U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has been reaching out to Black leaders and organizations in his effort to unify the Democratic ticket.
El-Sayed is running to defeat former Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers after finishing less than one percentage point ahead of U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Democratic primary election. The contentious race was a proxy battle for the direction of the party.
Though Stevens endorsed his campaign in the hours after being defeated, some in the moderate wing of the party are hesitant to support him.
Detroit Council member at-large Mary Waters was pictured with Rogers and his wife, Kristi, at Clique restaurant earlier this month. The meeting followed Waters’ criticism of the local Democratic Party after she said she was not invited to an official party unity breakfast earlier in the week.
Waters discussed the issue publicly on Charlie Langton’s Fox 2 program, “Detroit Talk City,” raising questions about why she was left out of a gathering intended to bring Democrats together.
It isn’t clear whether Waters or her colleagues who supported Stevens, including Scott Benson and Renata Miller, will endorse El-Sayed.
Facing Xenophobia
El-Sayed’s press conference on Aug. 19, at Spirit Plaza downtown, was interrupted by an older Black man, shouting, “He’s an Arab — he don’t care nothing about Black folks.”
In the days leading up to the primary Stevens herself had to distance herself from a comment made by a supporter about El-Sayed’s faith, caught by a Detroit News reporter.
“Miss Stevens, we know you’re gonna kick that Muslim’s butt,” a parishioner of Fellowship Chapel told Stevens.
“You know what, we’re here for Michigan,” Stevens said in response, attempting to deflect the comment.
“I know you are,” the African American man told Stevens from his car in the parking lot of the church. “But I don’t know about him.”
The tension between Detroit’s majority Black population and their non-Black Arab neighbors is coming to a head since the primary election. Many Metro Detroit Arab-American families who own small businesses and gas stations in predominantly Black urban areas live outside of the neighborhood. Black Detroiters have long said they feel like the dynamic is transactional.
“There’s been an effort to divide people against each other. Unfortunately you see the consequences of that, to tell us that some group or another group have to be counterposed because there’s not enough for all of us. I am Arab, but I’m also African,” El-Sayed told Michigan Chronicle. “My family immigrated to this country from Egypt. I’m proud of my African heritage. When people try to divide us based on identity or ethnicity, sometimes we miss the nuances that make us whole and make us human.”
El-Sayed identifying as an African is a comment he’s made before, but his remarks last week received blowback online.
“I am Egyptian American. I am both African and Arab. That’s what North Africa is,” El-Sayed said earlier this year in an interview with WDET.
Bridging the divide
El-Sayed was asked directly about the dynamic between Black customers and Arab gas station and liquor store owners at a campaign event on the city’s west side. Wayne County Black Democratic Caucus chair Frank D. Woods hosted El-Sayed in his backyard last week.
“For as long as I have been a public servant in this state I have long been trying lead a conversation in the Arab community about what it looks like to be partners in a community,” El-Sayed said. “Because here’s the thing about it. I also know that a lot of these communities, rightfully so, will stand up and claim racism when they’re being discriminated against. And part of me says, you should’ve done your reading. Whatever racism you think you’re facing pales in comparison to the structural racism that predominately Black communities face every single day.”
El-Sayed said immigrants were allowed into the country partly because of the advocacy of other minority communities, including Black Americans.
Woods told the Michigan Chronicle in an interview last week that El-Sayed lost the city of Detroit, “because of the lies and misconceptions that were put out about him,” Woods said in an interview with Michigan Chronicle.
Woods pointed to claims about comments El-Sayed made that were referenced in attack ads against him during the primary cycle involving former first lady Michelle Obama and former President Barack Obama.
“They said that he disrespected Michelle Obama. That was a misconception. Let’s put it that way. They said (Stevens) was endorsed by President Obama. That was a misconception, too. For some people, that was all they needed to hear. And that was not true. She never received his endorsement,” he said
“Demanding different”
Detroit City Council member Denzel McCampbell was at the meet and greet event at Woods’ house.
“It wasn’t a room of Abdul supporters, these were folks that were genuinely saying, ‘I want to see what you’re about,'” McCampbell said.
McCampbell, who also spoke at the press conference last week where El-Sayed was heckled, told Michigan Chronicle he believes El-Sayed’s pitch to Black voters is sincere.
“I think we’re in a moment where we have both parties have not delivered what Black folks need. When you throw that in the context of Arab Americans and Black folks in Detroit, that’s what’s bringing this issue to the forefront,” McCampbell said. “It’s a mixture of things that has folks feeling animosity. I think folks are sick and tired of being left out and having folks pander to them,” McCampbell said. “The Democratic Party has had its shortcomings. People are demanding different. At what point do we say we recognize the issue, and we need to actually solve it. Between Mike Rogers and Abdul, I have confidence Abdul will be a person to help these relationships and work to the needs of Black folks.”
Rogers held an event outside of a west siders home earlier this month with Democratic state Rep. Karen Whitsett.
“It is about finding common ground and building a better nation. The Democrat voters who feel their nominee doesn’t represent them in their values, all hope is not lost,” Rogers said. “I’m not asking you to be a Republican. I’m asking you for the opportunity to earn your trust. Michigan deserves a senator who will sit down, whether you voted for me or not, and will listen to you.”
Rogers was speaking at a press conference outside of the Detroit home of Whitsett’s mother-in-law, who said she’s supporting his campaign.
“Mike Rogers is pandering for our votes,” McCampbell said. “Thinking they can show up to a rap concert or a front lawn and say Democrats are for me. That’s just not the case. You voted to strip healthcare, strip us from our school system. It’s important to scrutinize everyone’s record no matter what party they are from.”
