海角大神

From the United States to Sweden, immigration has become the Western world鈥檚 biggest political fault line, dividing societies and fueling anger and mistrust. That fault line runs directly through Tam Hussein.

Mr. Hussein is Swedish, born and raised in a suburb of Stockholm, and like many Swedes, he has looked on the changes in his homeland during the past 10 years with shock.

Organized crime and gun violence exploded after the country took in some 160,000 migrants in 2015, and he says he sometimes has trouble fathoming how much his country has changed. 鈥淲hen I grew up, there was hardly any crime apart from bicycle-stealing, and that was scandalous,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hen you see [what鈥檚 going on today], it does upset you. That鈥檚 not how Sweden should be.鈥�

Mr. Hussein is the son of Bangladeshi parents and the child of a more global world. As a journalist, he has covered the Middle East, and other aspects of the new Sweden are not only familiar but also welcome. After living in Damascus, Syria, he found recent changes to the Swedish city of Malm枚 invigorating: authentic shawarma, street corner conversations in Arabic, startup newspapers in Bengali. 鈥淚 loved it,鈥� he says.

So often, politics sets up false choices. It turns complex issues into a simplified 鈥渢his鈥� or 鈥渢hat鈥� with no space for anything in between. At best, this makes voters鈥� choices starker. At worst, it dehumanizes opponents and preys on fear.

But Mr. Hussein cannot choose 鈥渢his鈥� or 鈥渢hat鈥� on the issue of migration in Sweden. He has to choose both, because he is both. In reporting my cover story this week, on how migration has shaped Sweden and Denmark, I saw clearly why such a mindset is important.

Two things stuck out about his approach. First was a deep and genuine sense of compassion. To varying degrees, those on either side of the migration issue expressed some exasperation at or contempt for those on the other side. But Mr. Hussein wouldn鈥檛 go there.

On one hand, he understands why migrants would feel so out of step with their new Swedish home. In Sweden, 鈥測ou鈥檙e dependent on the state鈥� to do everything, he says. But 鈥渋magine now you鈥檙e getting people coming in, and they don鈥檛 have any trust in the government. They鈥檙e going to look after their own.鈥�

But he also has sympathy for native Swedes worried about the direction of the country. 鈥淚 can understand that sentiment because Sweden has changed.鈥�

The second point is that Mr. Hussein understands the situation in a way that helped me really grasp what was going on. Although I didn鈥檛 quote Mr. Hussein in the story, subsequent reporting validated what he shared. Put simply, by seeing both sides honestly, he sees the situation most accurately.

Today, strong currents of thought encourage us not to do this. The umbrage engines of social media and politics work by simplifying and separating. But Mr. Hussein refused to be drawn in, and that compassion gave him not only decency and grace, but also clarity.