Activist who claimed Arab, South Asian and Latin heritage outed as being ‘white as driven snow’

The senior inclusion officer of a Philadelphia-based social justice group has been lying about her ethnic identity for years — claiming she is a woman of color despite being “as white as the driven snow,” her mother alleges.

Raquel Evita Saraswati, 39, who was born Rachel Elizabeth Seidel, is the chief equity, inclusion and culture officer of the American Friends Service Committee, which fights “violence, inequality and oppression,” The Intercept reported.

The Muslim activist, who has access to files of the progressive Quaker group’s workers and volunteers, has claimed for years to be of Latin, South Asian and Arab descent.

But her mother, Carol Perone, said Saraswati is actually of British, German and Italian descent.

“I call her Rachel. I don’t know why she’s doing what she’s doing,” Perone told The Intercept. “I’m as white as the driven snow and so is she.”

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

Perone said her daughter converted to Islam in high school and for some reason felt compelled to present a different ethnic identity.

The mother shared with The Intercept photos that show Saraswati with a far lighter complexion when she was a child, as well as her Ancestry.com profile. She asked the outlet not to publish the images.

Another family member, who asked not to be identified, confirmed to The Intercept that Saraswati is white.

Oskar Pierre Castro, a human resources official who helped AFSC hire Saraswati, was told she was a “queer, Muslim, multiethnic woman,” according to the news outlet.

“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,” Castrol told The Intercept.

“I definitely feel conned. … I feel deceived,” he added.

AFSC rep Layne Mullett told the outlet that the organization has received “documentation alleging that our Chief Equity, Inclusion, and Culture Officer, Raquel Saraswati, has been misrepresenting her identity.”

Mullett said Saraswati “stands by her identity. Raquel also assures us that she remains loyal to AFSC’s mission, which we firmly believe.”

He added that “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.”

Some AFSC members have expressed concerns that Saraswati may be harboring a hidden political agenda and is working on behalf of groups that seek to undermine the group.

An anonymous letter posted on Medium that The Intercept confirmed was penned by the members claims that after 9/11 Saraswati appeared on right-wing TV shows, where she was described as a “moderate” Muslim critical of Islamic extremism.

“We hope that this will catalyze further truth-telling and accountability,” the letter reportedly states, calling for the AFSC to investigate whether there are “external entities with whom Saraswati is collaborating.”

A top AFSC official told The Intercept that “people are concerned,” adding that “there’s a fear that she could be an agent, because she started her career right-wing. She was a token Muslim voice in that milieu. She never publicly apologized.”

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation.  

“Imagine the trauma of people who confided in her, trusted her, and shared sensitive information about their work and about their lives, thinking that she’s a fellow person of color,” the leader told the outlet.

“And now all of a sudden, it’s a white woman with a right-wing history. It’s scary,” the source added.

Saraswati did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The Intercept.

“I assure people that as soon as I am capable, I will provide answers to the recent discussion and attack on me,” she wrote on Facebook on Saturday. “I understand all the reactions you’re having. I am currently taking the time to get to where I can answer in a way that is most helpful and thorough.

Saraswati’s case is reminiscent of that of notorious race faker Rachel Dolezal, a former NAACP chapter president in Spokane, Washington, who falsely posed as a black woman in 2015.

Her Caucasian parents presented her birth certificate and a stack of blond, green-eyed childhood photos as proof of her true racial identity.

More recently, Republican Long Island Rep. George Santos has been caught in a web of lies, including claiming that he is Jewish – later insisting that he meant he was “Jew-ish.”

Media commentator Sana Saeed first brought up Saraswati’s identity 2015, when she tweeted: “Can we talk about ‘Raquel Dolezal’ in the Muslim community. Y’all know who I mean.”

Saeed told The Intercept that the Saraswati controversy “puts a sharp, bright light on … the DEI industry itself,” referring to diversity, equity and inclusion.

“Did AFSC not vet their candidates, like Raquel?” she said.