Do the responses to Sadiq Khan’s posts on Twitter reflect the relationship between Muslims and non-muslims in today’s society?

It is well known that since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 in the United States, the 7/7 bombings in London and then, more recently, the murder of Lee Rigby in 2013, there has been rising racial tensions in the UK with many individuals that identify as Muslim being attacked on the streets and even more being harassed online (Awan and Zempi, 2016). Furthermore, with the emergence of Brexit in the UK, these tensions have become even worse within recent months. It was found by Feldman, Littler, Dack, and Copsey (2013) that at least 39% of the incidents of hate crime reported to Tell MAMA were online (cited in Awan, 2014). It has been reported that many MPs have been receiving abuse online in the wake of Brexit, with mainly the ones being targeted being Muslim or other faiths (Birchley, 2018). As twitter has become a popular way to post and share opinions on events in society there is no surprise that topics such as politics are discussed on this website, as even politicians themselves have Twitter accounts. This essay will explore the twitter account of Sadiq Khan, who is the Mayor of London and who identifies as Muslim, and the responses that he receives from his tweets. While there are many people that support the work that he does in London, there are many people that have problems with his policies, with many people making this known in the replies to his posts. Many of the people that have negatively replied to many of Sadiq Khan’s tweets are mainly Brexit supporters with United Kingdom and English flag Emoji’s in their usernames, suggesting that they see themselves as ‘British’ and would be against anything that was against this view.