Abdul El-Sayed played football at his suburban Detroit high school. He was pretty good, so he was always double-teamed. In his first game after the 9/11 attacks, opposing players hurled insults at him. “Go home.” “Raghead.” That sort of thing. In the blink of an eye, he recalled, “I went from being a chubby kid with a funny name to being a very stigmatized minority.” Naturally, he was angry. He took a swing at one of the taunters. “The coach pulled me out of the game and said, ‘Listen, you’re going to be Abdul El-Sayed for the rest of your...
