Authentic Native Stories . . . Finally

From NPR - 

Native Americans Take Over The Writers' Room and Tell Their Own Stories 

Dustin Milligan, Ed Helms, Sierra Teller Ornelas, Jesse Leigh, Tai Leclaire and Kimberly Guerrero arrive at the Peacock Series "Rutherford Falls" partnership with The Autry of the American West to celebrate Native American storytelling event at the Autry Museum of the American West on June 26, 2021 in Los Angeles, California.

Amanda Edwards/Getty Images

After decades of Indigenous stories told by non-Natives, two shows from this past year signal a change.

Reservation Dogs from FX on Hulu was created by and stars Native people. It follows four Indigenous teenagers growing up on a reservation in rural Oklahoma, with dreams of adventuring to California. Vincent Schilling, a Native journalist and critic for Rotten Tomatoes, calls Reservation Dogs 'a show about Native American resilience.'

Rutherford Falls is a sitcom on NBC's streaming platform, Peacock, which follows a conflict over a historical statue in a small town. When the show was co-created by Sierra Teller Ornelas, she became the first Native American showrunner of television comedy. Teller Ornelas told Audie Cornish this year: "There are five Native writers on staff. We had a Native director for four of the episodes, and this is really a reflection of our shared experience as Native people from nations all over the country."

https://www.npr.org/2021/10/07/1044061754/native-americans-take-over-the-writers-room-and-tell-their-own-stories