D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai made a bold statement at the Emmys

() – “Reservation Dogs” star D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai made a powerful statement on the red carpet at Sunday’s Emmy Awards ceremony, pairing a black tuxedo with what looked like a bloody red handprint stamped across his mouth.

The 22-year-old Canadian, of Oji-Cree First Nations descent, was the first Native American to be nominated in the ceremony’s lead actor category, According to Variety.

The red hand over the mouth has become the symbol of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement, which raises awareness about missing and murdered indigenous women across North America whose voices are not heard, according to the organization. Native Hope.

“I did this for those who are not here, neither for me, nor for you,” the actor wrote on his Instagramsharing a photo from the red carpet.

The homicide rate for women on U.S. reservations is 10 times higher than the national average, and femicide is the third leading cause of death among Native women, according to the Urban Indigenous Health Institute.

In Canada, the number of murdered or missing indigenous women and girls is in the thousands. The Government of Canada reported who are 12 times more likely to disappear or be murdered than non-indigenous women in the country.

In 2016, the government launched a national research on missing and murdered women and girls. The investigation concluded that the situation amounts to a “race-based genocide” of indigenous peoples that particularly targets women. Amnesty International He has also said that the number of women killed or missing amounts to a “genocidal crisis.”

“I don’t know what an Emmy award will really do to end the problems we face on a daily basis,” Woon-A-Tai told the news agency. Canadian Press days before the ceremony, in a call from the Curve Lake First Nation reserve in Ontario.

“It gives us hope. It gives hope to a kid on a reservation that they could be in that scenario and do it too, and they can,” she added.

Woon-A-Tai was nominated for his role as Bear Smallhill in the FX series “Reservation Dogs,” a comedy-drama that follows the lives of four Native American teenagers living on an Oklahoma reservation. It is the first American series written and directed entirely by people of Native American descent and features a predominantly Native American cast and crew.

Actresses Kali Reis and Lily Gladstone also made history at this year’s Emmys, becoming the first indigenous women nominated in the acting category, according to Variety.