Thread by @jbendery

Today, Native American advocacy groups, their allies and a bunch of Hollywood celebs are joining forces to pressure CNN to fire Rick Santorum huffpost.com/entry/cnn-rick…

I know CNN is trying to ignore Native groups' calls for firing Rick Santorum over his racist comments, but these groups are just getting louder and picking up more allies in racial justice/civil rights circles.

Their collective anger at Santorum is now being directed at CNN.

"CNN has continuously shown that they are a willing participant in the erasure of Native peoples -- racism that whitewashes history and is a threat to all communities of color.” -- @CrystalEchoHawk of Illuminative, a group focused increasing the visibility of Indigenous people

These groups are circulating a fiery letter to CNN execs with 120+ signatures from Native leaders, allies and Hollywood actors ready to lend some star power to this.

Joaquin Phoenix, Ed Helms, Mark Ruffalo, Piper Perabo + Sarah Silverman are going after CNN now.

Their letter highlights other times CNN "erased" Native people in their coverage.

*A CNN anchor referred to Native Gov. Peggy Flanagan as a white woman.

*During the 2020 election, CNN poll used “Something Else” as a category for Native peoples. huffpost.com/entry/cnn-rick…

Santorum's remarks about Native Americans triggered this backlash, tho.

“We birthed a nation from nothing. I mean, there was nothing here. I mean, yes, we have Native Americans, but candidly, there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture.” huffpost.com/entry/rick-san…