Ben & Jerry’s urges return of Indigenous land in July 4 post
- Ben & Jerry's said land should be given back to Indigenous communities
- Some called for a boycott of the Vermont-based ice cream company
- Ben & Jerry's has spoken out on social justice issues before
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(NewsNation) — Vermont-based ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s in a Fourth of July statement called for the return of “stolen Indigenous land” starting with Mount Rushmore.
“This 4th of July, it’s high time we recognize that the US exists on stolen Indigenous land and commit to returning it,” Ben & Jerry’s said on its Twitter page Tuesday.
On its website, the company talked about the importance of Mount Rushmore to Indigenous communities. Before South Dakota became a state, Ben & Jerry’s wrote, the mountain was known as Tunkasila Sakpe, or The Six Grandfathers, to the Lakota Sioux. It rises up from the Black Hills, Ben & Jerry’s wrote, which is land the Sioux consider sacred.
“The Great Sioux Nation, as the tribes in the area were collectively known, was forced to surrender its land and relocate to smaller reservations on land that the government considered ‘useless,'” Ben & Jerry’s went on. “From there, in 1927, they watched as their holy mountain, now located on land known as South Dakota, was desecrated and dynamited to honor their colonizers, four white men — two of whom enslaved people and all of whom were hostile to Indigenous people and values.”
With this in mind, Ben & Jerry’s said, the U.S. needs to “commit to returning” the mountain.
Backlash to this statement was swift, with some saying the company was “virtue-signaling” and others threatening to boycott it.
“We need to make Ben and Jerry’s (sic) go out of business,” someone said. “Please join me.
However, some also supported the move: one Twitter user said seeing a company “tell the real truth” about the land evoked many emotions for them.
“So often Indigenous people are a footnote in social justice movements because to acknowledge our existence is to feel discomfort & accept that you are actively participating in the displacement of living people,” they wrote. “I know even this is truly the bare minimum but it still made me cry.”
Ben & Jerry’s has spoken out about a number of topics in the past, including decrying the Supreme’s Court recent ruling on affirmative action.
On its website, Ben & Jerry’s said issues it cares about include racial justice, fair trade and refugee rights.
“We love making ice cream — but using our business to make the world a better place gives our work its meaning,” it said. “In other words: We use ice cream to change the world.”
