Met Museum’s ‘Apache’ curator is accused of lying about Native American roots

The credentials of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s first Native American curator have been questioned by indigenous campaigners, according to a report.

Patricia Marroquin Norby, 53, won plaudits in 2020 after being hired by the famed museum, with the Met saying she was chosen after a “long and competitive search.”

She proudly described herself as ‘Apache’ and the designation was praised by the museum.

But Native American groups are telling it The New York Post her roots are fictional.

“She is definitely not Native American,” said one irate critic.

The Met has joined the row, insisting that she is telling the truth because she is a descendant of the ‘Pureapacha peoples’.

But the tribe, rooted in Mexico and parts of Texas, is not among the 574 officially recognized as Native American.

Norby took to social media this week to condemn the allegations against her, claiming she is being targeted by a group of Native American women who are trying to “cancel” her.

She denied that her roots were being questioned and said she is proud of her “roots from the Purepacha and Nde family of Mexico, Northern Mexico and Texas.”

“I’m not going to hide my identity or family history out of shame,” she added.

She has claimed in numerous interviews and promotional work for The Met that she is of Purepacha descent, which is not officially recognized by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Indian Affairs Division.

A spokesperson for the Met also emphasized that ‘Patricia Marroquin Norby is of Purepacha descent and is also descended from indigenous communities in what is now Texas’ – but campaigners say she has no legitimate claim to be Native American.

Kathy Griffin, a member of the Cherokee Nation who has compiled a genealogy of Marroquin Norby’s family, told The Post, “With all the Native American scholars out there, we really wonder why the museum chose Patricia, who is absolutely not Native American.”

Norby insists she is Native American and unfairly targeted by women ‘trying to cancel her’

Griffin claimed that in her analysis of her genealogy, there was no evidence that any of her direct ancestors were enrolled members of an officially designated tribe.

“It’s genocide of Native Americans all over again,” she said. “Now the descendants of (white people) are colonizing us again by claiming to be us.”

A member of the Purepacha tribe added that the Met’s curator “wants to be the only Indian in the room, and that’s not good for the community.”

“It is the first time that someone who claims to be part of our community has behaved in this way,” they said.

Jacqueline Keeler, a Native American activist and writer, also labeled her a “predendian”: a person who falsely claims to have indigenous roots.

“With pretenders, we noticed a lot of warning signs,” she said. ‘One of them is the shift in indigenous identities.

‘You can see that with [Marroquin] Norby and her varying claims.’

Norby was hired to much fanfare in 2020 to oversee the Met’s Native American art