Every time I get my hair cut I am told how beautiful my hair is and how much every woman who dyes her hair wants my color. I am told to be proud of my hair color and never change it. Because I am rare. I am a redhead.
We stand out in the crowd. When someone in the hall yells “hey red!” I turn around. It’s my defining feature, the one everyone notices and always remembers.
People began referring to us as “gingers,” a name that belongs to a kitchen spice not a human being. But wait, oh yeah, I forgot, according to you guys, we’re not human. Apparently we have no soul.
How did this all get started anyway? Who came up with the idea in the first place? South Park aired an episode called “Gingervitus” as a parody on racism, but started something all in itself with the gingers have no souls idea. Great, so we get bullied because of a TV show. Because that makes logical sense. Everything on TV must be true of course.
Within the past few months, the criticism has really intensified. I can’t go anywhere without hearing some sort of “ginger joke.” Not even church. Many of my friends are in on it. I even get it from people I don’t even know.
You may think it’s all fun and games. I can name off the top of my head a list of people that will read this and think “gosh don’t take it so seriously, we’re just kidding.” But think about it. Would you like to be shot down all the time and told you don’t matter because of your hair color? Oh right and the whole time that the “ginger jokes” are being cracked, everyone in the room is laughing and there’s nothing you can do about it. Anything you say gets turned into another joke.
And why do the redheads get to be made fun of freely? It’s no different than attacking someone for their religion, appearance, ethnicity, or any other characteristic. So I’m calling out to everyone who’s ever been made fun of for being black or a Jew or overweight or unpopular. You know what it feels like to be judged and unfairly attacked by cruel jokes.
Some people can make fun of others all day, but when someone says something about them, the fun’s over. So don’t put others down for your own amusement. Maybe once or twice cracking a “ginger” joke is funny, but don’t keep beating a dead horse. If it gets to where you’re constantly ragging on the redheads around you, it’s too much.
Having red hair is a privilege. We reds make up only 6% of the U.S. population. Be proud of your hair color and skin tone. Be proud to be a redhead.