I realize you look like a bad sport when you complain that “South Park” goes after you. But it’s not like I’m Kanye West or something. I’m just an ordinary college student trying to figure out what to do with his life. And I have a soul. Seriously, where did that even come from?

Ever since Cartman organized a movement in opposition to “gingers” in a 2005 episode of the Comedy Central series, people have found it hilarious to mock fair-skinned redheads with freckles. My guess is that it’s due to a mix of jealousy and boredom, but I digress.

If you were a redhead, it was suddenly your defining characteristic.

“In high school I had a bet with my friends to see if they could go a whole day without calling me a ginger. They never won,” said Shannon Herkert, junior in Education and a fellow redhead.

This didn’t die down in a few months — Herkert and I both get called gingers all the time.

Before high school, the only people who commented on my hair were old ladies, and old ladies love little kids with red hair (Herkert discovered the same thing as a kid). Then people were discussing whether I was a full on ginger or a “daywalker” (someone with red hair but no freckles), and our tendency to get sunburn had become a fatal sunlight allergy (yes, like vampires). For the record, it was quickly decided that I am a full-on ginger.

There’s actually a pretty small number of jokes you can make about the color of someone’s hair, so people eventually branch out into jokes about the Irish. Yes, I enjoy beer. No, I actually only have one sibling. At least when Herkert’s friend asked her what the potato famine was like, he showed off some historical knowledge.

Maybe people just don’t understand the difficulty that comes with being a ginger. If I wear a green shirt in public, I’m at risk of being compared to the Irish flag. When everyone changes their Facebook pictures to their celebrity doppleganger, my only choices are Rupert Grint or that redhead from “The Sandlot” (I was definitely not going with Carrot Top).

It’s a rough life, and jokes about the corned beef and cabbage don’t help.

You’d think people would be nicer to us, considering we’re a dying breed. According to National Geographic, redheads are a global minority.

Herkert agrees that people should be more respectful because of our looming extinction.

“I always say that people should honor me because I’m rare,” she said.

But that doesn’t stop her friends from referring to her as the token ginger. Again, I really think people who mock redheads are just jealous. Red hair doesn’t just look awesome: It has practical benefits.

“Whenever I’m at concerts or somewhere with a big crowd, it’s really easy for my friends to find me,” Herkert said.

Good luck finding your friends when you get lost at the basketball game, blondes.

Hopefully, things will start to go our way. I mean, Emma Stone and Louis C.K. are pretty popular, and maybe as redheads get rarer and rarer, the haters will realize they really do like us. Maybe we’ll even live to see a ginger president! So stay strong, redheads — our day in the sun is still coming. But when it does, use SPF 30 at the very least.

Kevin is a senior in LAS.