Suzanne Barakat has suffered unimaginable tragedy — losing three of her family members in an attack motivated by Islamophobia. Now, she is speaking up against the limited coverage in the media on these horrendous crimes and taking a stand against this era of normalized Islamophobia in the United States. Watch her emotional and powerful TED Women speech here.
On February 10, 2015, Suzanne Barakat’s brother Deah, her sister-in-law Yusor and Yusor’s sister Razan were murdered by their neighbor in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The perpetrator’s story, that he killed them over a traffic dispute, went unquestioned by the media and police until Barakat spoke out at a press conference, calling the murders what they really were: hate crimes. As she reflects on how she and her family reclaimed control of their narrative, Barakat calls on us to speak up when we witness hateful bigotry and express our allyship with those who face discrimination.
