The "Gingers Are Black Now" Trend Is Dividing People on TikTok

If you've ever been on TikTok for any length of time, you're probably aware that it's a platform filled with ideas. Some of these ideas are brilliant, some are stupid, and that's part of why watching videos on TikTok is so enjoyable.

One idea that's been circulating on the platform lately stems from the phrase "gingers are Black now." If you want to better understand what that means and why it's suddenly everywhere, we've got you covered. Here's what we know.

The trend is, mostly lightheartedly, pointing out all the ways that gingers and Black people are treated similarly by the people around them. People are saying that gingers are "the Black people of white people," essentially saying that they face a lot of the same micro-aggressions but don't face anywhere near the same level of racism or oppression as Black people do in America.

In videos that are part of this trend, users point out that gingers are, for example, very likely to hear from strangers about other redheads that they know. There's also a desire among other white people to touch red hair in the same way that some people insist on touching Black hair.

On Reddit, some users have even said that Black women were the first people to teach them how to manage their curly red hair.

"When I was a kid, I had super curly, coarse, bright red hair," one person wrote. "A Black woman was the first lady to show me how to take care of it and tell me that it was pretty. It was totally unprompted, too — I was like 15 and alone in a Walmart trying to find shampoo and conditioner. My hair was always super frizzy since I would brush it dry, and this woman saved me. She like literally had me come to her house with my dad and showed me how to do my hair 😭 I love her for that."

The trend also includes things like people wanting to know what country they're from, a thing that both Black people and redheads face that is unique to them.

In essence, this is really just an opportunity for many people with red hair to vent all their frustrations about the way they're treated by the broader culture of America, including discrimination and fetishization.

Although some Black people have taken part in the trend, the phrase is really just a shorthand to explain all the ways in which redheads are looked down upon by other white people and all the subtle ways they're treated similarly to Black people.

It's important to note that there are very few people participating in this trend who genuinely think that redheads face anywhere near the same level of discrimination. Still, discrimination is discrimination, and now all of the redheads on TikTok are taking the time to call it out.