They may be an ice cream company, but Ben & Jerry’s has been known to fight the good fight. For years the dessert company has spoken out on various political and controversial topics, and they even have an entire section of their website dedicated to the “Issues We Care About.” They’ve supported racial justice, criminal reform, informing the public about climate change, fairtrade, assistance to refugees, LGBTQIA+ equality efforts, and much more. It was years ago that they made it clear that they are 100 percent behind the Black Lives Matter movement, and in the wake of the recent protests, Ben & Jerry’s has released a statement about dismantling white supremacy.
“All of us at Ben & Jerry’s are outraged about the murder of another Black person by Minneapolis police officers last week and the continued violent response by police against protestors,” they wrote on their website. “We have to speak out. We have to stand together with the victims of murder, marginalization, and repression because of their skin color, and with those who seek justice through protests across our country. We have to say his name: George Floyd.”
“What happened to George Floyd in Minneapolis is the fruit borne of toxic seeds planted on the shores of our country in Jamestown in 1619, when the first enslaved men and women arrived on this continent,” the company added. “Floyd is the latest in a long list of names that stretches back to that time and that shore. Some of those names we know — Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Emmett Till, Martin Luther King, Jr. — most we don’t.”
Then, Ben & Jerry’s laid out their four-part plan to help in bringing down white supremacy that included calling President Trump, calling up your congressman, supporting bipartisan legislation that calls for police accountability, and the need for the “Department of Justice to reinvigorate its Civil Rights Division as a staunch defender of the rights of Black and Brown people.” It’s more than ice cream, y’all.
