General > Frauds
Nibiiwakamigkwe AKA Kay LeClaire AKA Kathryn Le Claire in Madison, Wisconsin
niigankwe:
I was able to grab a screenshot from their FB in 2017 where they admit to being a "white woman." See attachment.
[Just changed title slightly and moved to Frauds. -Al]
cellophane:
--- Quote from: shkodenhskwe on December 27, 2022, 04:00:13 pm ---I was put in touch with one of the members of the collective of which Kay is part owner, Nipinet, who let me know that they've seen legal documents that her legal name is Kathryn Le Claire and her parents are Carol and Brian. They, too, have screenshots of Kay's appearance changing over time and first hand accounts of tanning and dyeing their hair. I don't know if it helps.
--- End quote ---
Did you get the impression then that Nipinet knows that Kay is white? What does Nipinet think about this?
Advanced Smite:
I was contacted through private message by someone that facilitated putting Nipinet into contact with me. After spending a significant amount of time on general research and genealogy for this thread, I had many questions about how “nibiiwakamigkwe” came to exist and whether the people around them had been suspicious - or possibly even complicit. I appreciated the opportunity to ask Nipinet some of those questions.
As I expressed earlier in this post, I understand how the actual Native American (NA) individuals around “nibiiwakamigkwe” aka Kay LeClaire aka Kathryn Le Claire (KL) could have found themselves in this situation.
--- Quote ---KL has genuinely Indigenous people around them. Sometimes all it takes is one person to give you legitimacy and others follow...then when the red flags pop up it's hard to question the person. Especially when your work is intertwined with them.
--- End quote ---
Nipinet told me they met KL in the fall of 2019 through friends that vouched for KL. KL’s faux NA identity would have already been established at that point in time. Nipinet questioned some aspects of KL’s story but attributed the inconsistencies to other factors in KL’s life. I don’t believe Nipinet thought that KL’s entire NA identity was a lie though. As for “What does Nipinet think about this?” I’ve been given permission to say that Nipinet is angry.
I was able to put this thread together as an objective outsider because I only had publicly available information. I hadn’t heard more detailed stories and explanations from KL. We didn't have personal history together as friends or colleagues. I didn’t have feelings, positive or negative, towards KL at the beginning. My only thought initially was that KL’s claims seemed genealogically unlikely, not impossible, but unusual.
Now Nipinet and others with personal knowledge of KL are taking over where I left off. For example, I found information that called into question the provenance of a piece of KL’s art. I didn’t feel comfortable adding it to NAFPS without additional evidence. Others close to the situation have confirmed those suspicions with a great deal of hard work. This runs deep and it’s my belief (and hope) that the details are going to be shared beyond this forum soon.
KL wrote an article about the name of a music venue and restaurant in Madison, Wisconsin, previously known as The Winnebago, back in 2020. A quote from that article below highlights the unbelievable hypocrisy of Kay LeClaire aka Kathryn Le Claire.
--- Quote ---"Once again, white folks’ emotions, labor, and intentions carry more weight than ours. This is why allyship and accountability are so important, but holding these prejudices is not something that is easily forgivable of the owners. So I’m glad the name is going, but I’m not happy the institutions that allowed it to be stolen in the first place remain. For over 500 years, Indigenous Peoples have not controlled our narratives and representations. Our exclusion has been built into inclusion for others. The foundation of any equality work cannot be oppression. Let’s do better."
Not Yours to Use (Our Lives - Dear Queer White People), February 12, 2020 - By Nibiiwakamigkwe
Article Link: https://ourliveswisconsin.com/article/not-yours-to-use/
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20211028174035/https://ourliveswisconsin.com/article/not-yours-to-use/
--- End quote ---
Native Americans (including myself) have already started investing emotion and labor towards fixing the damage left by Kay LeClaire aka Kathryn Le Claire. I wonder if KL will expect more forgiveness than they were willing to give?
I can be reached by email at advancedsmite@protonmail.com with questions about the sources used to compile this thread.
