FRISCO, Texas — Bert Arista is a Dallas Cowboy — kind of. He’s not running routes or calling plays, but he does create graphics for the organization. 

“I have been blessed for the last eight years to work for one of the most prestigious organizations. [It is a] professionally motivating, caring organization,” Artista said. 

He’s designed a lot of cool art for the organization such as its Dia de Los Muertos campaign, but the work he’s most proud of is a project outside of work, "Coywolf." It’s a comic book that he helped bring to life. 

“I wanted to create character to be like that. I want Canalita to be this strong, Hispanic character that also seems to address these type of issues, where women aren’t just looked at the same. 

Canelita is an Afro-Indigenous superhero who seeks justice for the murder of her parents. The idea was thought up by Gabe Hernandez, who is from San Antonio but lives in the DFW.

“A superhero that we know based on our mothers and our background — very diverse, action-figured woman who is a Native Afro Latina,” Hernandez said. 

Hernandez and Arista also showed us the back of the comics, which also draw attention to various causes for Indigenous women. 

“On the back you can go the Coalition of the Missing and Indigenous Murdered Women of USA. There’s a site where you can contribute,” Arista said. 

More than four in five Native American Indian and Alaskan Native women have experienced violence in their lifetimes, and this includes 56% who have experienced sexual violence and 55% who have experienced physical violence. 

“Bringing in the awareness of Indigenous women in their communities could be a way to give back to what we are taking. Because we are taking pieces of their culture, pieces of the entire Southwest culture. So we have to give back,” Arista said. 

They want the issues that Canelita is shining a light on to be accurate so they conduct interviews and open forums. 

“We sit down and have a preview on Book 3 before we launch it. We get a lot of feedback. We will take the readers' concerns and questionnaires,” Hernandez said. 

So that this Afro-Indigenous Latina superhero can get justice.