Death Card. Nick L. Sacco

and another escaped into the night. President Barakat’s mother and father knew it was only a matter of time before French interrogators broke her brother down and he would reveal their names leading the police and army to look for them.

      Gathering up what little belongings and money they could, President Barakat’s parents fled from Algeria to the United States where they sought and were granted political asylum. At the time, there was tension between the two countries, so getting accepted into their new country came fairly quickly and with little scrutiny. With the United States becoming increasingly mired in the unpopular Vietnam War, and protests and violence surging stateside, President Barakat’s parents found themselves in the perfect environment for their leftist agenda. President Barakat’s mother quickly began teaching at the University of Chicago while his father found a quiet job teaching French.

      The seeds of revolution would be planted in young Marcus Barakat’s mind while researching a simple homework assignment about the history of French colonialism. When he questioned his mother how the NLF could justify killing eight million Algerian civilians to gain freedom from France, her answer had been very matter-of-fact. “Terrorism creates fear, and fear creates change. If you want to overthrow a government, you have to be brutal and without remorse. It doesn’t matter if it is 800 innocents or eight million. Whatever means to achieve the end.” Barakat would never forget this piece of deadly advice.

      Eventually, in 1968, Ginny Barakat’s surviving brother would escape to the United States, along with news that her other captured brother had been tortured and executed by the French army. In the United States, Ginny’s brother burned off his anger by joining the Weathermen, a revolutionary force that fought for the overthrow of the United States government. Barakat would be greatly influenced by another life event in the summer of 1968. As secret members of a Marxist anarchist group, Jean-Pierre and his brother-in-law were busy assembling a bomb in the basement of a Chicago tenement building, its target an army recruiting station. However, something went wrong. A spark as minute as static electricity triggered the pipe bomb, killing both men instantly and setting the building ablaze. In the next few days, Barakat watched as the police, arson investigators, ATF and the FBI came to their home, questioned his mother, and searched high and low for evidence tying her to the blast. Ginny Barakat remained silent like stone to the investigators and denied any involvement or knowledge of her husband’s or brother’s radical actions. When asked why she had communist newspapers in her possession, she calmly defended herself by saying she was an intellectual and that she was not breaking any laws. Later, when Ginny was alone with her son, she simply said, “Sometimes you must hide in plain view of your enemies.” A month afterward, after being allowed to travel again, she and Marcus moved to Los Angeles to continue their lives.