Additional Coverage:
- D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai arrives at the Emmys with powerful statement honoring missing Indigenous women (newsbreak.com)
D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, a Native American actor and Emmy nominee for 2024, made a notable statement at Sunday’s event without saying a single word.
The “Reservation Dogs” star arrived on the red carpet wearing a sharp black tuxedo, accentuated by a vivid red handprint across his face. This handprint, which covered his mouth, is a powerful symbol associated with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement.
The red hand represents “all the missing sisters whose voices are not heard,” according to the Native Hope organization’s website. It also signifies the silence from media and law enforcement on this issue and the oppression of Native women who are now standing up with the hashtag #NoMoreStolenSisters.
Accompanying this story is a photo of D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai attending the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on September 15, 2024, taken by Amy Sussman for Getty Images.
A 2016 study by the National Institute of Justice, cited by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, revealed that over four in five American Indian and Alaska Native women have faced violence in their lives, with 56.1 percent experiencing sexual violence.
Woon-A-Tai, who is of Oji-Cree First Nations and Guyanese heritage, received his first Emmy nomination for his role as Bear Smallhill in the FX on Hulu comedy-drama about Native American youth on an Oklahoma reservation.
The actor has consistently advocated for Native Americans to tell their own stories. In a previous interview with Elle magazine, he emphasized, “I think we’re moving towards a time when we don’t need outsiders to tell our stories.”
He further suggested, “If a story involves Native people, it should, in my opinion, unquestionably involve a Native director, writer, and casting director.”