Rutherford Falls co-creator and showrunner on Rick Santorum: How does he keep failing up?

The Washington Post

Sierra Teller Ornelas, the Navajo-American and Mexican-American co-creator of TV's first Native American sitcom, wonders why the CNN commentator can keep failing and flailing without consequences. Writing of Santorum's recent racist comments about Native Americans, Ornelas writes in The Washington Post: "I worked my way up as a TV writer for more than a decade, standing on the shoulders of Indigenous storytellers who came before me, before I was able to make five-ish hours of television featuring Native Americans. Santorum’s failures and lack of expertise have somehow earned him opportunities to opinionate on CNN, a news outlet that claimed it needed a conservative voice, and for some reason, chose his. While making and promoting our show, one concept is often brought up: Representation matters. When you close your eyes and think of a Native American, what do you see? Do you see me: a Navajo mom, juggling writing, making her kid’s lunch and getting her upper half fancy for a Zoom meeting? If representation matters, when do we hold accountable the folks who make it so hard to see who Native Americans actually are? Who offer us up as only extinct or victims? Because that dusty notion has been presented on a loop for centuries. It’s a noise I’m sick of shouting over. Santorum and I work in the same medium, but we tell very different stories. Which one do you want to hear?"