--- title: Paul Ryan Explains What Happens When He Visits Urban Black Communities description: Paul Ryan talks about his new book, the riots in Ferguson, and what campaign fundraisers can learn from the Ice Bucket Challenge. canonical: https://time.com/3151010/paul-ryan-ferguson/ author: Belinda Luscombe article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-21T12:51:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T08:58:08.515Z article:section: Politics og:title: Paul Ryan Explains What Happens When He Visits Urban Black Communities og:description: Paul Ryan talks about his new book, the riots in Ferguson, and what campaign fundraisers can learn from the Ice Bucket Challenge. og:url: https://time.com/3151010/paul-ryan-ferguson/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13a771c1e0439216/6986a054e53aba57f34d41a1/paul-ryan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3960 og:image:height: 2228 og:image:alt: Ryan Backs More Robust Air Strikes to Turn Back Islamic State og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Paul Ryan Explains What Happens When He Visits Urban Black Communities twitter:description: Paul Ryan talks about his new book, the riots in Ferguson, and what campaign fundraisers can learn from the Ice Bucket Challenge. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13a771c1e0439216/6986a054e53aba57f34d41a1/paul-ryan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Paul Ryan Explains What Happens When He Visits Urban Black Communities > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=96363417-e37d-4d25-b446-78f9335d26cd&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Paul Ryan Explains What Happens When He Visits Black Urban Neighborhoods [Watch (HLS stream): Paul Ryan Explains What Happens When He Visits Black Urban Neighborhoods](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7yEsXpQG.m3u8) (2:49)  _Published 2014-08-21. Paul Ryan talks about his new book, the riots in Ferguson, and what campaign fundraisers can learn from the Ice Bucket Challenge._  by [Belinda Luscombe](https://time.com/author/belinda-luscombe/)  ## Belinda Luscombe Editor at Large Aug 21, 2014 12:51 PM UTC  by [Belinda Luscombe](https://time.com/author/belinda-luscombe/)  ## Belinda Luscombe Editor at Large Aug 21, 2014 12:51 PM UTC Congressman Paul Ryan, who has been spending some time in the last 18 months visiting urban black neighborhoods, says that he’s often the first Republican the people he talks to there have ever met. Ryan, who came to TIME’s office to do an interview for the magazine’s 10 Questions page about his book _The Way Forward_, says that folks are excited to see him mostly because he’s listening to them. When asked if his experiences in urban neighborhoods had given him any insight to what’s happening in Ferguson, he sounded [a few words of caution](http://time.com/3145262/paul-ryan-dont-rush-to-judgment-on-ferguson/) about rushing to judgment. “I think it’s important to be respectful of what’s happened,” he says, “and try to get to the truth and let the investigation takes its hold.” He also believes that when people think poverty is a problem the government takes care of, they don’t get involved and it isolates poor communities. “And so the way I think we ought to approach this is, we’d better be thinking about how to fight poverty eye-to-eye, soul-to-soul, person-to-person and reintegrate our communities instead of isolating people in our communities,” says Ryan. Shifting gears, the former vice presidential candidate said that no further investigation of the President’s attempts at health care reform is necessary. Ryan thinks the health care legislation will collapse under its own weight. “I do believe that we will ultimately repeal this law,” he says of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. “And the reason I say that is not because I’m just some optimistic person who’s naive. It’s because I think this law will implode.” Ryan takes particular issue with the IPAB (Independent Payment Advisory Board), the committee set up to manage Medicare costs. “I don’t think people on Medicare will sit with the idea of 15 unelected bureaucrats determining how their care is going to be allocated.” Elsewhere in the interview, the Wisconsin congressman declared that—despite putting out a book explaining his background and his policies in quite meticulous detail—he hasn’t decided if he’s going to make a run at the presidency and won’t until 2015\. In the meantime, he’s offered up his proposals for immigration reform: secure the border, offer trackable work visas and then give current illegal immigrants a probationary period to become legal, while working. He also revealed that whenever there’s a stressful meeting that John Boehner’s leading, he tries to sit way on the other side of the room. Boehner’s a stress-smoker and says Ryan, “I just hate getting that smell in my clothes.” Good to know. [Subscribers can read the full interview here](http://time.com/3153350/10-questions-with-paul-ryan/). ## Transcript The American idea. Can you, I know you've written a whole book about it, but can you, in a few words, explain exactly what the American idea is? Easily. The condition of your birth doesn't determine the outcome of your life. And that's a great idea. It's where the Irish came, where the Australians came, we're, we're, we're the land of opportunity and my concern is that we're starting to lose a little bit. Little bit of that. And so, the purpose of this book is to basically explain, what do we need to do to get it back? So, I understand you've been spending some time in some, black urban neighborhoods. What is the typical reaction of an, of a guy in those neighborhoods when a white, Republican congressman comes to see them? They're happy to see me. They're excited. They haven't seen a Republican for many years. Many of them haven't known a Republican. And the reason they're happy, to see me, and I've been doing this around the country for the last year and a half, is because I wanna learn from them. I wanna hear what. What they're going through, but I also want to hear how they're successfully beating back poverty. Has any has anything that you've learned there given you any insight into what's going on in Ferguson and why? Well I think it's early. It's a horrible tragedy. And the way I look at this is, I don't think it's smart to jump to pre- judging conclusions before evidence is in. Before justice is served. But there are clearly some, some, some real deep seated problems, and the best way to fix these problems is to listen to people and, and engage with people. So Rand Paul has suggested that we need to demilitarize the police. Would you agree with that? I, I don't exactly know what he means when he says that. Is that. Well you see them, they're turned out in their riot gear. Are police tactics, do they need to be reviewed, that's something we should look at it, when the dust settles in all of this. But the rush to judgement with some broad brush assessment on all law enforcement tactics with respect to this particular incidence, I think it's a little premature to do that. Is the fight to repeal Obamacare over? No, I do believe that we will hopefully repeal this law. I don't believe that the IPAV will succeed in, in Medicare, because I don't think people on Medicare will sit with the idea of 15 unelected bureaucrats determining how their care is to be allocated. I guess finally I wanna ask is are you getting any great fundraising ideas from the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge? It's a great idea. It's a fantastic, and they've raised millions of dollars because of this. It's for, ALS. Well you could do something for you. If you wanna do the ice bucket challenge, I've already done it so. No, I, I could nominate you. Yeah, no, I've been nominated and I knew you done it already or I would have challenged you right here, but I, I mean to raise funds for you. You're gonna have to run, you're gonna need some money. So I should do my own ice bucket challenge? Well maybe you could do like, the scalding water challenge, or Yeah, something tells me that that might not be that popular. Congressman Ryan, thank you so much. 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