Don’t Let the Bully Take Your Lunch Money: Abdul El-Sayed on Power, Pain, and a Michigan Movement

“Trump is not the disease of our politics—he’s just the worst symptom,” Abdul El-Sayed tells Detroit is Different, and from that line he builds a whole Michigan-rooted case for why progressives can’t just run against villains—they’ve got to run for people. In this deep, story-rich conversation, Abdul traces his Detroit foundation from an Egyptian father who “literally studied into existence the life I got to live” to a multiracial Michigan family that forced him to “explain myself to people my whole life,” and he connects that lived truth to organizing: the courage to face the bully, because “once you let them take your lunch money once you’re never going to eat lunch.” He breaks down public health as moral politics—“15 hours or 15 minutes” can mean a ten-year life expectancy gap—and calls out a system where CEOs get rich “while denying healthcare to people who they know need it.” From rebuilding Detroit’s health department (glasses vans outside schools) to refusing corporate money, Abdul lays out a liberal, progressive, activist spirit that echoes Michigan’s long tradition of labor, civil rights, and community-led power: “It’s not enough to say what you’re against—you got to say what you’re for.”