Redheads have long had a rough go of it. According to a BBC News article, "Gingerphobia," ancient Egyptians "ritually buried redheaded men alive." In literature, redheaded characters are often feisty and aggressive, particularly in romance novels; Shannon Drake's "The Pirate Bride" sports a redheaded pirate queen. This trend also includes "redheaded" animals; in Anna Sewell's novel "Black Beauty," the horse "Ginger" was a coppery chestnut color and sported an ornery personality considered typical of redheads.
The "Ginger Kids" episode of "South Park" aired on November 9, 2005. In it, frequent antagonist Eric Cartman gives a report about redheads, whom he nicknames "ginger kids," suggesting they have a disease. The schoolchildren promptly ostracize the local redheads. Cartman's friends, tired of his antics, knock him out, dye his hair red and temporarily bleach his skin and give him the freckles characteristic of many redheads. Realizing he is now a minority, Cartman rallies the "ginger kids" and attempts to establish them as the dominant "race" in town.
Unfortunately, the show was taken seriously by many young teenagers. A Facebook group espousing "Kick a Ginger Day" encouraged users to beat up gingers on November 20, 2009. According to the "Los Angeles Times," three teenagers at a Los Angeles school were arrested in conjunction with the event, and the "Calgary Sun" reported that redheads at local schools were hit, teased and threatened. The BBC News indicated that a redheaded family in Newcastle was forced to move to alleviate the teasing and bullying their redheaded children receive.
The phrase continues to float around the Internet. A quick search of "ginger kids" brings up several images written in the "demotivational poster" style, with a picture of a redheaded child accompanied by derogatory text. Various websites devoted to curing "gingervitis" exist, and the Ginger Kids entry on Urban Dictionary describes them as "having no soul...they are creepy." Ginger kid videos run on YouTube, MySpace and Facebook.