Responses to Paul Ryan’s Comments on Inner-City Poverty
Responses to Paul Ryan’s Comments on Inner-City Poverty Lyrics
Ricky: My name is Ricky, I live here in uh... Racine. I have been in Racine for 51 years.
Eric: My name is Eric, I live in Racine.
Anne Sevino: My name is Anne Sevino and I'm from Racine, Wisconsin.
Johnny Conley: My name is Johnny Conley and I'm from Racine, Wisconsin.
Mercedes Denzelletta: I'm Mercedes Denzelletta and I live in the heart of Racine.
Text on screen: Rep Paul Ryan (R-WI) recently blamed poverty on men "in our inner cities" who were too lazy to work. ThinkProgress traveled to Ryan's district to ask people in the inner city about his comments.
Ricky: He's... he's not in touch with reality, you know? He get out here and see what's going on, everything is being shipped overseas, companies shutting down. You know, I had a company shut down on me about six or seven years ago.
Interviewer: That you were working at?
Ricky: That I was working at. So, to make a statement like that, you understand, is uh... uh... it's totally out of order.
Johnny: As far as poverty is concerned, being (not understandable) individuals and stuff can't do different jobs and things like that, or they can't better themselves because of poverty, I think that is a mistake in our conception.
Anne: For him to say "young inner city" to me um... sounds like it's racially motivated, that he's talking about young black men. And I happen to know hundreds of them that work every single day and still live in poverty, and I believe that it's the government's responsibility to raise the minimum wage. Nobody can live off of $7.00 and some change an hour, myself included, who happens to live below the poverty line.
Ricky: We got a lot of individuals trying to find work for sickness, like myself. It's hard to find a job, and I'm out here every day looking for employment.
Mercedes: I think he's wrong, uh... when he talks about those men, he doesn't even go talk to those men. He doesn't know what they do.
Eric: My name is Eric, I live in Racine.
Anne Sevino: My name is Anne Sevino and I'm from Racine, Wisconsin.
Johnny Conley: My name is Johnny Conley and I'm from Racine, Wisconsin.
Mercedes Denzelletta: I'm Mercedes Denzelletta and I live in the heart of Racine.
Text on screen: Rep Paul Ryan (R-WI) recently blamed poverty on men "in our inner cities" who were too lazy to work. ThinkProgress traveled to Ryan's district to ask people in the inner city about his comments.
Ricky: He's... he's not in touch with reality, you know? He get out here and see what's going on, everything is being shipped overseas, companies shutting down. You know, I had a company shut down on me about six or seven years ago.
Interviewer: That you were working at?
Ricky: That I was working at. So, to make a statement like that, you understand, is uh... uh... it's totally out of order.
Johnny: As far as poverty is concerned, being (not understandable) individuals and stuff can't do different jobs and things like that, or they can't better themselves because of poverty, I think that is a mistake in our conception.
Anne: For him to say "young inner city" to me um... sounds like it's racially motivated, that he's talking about young black men. And I happen to know hundreds of them that work every single day and still live in poverty, and I believe that it's the government's responsibility to raise the minimum wage. Nobody can live off of $7.00 and some change an hour, myself included, who happens to live below the poverty line.
Ricky: We got a lot of individuals trying to find work for sickness, like myself. It's hard to find a job, and I'm out here every day looking for employment.
Mercedes: I think he's wrong, uh... when he talks about those men, he doesn't even go talk to those men. He doesn't know what they do.
Eric: I wouldn't necessarily pinpoint inner city men, I mean that's kind of being stereotypical and judgmental towards some certain people.
Interviewer: What do you think he meant by inner city men?
Eric: Well, the first thing that comes to my mind is minorities, I mean I'm a minority, I'm in the inner city.
Anne: I think they were very inappropriate. I think he needs to do a little more research before he talks about things like that.
Interviewer: What do you think he meant by inner city men?
Eric: Well, the first thing that comes to my mind is minorities, I mean I'm a minority, I'm in the inner city.
Anne: I think they were very inappropriate. I think he needs to do a little more research before he talks about things like that.
About
Genius Annotation
On March 12th during the Bill Bennett’s Morning in America radio show, Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) prefaced his upcoming budgetary reforms by talking about poverty in inner cities in Wisconsin.
ThinkProgress, a liberal American political blog, took to the streets of Racine, Wisconsin to talk directly to “inner city men” that Ryan accused of being lazy and having a culture of unemployment.
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