Kaniga said.
Kaniga said the summertime experience helped him gain skills in de-escalating a conversation around polarizing topics, not mirroring confrontational behavior and not becoming defensive. It also confirmed something he had always believed.
“People respond positively to a good conversation, even if it doesn’t change their mind,” he said. “The way we go about these conversations is more important than the conversation itself. Showing humility and respect is definitely something I will take with me in the future.
“I just want people to have these uncomfortable conversations. If we don’t talk about it, we won’t have empathy for one another, and we won’t move forward together.”
