D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai arrives at the Emmys with powerful statement honoring missing Indigenous women
D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, a Native American actor and 2024 Emmy nominee, made a bold statement at Sunday's show without uttering a word.
The "Reservation Dogs" actor walked the red carpet in a striking black tux offset by a bold red handprint across his face. The handprint splayed across his mouth is a symbol of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement.
The red hand over the mouth stands for "all the missing sisters whose voices are not heard," reads the website for the organization Native Hope. "It stands for the silence of the media and law enforcement in the midst of this crisis. It stands for the oppression and subjugation of Native women who are now rising up to say #NoMoreStolenSisters."
According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a 2016 study by the National Institute of Justice found that more than four in five American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced violence in their lifetime, including 56.1 percent who have experienced sexual violence.
Woon-A-Tai, who identifies as Oji-Cree First Nations and Guyanese, was nominated for his first Emmy at Sunday night's awards show for playing Bear Smallhill in the FX on Hulu comedy-drama about Native American youth who live on an Oklahoma reservation.
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The actor has been outspoken in the past, in particular about the need for Native Americans to tell their own stories.
"I think we're pushing to a time when we don't need anybody to tell our story for us," he previously told Elle magazine. "If you want to make a story regarding Native people, it should definitely be mandatory, in my opinion, to have a Native director, Native writer, and Native casting director."
