Raquel Evita Saraswati, director of equality, inclusion and culture at the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker charity, resigned on the 27th following revelations that she had misrepresented herself as “Latinx” and Arab.
Layne Mullett, a spokesperson for the AFSC, confirmed that Saraswati has left the organization.
“Raquel Saraswati, who is facing public allegations of misrepresentation of her background and past associations, has informed us of her intention to part ways with the organization,” Mullett wrote in a declaration to the newspaper USA Today.
One open letter in early February it was circulated anonymously by community members and officials concerned about allegations that Saraswati, born Rachael Elizabeth Seidel, was engaging in “cultural vulturism” in fabricating her identity.
Seidel is actually part German and Italian and has converted to Islam.
In the aftermath of the revelations, the The Intercept confirmed with Saraswati’s mother, Carol Perone, that the whole thing was a hoax. “I call her Rachael,” Perone said. “I don’t know why she’s doing what she’s doing.”
“I’m as white as snow. And so is she,” added Perone.
Prominent documentary filmmaker Laila Al-Arian has already openly criticized Saraswiti. “It’s not about ‘proving’ her heritage, it’s about lying, misrepresenting and taking opportunities from other women of color,” Al-Arian said in the twitter in mid-February. Al-Arian also called her the “Dolezal of the Muslim community”.
Saraswati’s story does indeed resemble the infamous case of Dolezal, a white woman who identified as black for years. Dolezal made his career at a local branch of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) in Spokane, Washington, eventually becoming branch president before his true identity was revealed.
“For me, the way I feel is more powerful than the way I was born. And I don’t say that to have an easy way out. This has been the journey of my life. It’s not something I can use or not use according to the moment, just to have advantages or make people happy”, Dolezal told the Guardian in 2015. “If someone asks me how I identify, I identify as black. Nothing about being white describes who I am.”
Saraswati was previously named Woman of the Year by the Philadelphia chapter of the National Organization of Women and is on the city’s LGBT Affairs Commission.
Saraswati has also been an occasional guest speaker for television programs including Fox News and Al Jazeera channels.
Copyright 2023 National Review. Published with permission. Original in English.
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