00:01USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
00:09Who come to try to disrupt these conversations, they want to distract us from the issues at play.
00:16The question of whether or not you can come to a public university and afford your education.
00:21The question of whether or not you can breathe clean air or drink clean water.
00:26The question of whether or not one job is going to be enough in these United States of America.
00:31I cannot tell you how incredible it is to be with all of you here in Wayne State.
00:36And I've got to be honest with you, this is where my family's immigration story starts.
00:47Because my father immigrated to this country back...
00:58USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
01:12USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
01:14USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
01:15USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
01:17USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
01:18USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA
01:23USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA.
02:03I appreciate you all.
02:04Listen, at the end of the day, the beautiful thing about America is we've got the freedom
02:08of our speech.
02:10And more often than not, and more often than not, folks who come to try to disrupt these
02:18conversations, they want to distract us from the issues at play.
02:23The question of whether or not you can come to a public university and afford your education,
02:28the question of whether or not you can breathe clean air or drink clean water, the question
02:33of whether or not one job is going to be enough in these United States of America.
02:37So we welcome anybody to come and ask questions, but don't be surprised when we remind you that
02:43America is a lot bigger than you are.
02:46All right, y'all, money out of?
02:49Money in your?
02:50Money.
02:51Medicare for?
02:52All.
02:53One more time, even louder.
02:54Money out of?
02:55Policy.
02:56Money in your?
02:57Money.
02:58Medicare for?
02:59All.
03:00Can we hear it for all of our incredible speakers here?
03:06And can we give it up for our incredible fighting members of the AFT?
03:15And the folks who make our government work, the incredible members of AFSCME, and the folks
03:22who make sure that going to college means you actually learn something, the AAUP.
03:29I cannot tell you how incredible it is to be with all of you here in Wayne State.
03:34I've got to be honest with you, this is where my family's immigration story starts.
03:43Because my father immigrated to this country back USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA,
04:08USA, USA, USA, USA, USA.
04:17USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
04:35USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
04:37USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
04:37USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
04:38USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
04:38USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA
04:49Abdul, Abdul, Abdul, Abdul, Abdul, Abdul, Abdul, Abdul, Abdul, Abdul, Abdul, Abdul, Abdul.
05:01I appreciate you all.
05:02Listen.
05:03At the end of the day, the beautiful thing about America is we've got the freedom of our speech.
05:08and more often than not and more often than not folks who come to try to disrupt these conversations
05:17they want to distract us from the issues at play the question of whether or not you can
05:23come to a public university and afford your education the question of whether or not you
05:29can breathe clean air or drink clean water the question of whether or not one job is going to
05:32be enough in these united states of america so we welcome anybody to come and ask questions
05:39but don't be surprised when we remind you that america is a lot bigger than you are
05:51so look like i said wayne state is where my family's immigrant story starts my dad was
05:59the eldest of eight siblings two of whom died before their first birthday he was an incredible
06:05student and he was born to the smartest wisest person i ever met in my life my grandmother
06:11who never got to go to school and my grandfather who sold vegetables in a fish market my dad
06:17was a great student he studied the life i got to lead into existence on the top floor of an
06:23apartment building by the light of a lamp across the street he knew that he wanted to make cars
06:28that was his dream and so as an engineering student when the opportunity came to go to graduate
06:35school he had a few choices and one of them was to come to detroit to pursue a phd in
06:41engineering
06:41at wayne state university
06:48and naturally there is no better place in the world to make cars than in detroit michigan
06:57so my dad ended up coming to wayne state university
07:05and so this feels like a bit of a homecoming to be here at wayne state talking about the
07:11opportunity we have for a politics of by and for the people because my dad understood
07:18that between all the options he had wayne state was in the united states of america
07:24and a kid who grew up in a place where there was no democracy where there was no opportunity
07:31to run for let alone vote in an election that he wanted to come to a place where he could
07:38believe
07:39that he could belong that this country of ours was big enough for someone like him too
07:45where he'd have the freedom of his speech and over time he'd have the freedom to vote in an election
07:52i remember watching my dad naturalize as an american citizen
08:04and i remember my my stepmom jackie telling me that tomorrow baba's gonna become american
08:13i was like wow you can imagine i was like six years old
08:18so i was like wait he's he's he's he's gonna be blonde and blue-eyed and not have an accent
08:22anymore
08:24she's like american is not about an ethnic identity
08:29america's not about what you look like
08:31it's not about how you sound like
08:34it's not about how you pray like
08:37it's about whether or not you believe in the ideals of this country
08:43and whether or not you believe in the constitution
08:47that binds us
08:54so i watched my dad become an american
08:57and there are moments like these where you reflect on
09:01what it would have meant for him as an immigrant coming here
09:04to go to school
09:05to watch his eldest son someday run for the united states senate
09:16but ain't that america
09:17ain't that america
09:20now here's the thing about it
09:23we find ourselves
09:24twelve days from an election
09:27twelve days until we make a decision about
