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Dr. Suzanne Barakat was writing a prescription for one of her patients at San Francisco General Hospital when her phone lit up with text messages from friends sending condolences.
It was Feb. 10 and Barakat, 27, was in her first year of family medicine residency. She ignored the first text, thinking it was either a mistake or a reference to family members in war-torn Syria.
“I just put my head back to work,” she said. But then Barakat noticed that one of the texts mentioned her 23-year-old brother, Deah Barakat, a dental student at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
At that point, she recalled in an interview this week, she still didn’t know Deah had been slain — gunned down, along with his wife and her sister, in a shocking burst of violence that would touch off a nationwide discussion over how Muslims are treated in America.
Scared, Suzanne Barakat called her father, Namee. He spoke to her calmly, explaining there had been a shooting in Deah’s neighborhood, that he didn’t know anything, and that he’d be in touch when he learned more.
But Barakat was panicked. She tried calling her brother’s phone, but it was off. She called Deah’s wife, 21-year-old Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, whose phone was also off. Shaken, she returned to a staff room and said, “I think I need help,” before collapsing.
When a fellow doctor asked what was wrong, Barakat blurted, “I think my brother was murdered.” An online search escalated her fear, and after she found an article reporting that three people were shot at her brother’s apartment complex, she fainted.
'Pretty traumatic’
That evening, as Barakat prepared to board a red-eye flight to North Carolina, she received the confirming call — and fainted again.
“It was pretty traumatic,” she said.
It has been almost a month since Deah, his wife, Yusor, and her sister, 19-year-old Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, were shot, allegedly by Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, their neighbor in Chapel Hill, who has been indicted.
Both Abu-Salha sisters wore headscarves, and all three victims were Muslims. Almost immediately, a debate ignited over whether Hicks acted out of religious hatred — and whether the shooting would have provoked a much different response if a Muslim had been accused of attacking three others.
Police initially said the shooting was “motivated by an ongoing neighbor dispute over parking,” but the victims’ families have called the shooting a clear hate crime.
In an examination of the case, the New York Times detailed Hicks’ obsession with parking at the complex but noted that the victims had not been parked in Hicks’ spot on the day of the slaughter. In online posts, the Times reported, Hicks “appeared to have a deep dislike of all religion.”
Suzanne Barakat has strong feelings about the question. She said in a telephone interview from Raleigh, N.C., where her parents live, that she considers the police statement about the parking dispute as “dishonoring them and their families and completely trivializing what their murders were.”
Amid the tragedy, Barakat has emerged as a prominent Muslim American figure, acting as the lead voice for her family.
“What I am is the sister of three family members who were murdered gruesomely in their homes because of their faith,” she said. “What I am is an American Muslim — not very different from others who have pursued opportunities that our country has to offer.”
The North Carolina killings happened amid what some see as a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment, with many politicians and even entertainers such as Bill Maher pointedly criticizing the religion.
“If people didn’t believe it (Islamophobia) before, and then if they don’t see that it’s knocked on our doorstep and killed three American Muslims, then we have a real problem,” Barakat said.
She said that in North Carolina, where she studied medicine, some patients refused to shake her hand or see her because of her headscarf. She had patients threaten her. And even in San Francisco, Barakat has experienced bigotry because of her hijab, she said.
'Incredibly touched’
But she’s been heartened by the outpouring of support in the Bay Area, including at S.F. General Hospital. “I was incredibly touched, so grateful to be a part of that community,” she said.
Deah Barakat was a big fan of Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, and the athlete’s decision to honor the victims during All-Star weekend — writing “#CurryforDeah” and “#RIPDeah” on a pair of his shoes — overwhelmed the family.
“We all cried, we all laughed and really hoped that Deah could see this moment,” Barakat said.
She said the grief still comes in waves — “There are times when I’m completely unable to do anything” — and that she often returns to a conversation she had with her brother in mid-January, the last night she had with him.
The two discussed his love of dentistry school, and how great things were between him and his wife. They had recently been married, and everything appeared to be lining up for Deah.
“I was no longer worried about him. He’s set. He’s married to a wonderful, beautiful wife — they’re happy together, and they are destined do great things together,” Suzanne Barakat said.
Now, as Barakat, who lives in San Bruno with her husband, prepares to head back to the Bay Area, she’s pondering what comes after residency — and how her life will change through her brother’s inspiration.
Deah had been active serving the community, handing out dental supplies and food to the homeless in Durham, N.C. He had been planning to travel to Turkey to help care for Syrian refugees.
“With this happening — Deah, he doesn’t give me a choice,” she said. “I have a responsibility to continue carrying his message and to continue their legacy of community service, spread of love and awareness, and eradicating ignorance with education.”
