Auli’i Cravalho draws awareness to violence against Indigenous women at The Power premiere in NYC

The promotional push for the new science fiction drama series The Power continued on with the premiere screening at the DGA Theater in New York City.

One of the main stars, Auliʻi Cravalho, turned more than a few heads when she arrived to the event with a large red handprint painted on her face, in an act of solidarity with Indigenous women and the No More Stolen Sisters movement.

‘I am representing No More Stolen Sisters. It is about missing and murdered indigenous women,’ the Kohala, Hawaii native, who plays the role of Jos Cleary-Lopez, revealed in an interview posted on the Good Morning America Instagram page. 

‘We were lucky enough to shoot in Vancouver for this series. And I saw many a monument dedicated to them,’ Cravalho, 22, said of her Indigenous sisters, before sharing a harrowing statistic.

‘Indigenous women are 10 times more likely to be kidnapped or abducted and it is incredibly frustrating that there are not enough cases that are actually followed up with, and it points to police and how they are not using their funds correctly,’ she said while on the red carpet.

Violence against Indigenous women has reached unprecedented levels on tribal lands in the U.S. and in Alaska Native villages. 

More than four in five American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced violence, and more than one in two have experienced sexual violence, according to the Indian Law Resource Center.

While explaining her support for the non-profit, Cravalho would also confess that she also ‘just really wanted to bring awareness to a movement when we are at a female empowered event, and showing such wonderful storylines. So I’m glad it’s being received well.’

The red handprint is typically painted across the mouth as the symbol of solidarity with missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in North America.

The Amnesty website website describes No More Stolen Sisters as a human rights response to discrimination and violence against Indigenous women.

‘Indigenous women and girls have the right to be safe and free from violence,’ it reads on the website cover page. ‘When a woman is targeted with violence because of her gender or Indigenous identity, her fundamental rights are abused. And when state authorities do not offer her adequate protection because of her gender or Indigenous identity, those rights are violated.’

An Indigenous woman or girl in Canada, regardless of age or socio-economic status, are at least three times more likely to experience violence and at least six times more likely to be murdered, than any other woman or girl in Canada, the non-profit organization declared.

Amnesty is calling for ‘a concerted, national response that is comprehensive, coordinated, well-resourced, and developed in collaboration with Indigenous women and girls themselves’, along with a national public inquiry and a regular, comprehensive data collection on violence against Indigenous women in official crime statistics. 

Lending her voice: ‘I am representing No More Stolen Sisters. It is about missing and murdered indigenous women,’ the Kohala, Hawaii native, who plays the role of Jos Cleary-Lopez, revealed in an interview posted on the Good Morning America Instagram page

Colleagues: Cravalho is among the main cast for Amazon Prime Video science fiction drama series The Power along with Toni Collette and John Leguizamo

Her take: While on the red carpet, the actress claimed ‘Indigenous women are 10 times more likely to be kidnapped or abducted and it is incredibly frustrating that there are not enough cases that are actually followed up with’ by police

Shining a light: While explaining her support for No More Stolen Sisters, Cravalho would also confess that she also ‘just really wanted to bring awareness to a movement when we are at a female empowered event, and showing such wonderful storylines’

In The Power, all teenage girls in the world realize they’ve developed the ability to electrocute people at will.

The British science fiction drama, based on Naomi Alderman’s 2016 novel of the same name, focuses on a specific group teenaged girls who learn to monitor this newfound gift that hereditary, inbuilt, and can’t be taken away from them. They go on to learn that they can even awaken the Power in older women. Soon enough nearly every woman in the world can do it.  

It stars Margot Cleary-Lopez as the mayor of Seattle and a mother of three kids, which includes Cravalho’s character Jos Cleary-Lopez.

John Leguizamo plays the role of Rob Lopez, Mayor Cleary-Lopez’s husband.

The cast also includes Toheeb Jimoh, Ria Zmitrowicz, Halle Bush, Nico Hiraga, Heather Agyepong, Daniela Vega, Eddie Marsan, Archie Rush, Gerrison Machado, Pietra Castro and Zrinka Cvitešić, among others. 

The first three episodes of The Power will premiere on Amazon Prime Video on March 31, with the remaining six episodes available each Friday until the season one finale on May 12. 

Sci-fi drama: In The Power, all teenage girls in the world realize they’ve developed the ability to electrocute people at will

Coming: The first three episodes of The Power will premiere on Amazon Prime Video on March 31, with the remaining six episodes available each Friday until the season one finale on May 12