For the love of god, let People of Colour have their moment!
I remember there was this time, on a weekend when I had absolutely no social plans (thank gods), I was sitting in the comfort of my home, enjoying the rent I paid, mindlessly scrolling Instagram reels. I scrolled so hard that my feed stepped over multiple borders and landed in the neighbourhood of the “immigrant influencers”. They are generally the people from your home country, who moved abroad for various reasons – education, work or for their spouses. Their content covers a wide array of topics and issues revolving around the bane and boons of moving to a different country: language issues, different rules and laws of the land, cultural shocks, healthcare systems, cost of living and whatnot. There was this one influencer, working for a corporate firm who was saying “as one of the People of Colour, PoC, you’d need to work thrice as hard as a white person to be taken seriously.” As someone who had lived only in the country I was born in, I could not relate. In my prejudiced head, the logic was simple: you work hard and you get taken seriously. You’d think I’d know better after all these years in corporate. Fast forward, I moved abroad and started working for a European company. As much as I liked the work-life balance the European Corporate setting offered, it didn’t take me long to realize that the immigrant influencer was spot on.
Ask any person of colour who has been living abroad and they will tell you how difficult it is for them to prove themselves. They will tell you how many times they were passed over for a promotion, or were given mediocre pay rises. They will sing songs of how subtly, and in some other cases blatantly, the top tier opportunities were cleverly diverted away from them, leaving them with subpar tasks they would eventually have a tough time justifying during the performance appraisal cycle. It honestly breaks my heart when I think about how tough it can be for people of colour working frontline jobs—like at fast food counters or in retail stores. I’ve seen it with my own eyes: customers snapping, yelling, even throwing insults over something as small as a late meal. Just imagine—working long hours on your feet, only to be disrespected for things often out of your control. It’s a kind of everyday cruelty that too many choose to overlook. I had assumed it was bad only for us – people who work for someone. But, a recent event particularly caught my attention. Let’s talk about that: Norway Chess 2025 tournament, Round 6.
What happened?
19-year-old Indian Grandmaster D. Gukesh defeated Norwegian Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen (World Chess Champion from 2013 to 2023) in an intense match of Classical Chess, which is the OG game. Without getting into too much game technicality, the match started with Carlsen initially holding the advantage. However, a critical blunder by Carlsen allowed Gukesh to mount a comeback and secure the win. Now what followed has sparked the global debate.
The loss didn’t sit well with Carlsen. Without warning, Carlsen banged the table hard after the match ended, knocking pieces off to the floor. Though he shook Gukesh’s hand and gave him a pat on the back, the frustration was unmistakable. While Carlsen was busy with his theatrics, Gukesh sat in his chair with utmost composure and patience. Later he was also seen arranging the pieces that now were scattered across bearing the brunt of Carlsen’s anger. The moment was caught on video and posted by Norway Chess on X and TikTok. It quickly went viral.
But first some facts
Gukesh has been slowly rising to the top. He broke several records, two of them were Carlsen’s: Youngest Player to Reach 2750 Elo Rating and Youngest Undisputed World Chess Champion.
After Gukesh’s victory over Carlsen in the 2025 Norway Chess tournament, Carlsen said:
“He was blindly pushing… on a normal day, I win that game.”
Umm. Oooookay. The amount of sheer disdain in the tone is astonishing.
Now let’s talk about the blatant racism
…that Gukesh has silently suffered for being *drumrolls* the best.
Magnus is glorified for being late. Showing up in a pair of Jeans. So G.O.A.T. So Alpha.
Gukesh is criticised for showing up on time, for being well dressed for the occasion.
The Curry/Smell comments
They simply CANNOT let an Indian win without hurling abusive “curry” or “smell” comments.
Newspaper headlines
All this hatred – just because Gukesh won. Fair and Square. He cannot even have his moment? He cannot even celebrate one of his career’s biggest milestones?
I CANNOT even begin to comprehend the crass comments, vile racist remarks, and abuses if the roles were reversed – if Gukesh were the one who banged on the table. Carlsen was praised for “being passionate about the game”. His poor etiquette, his inability to display professionalism was glorified under the facade of “he cares so much about the game.”
But what if it were Gukesh? It would be then – well, pretty much the same racist comments with an exponential vile amount topped up by “no manners” rant. That is precisely the problem.
People of Colour, cannot simply win.
They could be the best of best in the room but there’s no winning. They could save the world, yet the world would find something to discredit them, their accomplishments solely on the basis of colour. There’s no happy ground for us on a global platform. No amount of achievement can ever be enough for us to be treated respectfully, to be taken seriously.
Speaks volumes about the society we live in. Screams multitudes about the mindsets we have around us.
Gukesh’s a 19 year old boy, who conducts himself so well, keeps himself composed, learns from his opponents, down to earth and makes India proud every single day. It’s a shame and tragedy that he is exposed to such racial scrutiny that it breaks my heart. If someone like him cannot be excused from the racial profiling, what chance do any of us, the common people of colour, have? Could we ever have a win without colour always taking the front seat row?
Alas, I don’t have an answer. I wish I did, but I do not.
But, I have got something I am leaving here without context.
ᖭི༏ᖫྀ
Namaste,
𝙰𝚒𝚝𝚌𝚑