Advanced Smite:
Someone directed my attention to a specific timestamp of a podcast in which KL provides a more detailed description of their alleged ancestry. KL even claims to be an "Austrian Jew" which is bolded and underlined in the transcribed excerpt below.
May 18, 2020 - Tone Madison Podcast "Conduit: Nibiiwakamigkwe on the challenges to Indigenous artists"
Direct Link: https://soundcloud.com/tonemsn/conduit-nibiiwakamigkwe-on-the-challenges-to-indigenous-artists
Transcription begins at 1:07:19.
--- Quote ---Yeah. So, well, also, “Hi!” Fellow Latina person here. My dad is Cuban. <laughter> But my Spanish is terrible, so I apologize. So, for me it’s always kind of acknowledging the breakdown of everything. And I want to acknowledge that I’m still French Canadian, and a little bit of Swedish and a little bit of Austrian are in there. And I think a really good way that I’ve been fighting this is by acknowledging my ancestors a little bit better. When Native children are born, we receive this little - besides our tribal enrollment cards, we receive this nice little piece of paper called a CDIB, Certificate Degree of Indian Blood, which is just as messed up as you think it is – as it sounds. <laughter> And it’s basically saying, “how much Native are you” and so for me, mine says 3/8. And then 1/4 - I’m 1/4 Cuban and then I am 3/8, you know, Europe (folx?). And so, for me I like to acknowledge that by saying well three of my great-grandparents are Native, which is true. And you know two of them are Cuban and 3 of them are European and white. Or specifically, you know, breaking down the different locations that they’re from. So, it's been really good to kind of look at in terms of that way instead of “Oh, I am <trails off>” breaking me down physically into 3/8, 3/8, 1/4. Um, acknowledging grandparents and great-grandparents or possibly, if you have a very very diverse background, great-great-grandparents. <laughter>
Just for better acknowledgement of where you come from - has been really nice for me. And I know that isn’t always available to everyone. For a lot of Native people, it’s very available because, again, they track us like racing greyhounds and it’s weird. <laughter> But, however, you know, I think acknowledging the living people behind who you are has been really good. It’s, you know, it’s a way of preventing yourself from being divided up. You know, I am completely Anishinaabe, I am completely Onyota'a:ka, I am completely Metis, I’m completely Austrian Jew, I’m still completely Swedish, I’m completely French Canadian, and completely Cuban. It’s having that acknowledgement that I can be all of those things, all at once, has been really good.
However, I do acknowledge that I have white passing privilege which means that a lot of artwork I do is collaborative because I think that it’s really good to have – I mean, first of all, I think it’s really good to employ more artists no matter what you do. If you can employ one, maybe you can employ two? So, I prefer to do that whenever I can. And that also allows me to kind of exercise the privilege that I have in the way that I look and the way I present myself and transfer that a little bit for another person. This isn’t really done as a way of charity or something. It’s more of like they can offer a perspective that I can’t, and I would prefer to…<technical issues with audio quality>
However, I’ve gotten a little more assertive when that privilege has been questioned by those that have more white privilege than I do. I think it is kind of problematic when, you know, a Euro-American, a white person, you know someone who really benefits from the colonial state says “Well, how Native are you really?” or “Are you sure you’re Native?” Or something. Well, I’m pretty sure, yeah. <laughter> You know? Usually, my favorite response when someone asks “Well, how Native are you?” is - I’ll just say “Very.” And be done with it. And, you know, so it’s one of those situations where you don’t really owe them an explanation and that is still a form of continued colonial violence. If they are repeatedly trying to question your place in your community, it’s really only your own community’s place to decide whether or not you’re a part of it.
--- End quote ---
Diana:
Well it looks like Advancesmite has got ol faker Kathryn Leclaire on the run. She has deleted her Facebook page and her Instagram account. It appears word gets around fast!
https://www.facebook.com/fakeindians?mibextid=ZbWKwL
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