"People don't understand the powerlessness it can cause."
ABOUT KISH.
Kish is a football content creator, creating in depth
analysis videos about Tottenham Hotspur. Growing up he
was always football obsessed, whether it was playing in
his youth, to media creation, Kish lives and breathes the
beautiful game.
Living in Hackney and going to school in Camden, Kish
has embraced living in one of the most culturally diverse
areas of the country. However, it's not in person Kish
has faced and continues to face discrimination, but online.
'I'm half-Indian, my dad was a refugee. My first experience
of racism was a post about Manor Solomon and the genocide
in Palestine - which Solomon has denied. I made a post and
it blew up whilst I was out with friends. I remember looking
at the replies and people were calling me racial slurs.'
When asked about a particular incident that upset him the
most, Kish said: 'There was a few people on a Twitter space
(call) and I could hear them saying racist things about me
using my name. People took their frustrations of the team
out on me. It's really difficult when you feel like you
don't have any power to take action.'
'Elon Musk, X and the Amplification of Islamophobia in the UK'
which was posted on the Center for the Study of Organised
Hate states that of the 1208 posts the CSOH analysed in
January 2025, racist posts promoting hatred towards Muslims,
Pakistani men and other South-Asian countries accounted to
53.81% of posts - with the majority linking entire races
and cultures to UK grooming gangs.
Kish has also had first-hand experience with this rise in
Islamophobia and racism, despite not disclosing where he
was from or his beliefs. He said: 'I didn't realise how many
people were actually racist in this country, that's become
visible to me because X pushes it so much. He (Elon Musk)
pushes right-wing stuff all the time. That's a scary thought
for someone like me to feel that hatred for no reason, it's
scary especially more so for my family who don't look white,
I often get away with it because people perceive me to be white.
I've noticed a shift online in the last year or so 100%.'
'People fail to understand it's the powerlessness that can
cause and the internalised things that get caused from it.
When I face it, it makes me worry about my people that look
like me or from the same place. It's not as simple as a comment
you can delete or block because those comments leave marks'
Kish added.
From what we can learn based off of Kish's personal experiences,
racism has shifted. Before racism was showcased in person,
on the streets and was widely accepted. But now whilst physical
environments have improved, racists have become secretive,
sneaky, hiding behind faceless X accounts controlled by an
owner who believes in complete freedom to make offensive remarks.
Whilst freedom of speech is essential in modern society, much
has to be done to prevent the unsought slander of an entire
race, religion or culture.
