Let there be no doubt where Ben & Jerry’s stands. Just less than a week after the Jan.6 protest at the United States Capitol, the ice cream makers came forward with a statement denouncing white supremacy.
The ice cream maker has called on Americans to “dismantle white supremacy” and “grapple with the sins of our past” as nationwide protests against racial injustice stretch into their eighth day.
These statements mostly fall into two categories: They are the either vague language used as an attempt to virtue signal without really saying anything, or they say Black Lives Matter and directly call out white supremacy, structural inequalities, and police brutality while calling for justice for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Here’s what Ben & Jerry’s wrote in a statement published online on January 11, 2021:
“The events of January 6, 2021, were not a protest—it was a riot to uphold white supremacy. It was allowed to happen. The mostly white insurrectionists roamed freely and without consequence through the heart of our democracy. The only explanation is that this was allowed to happen because they were white—not Black, Brown, or Indigenous people.
“The white mob that made its way to the dais of the US House of Representatives and the Senate, literally sitting in the chair the vice president had been in minutes before, is the ultimate embodiment of white privilege. We saw two Americas on January 6. In one America, we saw record voter turnout driven by Black voters that resulted in the election of the first Black and first Jewish senators from the state of Georgia—our democracy at its best.
“In second America, we saw a mostly white mob, encouraged by the president, violently invade the seat of our democracy in an attempt to overturn a free and fair election. It was a failed coup—our democracy in peril. Both of these Americas are us. Black and Brown people have long understood this. They’ve been exposed to the white tyranny that was on full display at the January 6 riot since the founding of our nation. It’s the double standard that undergirds white supremacy in our nation.
“Both of these Americas are us. How we respond to the events of January 6 will determine which America we will be. Resign, impeach, 25th Amendment… not one more day.”
Jerry Greenfield, the co-founder of the ice cream maker, believes that the country needs to take a closer look at criminal justice reform as Joe Biden takes over:
“I think we need to start with accountability for police,” Greenfield said. “You know, there are essential functions that police perform, and that is a wonderful thing. But, there are often times when police are not operating at their best, let’s say it that way. And quite simply, there is no accountability for police. We’re not going to have trust between communities and police until the police start having some accountability. Yet, for police, there is a legal doctrine called qualified immunity, which essentially shields them from accountability.”
Ben & Jerry’s is the iconic ice cream brand founded in 1978 in Burlington, Vermont by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield. Ben and Jerry were childhood pals, both growing up in Jewish families on Long Island. Growing up in Merrick, New York, Ben dreamed of becoming “a modern-day Judah Maccabee” because “he seemed like a really good guy. He helped his people and he gave the world Hanukkah.”
Jerry was more realistic, thinking he “wanted to become a doctor,” because “it’s what Jewish kids from Long Island who were good in science did.” Obviously, Ben did not become a modern-day Judah Maccabee and Jerry did not become a doctor, but they instead have gifted us with something far superior: Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.
Source: AWM
idiots but they being gay already pointed to that