Muslim activist outed by mom over ethnicity lies: ‘I’m as White as the driven snow and so is she’

Rachel Dolezal has a Quaker rival.

A top inclusion official of the Quakers’ progressive social-justice group, who presents herself as a Muslim woman of color, is “as White as the driven snow,” her mother says.

According to a report in the Intercept, Raquel Evita Saraswati, 39, is the chief equity, inclusion and culture officer of the American Friends Service Committee, which battles “violence, inequality and oppression.”

But Ms. Saraswati, who was born Rachel Elizabeth Seidel, has been lying about her ethnic background for years, according to her mother Carol Perone.

“I call her Rachel,” Ms. Perone told The Intercept. “I don’t know why she’s doing what she’s doing.”

The Intercept reported, citing numerous links to her former blog posts and media interviews, that Ms. Saraswati is a Muslim activist who “for years has encouraged people to believe that she is a woman of color, including Latina as well as of South Asian and Arab descent.”

Nonsense, her mother says.

“I’m as White as the driven snow and so is she,” she said.

“I’m German and British, and her father was Calabrese Italian,” Ms. Perone added. “She’s chosen to live a lie, and I find that very, very sad.

The Intercept also reported that it had been shown by her mother, though it did not show them, photos of Ms. Saraswati as a girl.

“Saraswati’s complexion is significantly lighter than the bronzed look in more recent photographs,” the Intercept wrote. “Another relative who asked not to be identified confirmed that Saraswati is white.”

The mother did note that her daughter converted to Islam in high school but still seemed to want to portray her ethnicity differently, despite Islam being a universal religion that Whites can embrace.

An official who had helped hire Ms. Saraswati told the Intercept he had been misled.

Oskar Pierre Castro, who works for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and participated in the search committee that hired Ms. Sarawati told the Intercept that she had presented herself as a “queer, Muslim, multiethnic woman.”

“It really touched all the points,” he said.

He thought she would be ideal as a diversity and inclusion officer because “it seemed that there was an element of lived experience.”

“In my mind it was, ‘Great, a person of color, a queer person of color, who happens to be a Muslim, it’s a woman, all these things, and someone who seemed to get it. I definitely feel conned … deceived,” he said.

Ms. Saraswati did not respond to the Intercept’s requests for comment via email, phone and social media.

She also protected her Twitter account by Tuesday afternoon. And Facebook posts purporting to link to her account said the content was not available.

Layne Mullett, a spokesperson for the AFSC, said the Committee had information alleging misrepresentation of her identity.

“AFSC has given Raquel the opportunity to address the allegations against her, and Raquel stands by her identity,” the Committee said in a statement.

“AFSC does not require any employee to ‘prove’ their heritage as a condition of their employment, or in order to be valued as a member of our team,” the statement said.

Others outside the group weren’t so forgiving.

Philadelphian Layla Rafaoui, who claimed to have mutual friends with Ms. Saraswati, called out “no more [white]  women leading spaces for diversity while misrepresenting their cultural background and knowledge. Inshallah.”

Imani Peace wrote on the Facebook page of FITNA - Feminist Islamic Troublemakers of North America — that she was “disappointed but not surprised.”

“I’m not super familiar with Raquel but I’ve seen her pictures here and there,” she said in a post that, like Ms. Rafaoui’s, included a picture of Ms. Saraswati.

“I always thought she was a white woman with a tan and looks like I was right. What’s up with Rachel’s pretending to be POC? First Rachel Dolezal and now this Rachel here,” she wrote.