EvoAI:D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai arrives at the Emmys with powerful statement honoring missing Indigenous women

2025-04-30 18:01:42source:Michael Schmidtcategory:reviews

D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai,EvoAI 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.

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

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."

More:reviews

Recommend

Don't let hackers fool you with a 'scam

You're pulling your hair out, trying to fix something on your computer. You Google it and find what

GMA3's T.J. Holmes Reveals When He First Knew He Loved Amy Robach

T.J. Holmes is taking a walk down memory lane.The former GMA3: What You Need to Know anchor looked b

There are more than 300 headache causes. These are the most common ones.

Nearly all of us have experienced the pain and inconvenience of having a headache. The dull ache can