Variety activist who claimed to be Latino, Arab, South Asian outed as white by her mother

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Muslim activist Raquel Evita Saraswati, who claimed to be a female of colour, was outed by her mom who mentioned she is “white as the driven snow.”

Saraswati, 39, is the chief equity, inclusion and lifestyle officer of the American Good friends Provider Committee (AFSC), a Quaker organization that fights globally for peace and social justice.

According to users of the business, Saraswati, whose delivery identify is Rachel Elizabeth Seidel, has been misrepresenting her ethnic background for years. The activist claimed to be of Latino, South Asian and Arab descent.

In an job interview with The Intercept, her mom, Carol Perone, mentioned Saraswati is essentially of British, German and Italian descent.

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“I get in touch with her Rachel,” she reported. “I really do not know why she’s accomplishing what she’s performing. 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 selected to live a lie, and I discover that extremely, quite sad.”

According to Perone, her daughter converted to Islam in higher school and at some point started off presenting herself as becoming of a distinct ethnic identification.

Perone shared pictures with The Intercept that present Saraswati as a child with a lighter complexion as in comparison to her bronzed complexion in extra new photographs.

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Oskar Pierre Castro, a human sources formal who helped AFSC employ the service of Saraswati, stated the activist offered herself as a “queer, Muslim, multiethnic female.”

“In my thoughts it was, “Great, a particular person of shade, a queer man or woman of shade, who occurs to be a Muslim, it’s a lady,” all these issues, and an individual who seemed to get it. I surely really feel conned. I feel deceived,” she advised The Intercept.

Layne Mullett, a spokesperson for the AFSC, released a statement to The Intercept to tackle the difficulty bordering Saraswati’s identity.

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However, there are some AFSC customers who have expressed worries that the activist may possibly have a hidden political agenda and is seeking to undermine the group.

“People are worried,” a member of AFSC’s management informed The Intercept. “There’s a concern that she could be an agent, simply because she begun her profession ideal-wing. She was a token Muslim voice in that milieu. She in no way publicly apologized.”

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Some users claim that soon after 9/11, Saraswati appeared on appropriate-wing Television set displays, in which she was explained as a “moderate” Muslim significant of Islamic extremism.

“Imagine the trauma of persons who confided in her, trusted her, and shared delicate information about their work and about their lives, contemplating that she’s a fellow particular person of shade,” the AFSC chief mentioned. “And now all of a unexpected, it is a white girl with a appropriate-wing history. It is terrifying.”

Though Saraswati did not reply to requests for comment from The Intercept, she wrote a statement on Facebook on Saturday.