Ben & Jerry's demands justice for George Floyd, calls out 'culture of white supremacy' in police force
Ben & Jerry's is being applauded for an impassioned corporate statement it released this week sharing their thoughts over the death of George Floyd. The ice cream giant said in a statement that its entire team is “outraged about the murder of another Black person by Minneapolis police officers last week and the continued violent response by police against protestors.” “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,” it continued.
Floyd, a black father of two, died at the age of 46 last Monday after a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, was captured on camera kneeling on his neck for a disturbing eight minutes during an arrest over a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin continued to kneel on Floyd's neck despite his repeated pleas that he couldn't breathe. Chauvin and three other officers involved in the arrest have since been fired from the Minneapolis Police Department, with Chauvin facing charges of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
In its statement this week, Ben & Jerry's called Floyd's death "murder" and said it "was the result of inhumane police brutality that is perpetuated by a culture of white supremacy.” “What happened to George Floyd was not the result of a bad apple; it was the predictable consequence of a racist and prejudiced system and culture that has treated Black bodies as the enemy from the beginning,” the company said.
“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,” it continued. “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.”
The ice cream makers also called for a number of measures to be taken in a bid to “dismantle white supremacy in all its forms” in the country. Firstly, they urged President Donald J. Trump and other leaders to commit the "nation to a formal process of healing and reconciliation.”
“Instead of calling for the use of aggressive tactics on protestors, the President must take the first step by disavowing white supremacists and nationalist groups that overtly support him, and by not using his Twitter feed to promote and normalize their ideas and agendas,” the company said.
Furthermore, it called on Congress to pass legislation “that would create a commission to study the effects of slavery and discrimination from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate remedies” and added that it supports Floyd’s family’s “call to create a national task force that would draft bipartisan legislation aimed at ending racial violence and increasing police accountability.”
“Unless and until white America is willing to collectively acknowledge its privilege, take responsibility for its past and the impact it has on the present, and commit to creating a future steeped in justice, the list of names that George Floyd has been added to will never end,” the company said.
Ben & Jerry's statement quickly stood out on social media and drew praise from prominent figures who appreciated its corporate messaging. "@benandjerrys just put all other corporate statements to shame. THIS is how you put out a statement," journalist Jemele Hill tweeted.
"As far as corporate accounts, you won't see anything better than this. Doesn't mean I'm running out to buy Ben and Jerry's,.but it's the sorta thing I'll remember next time I'm in the ice cream section and could motivate me to purchase," NBA writer Khalid Salaam added.
"As usual, Ben & Jerry is the only corporate messaging worth reading," writer Kara Brown chimed in.
"Read the Ben & Jerry’s statement on BLM and George Floyd and recognize how pathetically short every precious ivory tower’s statement falls in comparison to two dudes selling ice cream," another user wrote.