CNN
—

“Reservation Dogs” star D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai made a strong statement on the red carpet at the Emmy Awards on Sunday: He wore a black tuxedo and what looked like a bloody red handprint on his mouth.

The 22-year-old Canadian, whose ancestors are of Oji Cree Indian descent, was the first indigenous North American to be nominated in the ceremony’s lead actor category, according to Variety.

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

“I did this for those who are not here, not for me, not for all of you,” the actor wrote on Instagram, sharing a photo from the red carpet.

The murder rate among women on reservations in the United States is ten times higher than the national average, and according to the Urban Indian Health Institute, murder is the third leading cause of death for indigenous women.

Thousands of Indigenous women and girls have been killed or disappeared in Canada. The Canadian government reports that they are twelve times more likely to go missing or murdered than non-Indigenous women in the country.

In 2016, the government launched a national inquiry into missing and murdered women and girls. The inquiry concluded that this was a “racially motivated genocide” against indigenous peoples, particularly against women. Amnesty International also stated that the number of murdered and missing people amounted to a “genocidal crisis”.

“I don’t know what an Emmy Award can really do to solve the problems we face on a daily basis,” Woon-A-Tai said in a telephone conversation with the Canadian Press from the Curve Lake First Nation reserve in Ontario a few days before the ceremony.

“It just gives us hope. It gives a kid on the reservation hope that he can stand on that stage and make it, and he can,” he added.

Woon-A-Tai was nominated for his role as Bear Smallhill in the FX series “Reservation Dogs,” a comedy-drama series about the lives of four Native American teenagers living on a reservation in Oklahoma. The series was the first American series to be written and directed entirely by Native American people and to have a cast and crew largely made up of Native Americans.

Actresses Kali Reis and Lily Gladstone also made history at this year’s Emmys: According to Variety, they were the first indigenous women to be nominated in the acting category.