Orchestrating A New Whiteness

A TikTok joke about redheads points toward the possibility of a less toxic white identity.

Titus Kaphar. “Sacrifice” (Diptych), 2011. Oil on canvas, 73 x 52 x 2 1/2 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York ©Titus Kaphar.

In May 2025, a TikTok video by creator @deiaratherootworker sparked what might seem, at first, like a throwaway cultural moment. “All gingers are Black people,” she declared—half-joking, wholly provoc…