Sunday 23 November 2008

Facebook 'Kick a Ginger' campaign prompts attacks on redheads

From The Telegraph:
The teenager behind a "Kick a Ginger" group on Facebook is being investigated by police after reports of attacks on redhead children.

Nearly 5,000 people joined the online campaign which urged members to "get them steel toes ready" for a day of booting this week.

The website appears to have been inspired by a recent episode of the cartoon South Park, in which a young character called Cartman describes people with red hair as evil and soulless.

Dozens of children left messages on the page claiming to have carried out attacks on "National Kick a Ginger Day" on Thursday, and a girl in Alberta, Canada claimed that she and her 13-year-old sister were punched and kicked by pupils at their school.
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A quick search of FaceBook for the 'Kick a Ginger' group only results in anti-Kick a Ginger groups. It seems the original group has been taken down.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The group exists unfortunately still. Now it is called”National Kick a ginger day”.

The person behind this should be arrested…

toshtensen said...

As a redhead I was teased throughout my childhood and had to respond to many taunts even into college - including "prove you are a REAL redhead" from frat boys and asked if redheads were as promiscuous as those in the Land of Whynums (sp) in "Gullivers Travels" from a high school teacher. While "attacks" were never physical - anyone with a feature that is perceived as different receives taunts. Hopefully they have strong support at home and can work through it, but we cannot "outlaw" ignorance. So we need to deal with it through compassion, understanding and education.