Late Comedian’s Famous Joke About How Racism Keeps Poor People Divided Resonates Now More Than Ever

Systemic racism is an undeniable reality, but it also functions as a means of diverting people’s attention from another serious issue: the widening class divide. Right now on YouTube Shorts, the late comedian Ralphie May is going viral for his comedy bit that points out how racism plays a part in keeping poor communities from banding together to tackle the issue of wealth inequality within the United States.

“Racism in this country is a hologram. It’s a tool used by the powers that be to keep us, the populace, looking at each other instead of looking up and seeing what they’re doing,” he began.

Explaining further, May joked that white folks get paranoid that Black people could harm their children, while Black folks in return always have conspiracies about white folks.

“White people: Don’t go over there, they’re stealing white babies. Oh Lord, Jesus, stay away from those Black people. Black people gon’ get you. And Black folks, y’all are the same. ‘Those cracker ass white people, they’re putting stuff in chicken, that’ll make your junk fall off.’”

As the audience howled at May’s jokes, he added that the real issue where he grew up wasn’t racism, but poverty.

“Where I grew up in Arkansas, there was no Black or white, we’re all broke. What’s your color? Poor. When you eat your cereal out of a Cool Whip bowl stained with spaghetti sauce, does it really matter if you’re Black or you’re white?”

While May delivered the topic with a humorous tone that no doubt had folks cracking up, his words continue to ring true. This year, the United States has hit its widest wealth inequality gap in three decades. According to CBS, the top 1% of U.S. households own 31.7% of all U.S. wealth.

Part of this divide is due to the growth of the stock market, in which affluent households tend to put their investments. Middle-income households put most of their investments in the property market, which has been victim to slow growth, and lower-income households tend to struggle with debt repayments, according to CBS.

Notable Black activists have also pointed this truth out for decades. In 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. announced the Poor People’s Campaign, which would work to address wealth inequality in America. And in 2021, the Rev. William Barber—the current co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign—told The Root that racial categories were fabricated to keep the elite wealthy and keep poor folks bickering.

“The category of race was created to keep Black and white poor folk and low-wealth folk from coming together like they did in Bacon’s Rebellion to challenge the wealthy elite,” he stated.

Though Barber acknowledged that systemic racism is a problem, one way to start beating it is to form a strong class allyship and to vote for the betterment of all.

“As Dr. King said, the goal of suppression has been to keep the masses of poor and low-wealth people—Black, brown and whites—from coming together and voting in a way that could change the economic architecture of the nation.”