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 FOX News and Newsmax. She spoke about the difficulties Muslim women face in a documentary by media company Clarion Project, listed...
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