Akbar Hossain’s American dream is inspiring his work on Josh Shapiro’s transition team

Akbar Hossain studiously observed his parents’ emotions when he was 10 years old.

Nervousness and sadness they felt about leaving everything they had ever known to go into the unknown. Pressure they felt to make the sacrifice worth it. And excitement and hopefulness they felt about there being a light at the end of the tunnel, opportunities for a better, more successful life.

The Bangladeshi family had been living and working in Saudi Arabia when they found out they won the Diversity Visa lottery: They would be starting new lives in the United States. And so they got on a plane filled with anticipation, and finally arrived at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City — on Sept. 9, 2001.

Hossain’s story is one about an underdog. It’s a story about a brown, Muslim, immigrant family that navigated a new country in an environment rife with anti-Muslim bigotry, discrimination, and violence. But it’s also a story about challenges being turned into opportunities. A story about community being the key to any success. A story of the American dream.

And today, as executive director of Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro’s transition team, Hossain is the epitome of that American dream.

The Hossains were supposed to be kicking off their American life in the comfort of their sponsor’s home. Instead, they were dropped off at a motel in New Jersey, and ended up stranded there alone, as the world completely changed — the 9/11 terrorist attacks had devastated New York, and the Hossains were suddenly the enemy.

“You had this random Muslim family who had traveled from Saudi Arabia to JFK, with the last name Hossain, living out of a motel room in Jersey,” said Hossain. “I was 10, but from what I remember, it wasn’t the best time of my parents’ life and they were frustrated at how we were being treated.”

What Hossain does vividly remember is walking around that Jersey neighborhood and happening upon an Indian restaurant. As they enjoyed a comforting meal with flavors similar to home, Hossain’s father started talking to the manager and explaining their dilemma.

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The restaurant manager then called his brother-in-law, a Norristown resident, who ended up coming to New Jersey, driving the Hossain family back to Norristown, and getting them set up with an apartment for the family, a job for Hossain’s dad, and school for the kids — and he did not ask for a penny.

“That was one of my first understandings of what America was really about,” Hossain said. “It’s about this idea that when someone is in need, we step up and we get to work. That was my first foray into community and understanding how we help people.”

A lower-income area, the Norristown community is no stranger to challenges. But by building community, residents have supported one another — and particularly Hossain — to reach their full potential.

“That was one of my first understandings of what America was really about ... when someone is in need, we step up and we get to work.”

That was true when Hossain wasn’t interested in going to college but was pushed to by his guidance counselor. And that was true when Hossain’s father unexpectedly died three years into his American dream, leaving behind a widow and three adolescent children.

As Hossain’s mother tried to decide whether she would continue to raise her children alone in a country where she had no family, members of the local mosque — which the Hossain family had never visited — reached out and offered to help pay for the family’s plane tickets if they wanted to go back to Bangladesh, or help pay for their rent if they decided to stay.

“I’m talking to you today as the executive director of a transition for the governor-elect because my mother decided she wanted to realize the dream that she and my father had: just to raise successful kids in the U.S.,” Hossain said.

“And in Norristown, I probably have 20 or 30 different moms and grandmothers who are proud of the work that I’ve done, and they take me around to tell their grandkids what they need to be doing.”

» READ MORE: What Josh Shapiro’s transition team says about how he’ll govern, and why some picks are raising eyebrows

From getting his degree at the University of Pennsylvania’s law school, to becoming a Truman Scholar and Soros Fellow, Hossain’s trajectory pointed to eventual political and public service. He’s interned for the White House and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, clerked for a federal judge and provided pro bono representation for asylum-seeking immigrants and low-income tenants facing eviction. And when Shapiro announced his run for governor, Hossain was brought onto the campaign as a policy director — leading to the position he currently holds on the governor-elect’s transition team.

“He didn’t come over here with a silver spoon,” said Tre Hadrick, a friend of Hossain’s from Norristown — and the son of the guidance counselor who pushed him to go to college. “He came here and worked extremely hard to get what he has.”

“Go back to where you came from” is a phrase that has been yelled at Hossain more than once.

Immigrating to the United States two days before 9/11 made Hossain no stranger to racism, Islamophobia, and xenophobia. But it also made Hossain dedicated to bridging divides.

“The needs of our communities are too big and too urgent for us to bicker over partisan politics.”

In 2016, shortly after Donald Trump won the presidential election on the heels of a campaign filled with racist, Islamophobic, and xenophobic rhetoric, Hossain wrote an opinion piece for The Inquirer about getting yelled at to go back to his country. His response was to ask people to have real conversations with Muslims.

“There’s never a time when the right answer is not to try to bring people together,” Hossain said. “I am of the firm belief, at the end of the day, that whether it’s Pennsylvanians or Americans in general, we just want folks who want to get things done and do good by people. The needs of our communities are too big and too urgent for us to bicker over partisan politics.”

To those who have worked with Hossain, that’s what makes him uniquely special.

“He’s had to put himself in many different environments, and he still stays centered on who he is,” said Brian Regli, who worked on Shapiro’s campaign alongside Hossain. “It’s really rare, but it comes from people who come from challenging circumstances and have taken the opportunities to hold on to the value of who they are, where they come from.”

Time and again as they knocked on doors, Regli was impressed by Hossain’s empathy and true listening skills as voters spoke to him about everything from health care to small businesses to supply chains.

It was that work as policy director of Shapiro’s campaign — developing the issue agenda, coordinating with stakeholders across the state — that led the governor-elect to appoint Hossain head of the 300-plus transition team. His perspective and expertise on issues spanning from housing to education to public safety earned the trust of Shapiro and his senior staff to tackle the task of building an administration: recruiting and reviewing personnel, and coming up with plans and advice to implement the policies Shapiro campaigned on once he takes office.

While he’s proud of his success, Hossain attributes it to everyone around him.

“None of it could have been possible without the sacrifice of my parents and without being encouraged and supported by the community,” he said.

So his goal, always, is to pay it forward — and that’s why he’s excited to carry this role in Shapiro’s office.

“There are people across the country who are still looking for the same shot I was given,” Hossain said. “We’re working toward growing an economy that works for all people, because at the end of the day, that’s what helped my family; ensuring that every child receives a quality education, because I wouldn’t be here without that.”