09:30who we want to serve us
09:32in the u.s. senate who we want to serve us
09:34as our next governor who we want to serve us
09:36as regents and as trustees
09:41about what we want from our public officials
09:46and
09:50that part
09:55and the contrast could not be more clear
09:58on sunday donald trump is going to come to michigan
10:07at the invitation
10:08of mike rogers and john james
10:16you might have seen yesterday we had a little debate
10:22or i had a debate and he just pointed at me and said well he's muslim
10:29and there was a note that mike rogers said in the last debate he said the last two years
10:33have been amazing
10:40i want to ask you all
10:41wayne state when you go pump your gas do you feel like the last two years have been amazing
10:48when you go to the grocery store does it feel like the last two years have been amazing
10:53when you hear notes about ice in your community has it felt like the last two years have been amazing
10:59when you go to try to see a doctor
11:01when you go to try to see a doctor has it felt like the last two years have been amazing
11:06when you think about the fact that we are now at a war
11:09that we have no business fighting has it felt like the last two years have been amazing
11:15when you think about the fact that we are in a trade war with canada
11:21and you pay an average of five thousand six hundred dollars does it feel like the last two years have
11:26been amazing
11:28but here's the thing if you're a millionaire from florida
11:32and you got a mansion and two yachts
11:35which for some reason are in maryland
11:38maybe for you life is amazing
11:41when you fly around in a private jet
11:44maybe for you life is amazing
11:47but that's exactly the disconnect in our politics
11:49that has become the problem
11:51the very same people who want to tell us that it's all amazing
11:54have been pushing a politics of division
11:58trying to tear us apart from one another
12:00and here's the thing about it
12:02when they're distracting you it's because they're picking your pocket
12:06they're picking your pocket
12:07by sending your tax dollars abroad
12:10to drop bombs on someone else
12:12rather than investing in your schools
12:14or your infrastructure or healthcare
12:16they're picking your pocket
12:17by trying to deny you a union
12:20that should be fighting for fair wages
12:21and good benefits
12:26they're picking your pocket
12:28when they're gutting programs like medicaid
12:31and the aca and snap
12:32to pass a tax cut for the richest people in america
12:34in their one big ugly bill
12:40and we've got an opportunity
12:42to stand up
12:44and push back
12:46i don't have to tell you all this
12:47but unions built the middle class
12:54unions built the 40-hour work week
12:57unions built the fact that our kids go to
12:59go to school instead of going to work
13:03unions built safe working conditions
13:07and they can do it again
13:08if we're willing to stand with our unions
13:11which is why
13:13when i get to the united states senate
13:14one of the first things i aim to do
13:15is finally pass that proact
13:27it shouldn't be this hard though
13:29y'all
13:29it just shouldn't be this hard
13:32shouldn't be this hard
13:33shouldn't be this hard
13:34to go to a public university
13:36and graduate without debt
13:40shouldn't be this hard
13:42to graduate and know
13:43that there's a good job
13:44in an economy
13:45that welcomes you
13:46rather than watching
13:47the biggest corporations
13:48and the richest people in the world
13:49try to figure out
13:50how to automate the job
13:51that you have been studying for
13:55shouldn't be this hard
13:58to believe that you'll ever own a home
14:00if you're under 40
14:01or stay in your home
14:02if you're over 65
14:05shouldn't be this hard
14:06to see a doctor
14:09we got a choice
14:10in 12 days
14:12we got a choice
14:13between the folks
14:14who want to tell us
14:15that the last two years
14:16have been amazing
14:18and folks who believe
14:19that we can make
14:20the next 200 years amazing
14:30and the thing about it is
14:32they think that when they come
14:34and intimidate us
14:35when they try to distract us
14:38that we're all going to back down
14:39but Wayne State
14:40we won't back down
14:44when they come for our union rights we won't back down when they come for our health care
14:51we won't back down when they come for our public schools we won't back down when they come for our
15:00union rights we won't back down when they come for our neighbors we won't back down when they
15:09come for our school teachers we won't back down when they come for our government employees we
15:16won't back down and we won't back down for the next 12 days and we won't back down for the
15:22next
15:22six years after that because wayne state it is our democracy and we aim to protect it
15:33now listen here y'all we got 12 days left it is not about how much time you have it
15:37is about how
15:38much of yourself you're willing to put in your time we believe in an america whose best days are
15:43in front of her and we will work for the america whose best days are in front of her we
15:48are going
15:48to show up for each other we're going to show up for our unions we're going to show up for
15:52our health
15:52care we're going to show up for the future we aim to build together so i need you in the
15:58next 12 days
16:00to put yourself into your time if you have not signed up to volunteer for this campaign if you
16:05have not signed up to go knock on doors and do the work of democracy we need you right now
16:09if you
16:10have not reached out to those people in your life who you know are on the cusp and wondering whether
16:15or not voting makes sense for them or if it's even worth it i need you to show up and
16:20put yourself in
16:20your democracy and reach out to them if you have not signed up to make phone calls or send texts
16:26i need
16:27you to put yourself in your democracy right now we need you democracy is an act of solidarity
16:33solidarity solidarity means that we reach across the divides they tell us we can't breach to build
16:37together what we cannot have alone unions have been teaching us that lesson in this state for over
16:44a century and that is the lesson that we are going to put into action in the next 12 days
16:50and the next
16:50six years after that my friends my name is abdul al-sayed i hope i can serve you as your
16:54next united states
16:55center thank you so much subscribe to one india and never miss an update download the one india app now
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