Diversity executive, former FOX pundit, resigns amid claims she lied about her race
Matthew Korfhage
Raquel Evita Saraswati was a name well-known to well-meaning people in Philadelphia.
She was a bronze-hued, Jersey-born spokesperson for Muslim and LGBTQ causes in fashionable hijabs, an adviser and confidant to local nonprofits. The National Organization for Women's Philadelphia chapter named her a Woman of the Year. Nonprofit Rad Girls declared her “Rad Girl of the Year.” She served on the city’s Mayor’s Commission on LGBT Affairs.
And until last week, she was the chief equity and inclusion officer for the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker-founded service organization that supports social justice causes all over the country and world.
But that role came to an abrupt end, amid a blizzard of controversy.
According to allegations in an open letter circulated on Feb. 10 by a “group of individuals who care deeply about AFSC,” Saraswati was living a lie.
The meticulously footnoted letter accused her of “cultural vulturism,” alleging that Saraswati, formerly known as Rachel or Raquel Seidel, misrepresented herself as having Arab, Latinx and South Asian heritage.
Saraswati had also served as a commentator about Muslim extremism for conservative news outlets including by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
After the social media and tabloid furor that followed, Saraswati will “separate” from AFSC, confirmed spokesperson Layne Mullett in an email to USA TODAY Network.
“Raquel Saraswati, who is facing public allegations that she misrepresented her background and past associations, has informed us of her intention to separate from the organization,” Mullett wrote.
The AFSC supported Saraswati in leaving the organization, Mullett wrote, calling the decision “difficult” and “deeply personal.”
Saraswati appears to have deleted or locked most social media and did not respond to a request for comment.
But the open letter, and subsequent reporting by nonprofit news site The Intercept, cited genealogical research and interviews with family members to assert that Saraswati was of German, British and Calabrese Italian heritage. The letter also documents early photographs in which Saraswati appears to have a lighter skin tone.
USA TODAY Network also contacted members of Saraswati’s immediate family, who confirmed European heritage but otherwise declined to comment.
Saraswati’s case echoes other prominent examples of public figures accused of misrepresenting their heritage. This includes New York Republican Rep. George Santos’ false claims of being Jewish and a descendant of Holocaust survivors and former Spokane, Washington, NAACP chapter president Rachel Dolezal (now Nkechi Diallo), who claims African American identity.
Diversity executive, former FOX pundit, resigns amid claims she lied about her race (msn.com)
Lies will get ya..............as in all cases, the truth will out itself.
be nice or leave.............