Another day, another white leftist pretending to be a minority …
The latest pretend minority is reportedly Raquel Evita Saraswati, a “progressive” activist who has for years pretended to be of Latin, South Asian, and Arab descent.
Raquel Evita Saraswati is an advocate, writer and speaker with a 20 year history of working to amplify the voices of other Muslim women and girls, LGBTQ Muslims, and those marginalized in faith spaces and in society as a whole. She is one of our 2019 Women of the Year! #NOW pic.twitter.com/wxYe3vfOl7
— Philadelphia NOW (@philanow) April 22, 2019
She’s currently the chief equity, inclusion and culture officer for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a “progressive” organization that pursues “social justice”-themed goals.
Except it’s now coming out that Saraswati is, in fact, as white as “snow.” And it’s coming out thanks to her outspoken mother, Carol Perone.
Indeed, according to Perone, Saraswati was born Rachel Elizabeth Seidel, and she’s of British, German, and Italian descent.
“I call her Rachel. I don’t know why she’s doing what she’s doing. I’m as white as the driven snow and so is she,” Perone told The Intercept in a phone interview
She also shared photos of Saraswati as a child.
“In the photos, which the mother asked not be published, Saraswati’s complexion is significantly lighter than the bronzed look in more recent photographs,” according to The Intercept.
“Perone also shared … her Ancestry.com profile and a photo of Saraswati’s biological father, who is deceased. Another relative who asked not to be identified confirmed that Saraswati is white,” The Intercept reported.
Yet when Sarawati sought a position with AFSC, she listed herself as “queer, Muslim, multiethnic,” according to Oskar Pierre Castro, a human resources professional who’d “participated in the search committee to fill Sarawati’s position,” according to The Intercept.
“It really touched all the points,” he said to the outlet,” adding that he was initially impressed by Saraswati’s alleged credentials.
“It seemed that there was an element of lived experience and understanding because of the lived experience, not just the academic and extra training that come with being in a position where you are an equity and inclusion practitioner,” Castro explained.
“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. … I feel deceived,” he added.
Saraswati responded to the initial outrage by vowing to issue a statement. She later deleted her vow and made her Twitter account private:
UPDATE: “Raquel Saraswati” aka Rachel Elizabeth Seidel has put out a statement, but hasn’t addressed her mother’s claims that she is “as white as the driven snow” pic.twitter.com/KjhiSNoIAk
— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) February 18, 2023
UPDATE 2: “Raquel Saraswati” aka Rachel Elizabeth Seidel just deleted her statement and went private. She’s having a meltdown because her relatives confirmed she’s white. pic.twitter.com/WKxlrAVqTU
— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) February 18, 2023
AFSC has for the time being chosen to defend her.
“We are in receipt of the documentation alleging that our Chief Equity, Inclusion, and Culture Officer, Raquel Saraswati, has been misrepresenting her identity. AFSC has given Raquel the opportunity to address the allegations against her, and Raquel stands by her identity,” the group said in a statement.
“Raquel also assures us that she remains loyal to AFSC’s mission, which we firmly believe,” the group continued, adding that the organization doesn’t require employees to “prove” their heritage as a condition of employment.
But not everybody at AFSC appears to be on the same page. A group of AFSC “staff, volunteers, and supporters” have penned an open letter demanding accountability for “Saraswai’s cultural vulturism.”
“We are a group of individuals who care deeply about AFSC and have chosen to remain anonymous for protection from any potential retaliation. Saraswati has gone to great lengths to purge much of the public records that can correct her mistruths regarding her race and ethnicity,” the letter reads.
“Through in-depth research, we are summarizing the key findings of our careful investigation in this open letter. We hope that this will catalyze further truth-telling and accountability, particularly in light of the harms that Sar: lies have inflicted on communities of color that she purports to represent,” it continues.
The letter further accuses Saraswati of having appeared in conservative “spaces” after Sept. 11th as a moderate Muslim critical of Islamic extremism.
“While a change in political views is not unheard of, Saraswati has not publicly addressed her work from those years, and much of it appears to have been scrubbed from the internet,” according to The Intercept.
An anonymous relative of Saraswati told the Daily Mail that she converted to Islam while at school.
“Her junior year at school she had a roommate that was from Turkey who was Muslim and Rachel was very intrigued by that culture, she was a very inquisitive kid,” the relative said.
“Rachel converted to the Muslim religion while at school and we never found out because she was boarding there… we found out much later that this was her new persona,” they added.
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V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.
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