Samatar, Hussein (1964–2013)

Hussein Samatar was an entrepreneur, banker, and public servant who advocated for greater access to education for immigrant families. He founded and led the African Development Center, a nonprofit that provides financial education and loans to prospective immigrant entrepreneurs and homeowners. He was the first American of Somali descent elected to a public office in Minnesota (and possibly the US), inspiring a generation of young Somali Minnesotans to pursue civic engagement and public service.

Samatar was born in 1968 into a prominent family in Kismayo, Somalia, just a few years after the country gained independence from Italian and British colonial rule in the southern and northern territories, respectively. His father served as a high-ranking official under post-colonial Somali administrations, holding positions that included police commissioner and head of the country’s criminal investigation department. Samatar, the youngest of five, spent his early childhood in Kismayo, where he completed primary school, before moving with his family to the capital, Mogadishu. There, he attended high school and later earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Somali National University (SNU).

Meanwhile, Somalia’s political and economic conditions had gradually deteriorated. By 1969, the post-independence honeymoon had waned, and a military regime under Mohamed Siad Barre replaced the civilian government. Although Barre established efficient bureaucratic institutions, adopted a Latin-based writing system for Somali, and launched a national literacy campaign, his administration cracked down on those deemed a threat to his power. By the late 1970s and 1980s, armed opposition groups emerged to oust Barre.

In January 1991, just four days after Samatar graduated from SNU, the rebels overthrew the government. What began as anger and frustration toward the Barre regime escalated into a protracted civil war, with neighbors turning against one another. Soon, hundreds of thousands of people fled to neighboring countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia, and Yemen. Samatar was among those who fled to a Kenyan refugee camp.

By 1992, the United States began admitting Somali refugees. Two years later, Samatar became part of a growing Somali population that put down roots in Minneapolis’s Cedar-Riverside, East Phillips, Seward, and Whittier neighborhoods. In the 1990s and early 2000s, when internet access was rare among newcomers, Somalis used computers in public libraries to find employment, educational resources, and ways to connect with loved ones abroad.

Samatar’s regular spot was Franklin Library, a 1914 one-story, light-brown brick building in the East Phillips neighborhood. In its early years, the library served a community largely made up of Scandinavian and Jewish immigrants. By 1995, however, it mostly served the area’s growing Somali community, including Samatar, who used the library and its resources to teach himself English.

Samatar went on to secure employment as a business banker at Wells Fargo and earn an MBA in financial management from the University of St. Thomas. A few years later, as more immigrant entrepreneurs started small businesses, Samatar left corporate America for the nonprofit world. In 2002, he established and became the CEO of the African Development Center, a nonprofit that offers immigrants and refugees financial education and loans, as well as training in business development and homeownership.

In November 2005, Samatar entered the public eye when then-Minneapolis mayor R.T. Rybak appointed him to serve on the Minneapolis Library Board. The board was tasked, in part, with authorizing a tax levy to support the library and overseeing library operations. Samatar believed, according to the Star Tribune, that libraries were an “equalizer of opportunity for immigrant communities.”

In 2010, Samatar became the first American of Somali descent to hold an elected office in Minnesota, and most likely the US, when he won a seat on the Minneapolis Board of Education. He advocated for reforms to improve learning outcomes for students of color, who had lagged behind their white peers.

Samatar was a trusted voice in the Somali community. He represented the community’s interests in the Minnesota media landscape and organized events to address pressing community issues. His leadership inspired a generation of young Somali Americans who have won high-profile political offices in federal, state, and local governments in Minnesota and beyond.

On August 25, 2013, Samatar died in Minneapolis of complications from leukemia. He was forty-five.

In 2018, the city of Minneapolis opened Samatar Crossing, a bike and pedestrian path connecting the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood to downtown Minneapolis. The city named the path after Samatar in honor of his commitment to public service and bridge building.

Editor’s note: Samatar preferred to be described as an American of Somali descent rather than a Somali American. As he told a reporter in 2010, although he remained a part of the Somali diaspora, he had made Minnesota his home. This article refers to him as an American of Somali descent out of respect for this preference. At the same time, it uses the more common term “Somali Americans” to refer to the Somali community in Minnesota and the United States in general.