If the name Kay LeClaire sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because you follow indigenous creators on social media, or you’re up-to-date on current events with Native American issues. LeClaire has recently been exposed as a race faker, or so-called “pretendian,” this week in a scandal that is going viral. The revelation that the popular “indigenous” figure is actually a white woman comes as a shock to some, but not to others. Meanwhile, this situation has created an even further divide between legitimate Native American descendants and the tribal relations from whom they’ve been separated. If the latest news is true, then Kay LeClaire has personally damaged efforts for others to reconnect.
The Daily Mail claims that popular indigenous “two-spirit” content creator Kay LeClaire has been fully outed as a white woman pretending to be Native American. LeClaire has made a name for herself in both the topics of gender identity and being indigenous, but apparently has spent a great amount of time being a fraud at both. The report claims that LeClaire even convinced some actual Native Americans of her identity, which she reportedly took two years to cultivate for herself. The New York Post reports that a hobbyist genealogist outed LeClaire after doing extensive work tracing her genealogy. Meanwhile, old posts from before she started identifying as Native American have resurfaced, including one from 2017 where she identified in her post as a white woman.
Adopting a (false) ethnic identity isn’t harmless
Many Americans are brought up with the often-false claim of having Native American ancestry, and some people go to great lengths to appropriate it without doing their research. Meanwhile there are people who are maliciously dishonest, and who falsely adopt an indigenous identity in order to capitalize off of it or get some other kind of benefit. Where does that leave legitimate descendants of Native Americans who want to reconnect with their ancestry? The answer is somewhere in the middle, but always under the scope of scrutiny. That scope of scrutiny widens the more white people falsely appropriate Native American identities.
For every gaggle of white people who are pretending to be Native American for profit, there are always a few people who have legitimate indigenous ancestry, whether it be near or distant. This includes lightskinned people who have no choice but to identify as white whether they’re aware of their indigenous ancestry or not. Unfortunately, since pretendians tend to get loads of attention for their antics, lightskinned Natives end up becoming proverbial casualties. In the end, the entire ordeal just succeeds at creating more racial divisiveness, and it pushes legitimate Native descendants from reconnecting with their heritage.
When you falsely appropriate a Native American identity, you’re doing more than adding to the racial divide that separates families for the benefit of white supremacy. You’re also taking money from legitimate artisans and families. When Kay LeClaire transitioned into an allegedly fake Native American identity, she immediately began capitalizing off of it. She even reportedly went as far as to purchase Native American goods off Etsy before pushing them off as her own creations. There is just so much wrong with this entire situation, when there are indigenous content creators and artists who struggle to gain the recognition they deserve.
What now?
Whatever happens with this scandal involving Kay LeClaire, one thing is for certain: The trust of indigenous people and their allies has been damaged once more. The hope for healing relations between the diaspora and their tribal relations has been bruised. LeClaire has since issued a half-hearted apology without really addressing any of the many allegations that have piled against her. She claims that she will no longer use the Ojibwe name that was “given to her,” and will remove herself from indigenous spaces. It’s curious that she didn’t even try to defend herself once in her statement, which just goes to show that there might be some truth to the accusation that she is a pretendian. That’s really such a shame.
Chelsea Hoffman is a true crime writer with over a decade of professional writing experience. She is best known for her coverage of missing people including the tragic disappearance of Madeleine McCann as well as the heartbreaking cases of Dylan Redwine, Heather Elvis and many others.
