'Our Three Winners' legacy honored in community center

While the debate over whether the February shooting of three Muslim students in Chapel Hill was a hate crime or a parking dispute continues, the students' legacy will carry on in the form of a community center.

Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha and Razan Abu-Salha were academically successful and engaged in community service both locally and abroad, prompting members of N.C. State University as well as their families to create a community center in their names, said Bradley Bohlander, NCSU spokesman.

Farris Barakat, Deah’s older brother, said the center will be known as the Light House Project — it is named after the word “Deah” in Arabic, which is translated to “light” in English.

The center will be built as a community resource center to fulfill Deah’s wishes for “a unified and structured community,” Farris Barakat said. The house was owned by Deah Barakat and is currently undergoing renovation.

Deah Barakat was a UNC dental student and was raising money to provide free dental care to Syrian refugees as a part of Project Refugee Smiles before he died.

“My dad wanted to make Deah’s house beneficial,” Farris Barakat said.

He said the Light House Project evolved from an idea of providing a shelter for abused women to a space for youth service, Muslim outreach and service organization.

The house's renovation is almost finished, Farris Barakat said, and soon the fundraising campaign to furnish it will start.

NCSU notified six incoming students for the 2015-16 academic year they would receive the “Our Three Winners” scholarships in honor of Deah, Yusor and Razan.

Deah and Yusor had undergraduate degrees from NCSU, and Razan was studying architecture there.

“These scholarships embody the ideals of leadership, service and creativity these amazing young people represented,” Bohlander said.

He said NCSU Chancellor Randy Woodson initially had the idea for the scholarship based on feedback he received from donors and friends of the university asking how they could help. 

“The scholarship is the result of many people coming together within the Wolfpack family,” Bohlander said.

Their legacy has opened up the door for improved relations in the Raleigh community.

Fiaz Fareed, outreach coordinator for the Islamic Association of Raleigh, said the misunderstanding of Muslims is a core problem for communities.

“Unlike what media says, the concept in Islam is to help the needy,” he said. “People who have had even little interaction with Muslims have totally different impression on us.”

Farris Barakat said while the shooting drew attention to the Muslim community, more work remains to be done.

“We are basically working with thankful people who believe in us,” said Farris Barakat. “But I hope this community will work on being more tolerant towards Muslims until the day we don’t have to be alleged as terrorists has come.”

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