Described by GQ as an “American Muslim who works in communities for social justice,” Nessa Diab is extremely proud of her heritage. Speaking on the Guy Code podcast in 2014, she revealed she was “raised in Southern California,” but, before that, she spent time in Saudi Arabia after her dad’s job transferred them there. Opening up about the realities of living through the Gulf War and often seeing disastrous attacks around her, she recounted, “When 9/11 happened, it didn’t surprise me at all,” explaining, “This is what we went through, probably, every couple months.” Which, of course, likely didn’t make things any less scary.
Since returning to the United States, Diab has repeatedly slammed social injustices against Muslims. When Alton Sterling was killed by two police officers in 2016, she wrote on Instagram, “Don’t let this ‘system’ now criminalize Alton Sterling to help justify these coward actions by the police. They will try and they will also try to discredit the store owner’s account of what occurred because he’s Muslim and we know Islamaphobia is at an all time high in this country.”
She’s also made it a point to educate her boyfriend about her religion. Kaepernick told the The Washington Post in 2016 that “the impact [of dating Nessa] is just conversations that we constantly have.” He elaborated, “She is Muslim. Her family is Muslim, I have great respect for them.”
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