May 17, 2025
‘Gingers Are The New Black’: Black People And Redheads Bond Over Shared Struggles In Viral Trend
While the trend has sparked solitary, some caution that at the 'end of the day, a white ginger is white, which carries with it all the privileges, perspectives, and experiences common with being white.'
A hot take on TikTok has transformed into expressions of solidarity between Black people and redheaded white people, commonly referred to as gingers, on social media. From the outside, the solidarity appears somewhat bizarre; the unity is borne of a shared experience of oppression due to physical features neither group controls.
According to Newsweek, after a creator on TikTok asserted that “Everyone who is ginger, who has red hair; those are Black people. All gingers are Black people. If they have red hair, they are Black,” the idea quickly swept across social media, in a manner similar to the discourse that all genders are Black women.
Shamar Dickens, a 33-year-old Black creator from Atlanta, told Newsweek that he has connected with many redheads who have shared their stories of ostracization or mistreatment with him, which caused him to think deeper about how other white people treat gingers and how white people, more broadly, treat Black people.
“There were so many of them with very much similar stories about their childhood and upbringing, which is what shaped my view on this. Gingers are definitely the Black people of the white community, especially after hearing of their history and their hardships,” Dickens said.
He continued, “As a Black person myself, and how I feel about this, I’m looking at this from a different angle! There’s so much negativity in the world and even more division in the world also. I’m loving this because it’s producing so much positivity and love.”
According to Dr. Ty Redden, assistant professor of urban planning at the University of Toronto, the trend touches on the historical treatment of the Irish (who are often redheads) when they first emigrated to America and had to earn their whiteness, because they weren’t seen as white people initially, there was solidarity with Black people who were dealing with oppression.
“The trend is referencing the historic marginalization of ‘gingers,’ a phenotype highly associated with the Irish. The treatment of the Irish, particularly at the hands of the British, is well documented, and their discrimination continued well into American colonization. This historically created solidarity between the African-American and Irish populations,” Rodden told the outlet.
Redden also cautioned that the trend on TikTok has already backfired, in part because some of the gingers have accepted what it means to be white in America.
“Instead of referencing the ways in which gingers have been treated, e.g., being deemed either unattractive (aimed at men) or fetishized (in the case of women), some videos have devolved into co-opting Black cultural expressions in order for the creators to demonstrate their ‘Blackness,’” Redden said.
“It was a Black creator who highlighted the ways that gingers are mistreated and it’s unfortunate to have that turn into an opportunity to disrespect African American traditions,” Redden noted.
Melanie Preston, a licensed mental health therapist at Matter of Focus Counseling, echoed Redden’s criticism and said it is somewhat naïve to flatten the distinct historical experiences of two people groups for likes and shares or other digital currency.
“Comparing being a redhead to being Black might feel edgy or even affirming to some, but it’s a false equivalence. Redheads may face teasing—Black people have faced generations of systemic, legalized oppression. Borrowing Black pain to validate other struggles doesn’t build solidarity—it erases context. It’s one thing to build solidarity; it’s another to borrow struggle for clout,” Preston said.
Connor, a 27-year-old redhead content creator who often creates satirical videos, told the outlet that he understands the seriousness of the parallels between Black folks and redheads despite the overall “unserious nature” of the trend.
“Growing up, I was defined by my hair, bullied for it, stereotyped for it,” Connor told Newsweek. “That ‘othering’ is something I now know is a shared experience.”
He also acknowledged that white gingers are still white, which means they have certain advantages that Black people will never receive in the United States.
“At the end of the day, a white ginger is white, which carries with it all the privileges, perspectives, and experiences common with being white. We will never truly be able to compare our experiences with the average Black person, but we can empathize, support, love, and stand in solidarity because of that overlap. This is a moment where two groups of ‘othered’ people can come together and embrace each other with compassion, camaraderie, and a healthy dose of unseriousness that leaves all of us feeling closer and appreciated without becoming caricatures or trying to imitate one another,” Connor told Newsweek.
