“New Rachel Dolezal just dropped”: Raquel Evita Saraswati heritage controversy explained amid rising backlash

Raquel Evita Saraswati, the senior inclusion officer of Philadelphia-based social justice group the American Friends Service Committee, has been accused of lying about her heritage for several years.

Saraswati’s mother, Carol Perone, recently told The Intercept that her daughter was white, as opposed to her claims of being a woman of color. Perone told the publication that Saraswati is allegedly 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. 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 even shared photos that allegedly showed Saraswati having a much lighter complexion when she was a child. She also reportedly showed the publication the latter’s Ancestry profile. Another unidentified family member also reportedly confirmed that Saraswati is Caucasian.

Oskar Pierre Castro, a human resources official who hired Saraswati for AFSC, said he was reportedly told that she is a “queer, Muslim, multiethnic woman.”

“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.”

He added that the recent discovery made him feel “conned” and “deceived.” AFSC rep Layne Mullett also told The Intercept that the organization has received documentation alleging that Raquel Saraswati “has been misrepresenting her identity.”

However, he noted that Saraswati is “standing by her identity” and assuring that she is “loyal to AFSC’s mission,” which the company firmly believes.

“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 controversy surrounding Raquel Evita Saraswati’s heritage also sparked immediate backlash online, with some social media users dubbing her the “new Rachel Dolezal.”

Former NAACP Spokane chapter president Dolezal was accused of faking her African-American ancestry despite being allegedly Caucasian.

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Netizens react to Raquel Evita Saraswati heritage controversy

The controversy surrounding Raquel Evita Saraswati's heritage sparked immediate outrage on social media, and netizens took to Twitter to call her out for the same.

As reactions continued to pour in online, Raquel Evita Saraswati reportedly took to social media to address the allegations.

She said that she would respond to the accusations “as soon as she is capable” and is currently preparing to provide the “most helpful and thorough” answer.

However, Twitter user @/davenewworld_2 claimed that Saraswati deleted her statement before going private on social media.

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What is known about Raquel Evita Saraswati?

Raquel Evita Saraswati is the senior inclusion officer of American Friends Service Committee (Image via Kelsey Cheland/Facebook)

Raquel Evita Saraswati is the chief equity, inclusion, and culture officer of the Philadelphia-based American Friends Service Committee, a social justice group that fights against “violence, inequality and oppression.”

She recently made news after her mother, Carol Perone, told the press that she allegedly lied about being a woman of color despite being Caucasian. Saraswati was reportedly born as Rachel Elizabeth Seidel and is currently 39 years old.

Her mother shared that Saraswati's father is dead, and she had a relationship with him before marrying Flory Perone, who passed away in 2006.

Saraswati was reportedly born in Paterson, New Jersey, and spent a significant amount of time in Windham, where she attended school before moving to Troy, New York, to study at a boarding school.

Perone shared with The Intercept that her daughter converted to Islam in high school and “felt compelled” to present a different ethnic identity “for some reason.” Raquel Evita Saraswati studied at Simmons University in Boston and eventually settled in Massachusetts after marrying her girlfriend, Anh Dao Kolbe, in 2005.

Prior to their marriage, the couple were featured in the Boston Globe, where Saraswati used the name “Seidel” and said she was of Arab and Latin descent. The woman reportedly changed her name sometime around the publication of the article and reportedly performed belly dancing under the new name.

Saraswati currently lives in Pennsylvania, where she moved after her divorce. She garnered media attention after appearing on Beck’s show following 9/11 and appearing in a 2013 film produced by the Clarion Project, an organization specializing in "rabidly anti-Muslim films," per the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The activist also allegedly worked with the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, a group that has been accused of promoting Islamophobia in the past. According to an anonymous letter posted on Medium, Saraswati allegedly appeared on right-wing TV shows, and described herself as a “moderate” Muslim who is critical of Islamic extremism.

Media commentator Sana Saeed first scrutinized Raquel Evita Saraswati’s identity in 2015 and likened her to Rachel Dolezal. In the wake of her heritage controversy, some members of the AFSC have reportedly shared concerns about Saraswati having a hidden political agenda and “being an agent.”