NEW YORK (VINnews) — The progressive views of Ben and Jerry’s, the iconic ice cream maker, may have landed it in trouble. In a July 4 tweet marking the US Independence Day, the company wrote that “This 4th of July, it’s high time we recognize that the U.S. exists on stolen indigenous land and commit to returning it.”
The company said that while July 4 festivities like fireworks, parades and barbecues are entertaining, they “distract” from the fact America was settled on stolen land. In a news release, it said the U.S. should commit to returning the land by starting with giving Mount Rushmore to the Lakota peoples along with a petition.
In response to the call by Ben and Jerry’s, an indigenous native American chief in Vermont said he would be open to talking with the ice cream maker about taking back the land under its headquarters, according to a report by Fox Business news.
Don Stevens — chief of the Nulhegan Band of The Coosuk Abenaki Nation — told the New York Post that he “looks forward to any kind of correspondence with the brand to see how they can better benefit indigenous people,” noting that the company’s South Burlington, Vermont, headquarters is on Western Abenaki land.
“If you look at the [Abenaki] traditional way of being, we are place-based people,” Stevens told the Post. “Before recognized tribes in the state, we were the ones who were in this place.”
Rich Holschuh, spokesman for the Elnu Abenaki tribe and chair of the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs, said he was in contact with Ben & Jerry’s for several years about various matters, as well as the current situation, according to Fox News Digital.
“We are happy to engage with anyone who wants to talk about the realities of indigenous experiences here,” he said. “They share many experiences and a lot of that involves around separating those people from their homeland.”
Stevens declined to speculate on how the Lakota might react to Ben & Jerry’s comments on Mount Rushmore, according to the Post.
“I have not had a conversation with them (Ben & Jerry’s), so I cannot make a judgement,” he said.
The Abenaki people have been on that land that eventually became Vermont for 12,000 years, the Abenaki Alliance said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“The land is still here and the people are still here,” Holschuh said.
On a previous occasion, Ben and Jerry’s was also embroiled in political controversy over land after it decided in 2021 to stop selling ice cream in “Israeli-occupied territories”, saying that to do so was “inconsistent with our values.” When its parent company Unilever sold its interest in the ice-cream to an Israeli license holder who continued to sell the brand in Judea and Samaria, Ben and Jerry’s attempted to challenge the decision, claiming harm to its “core values”. However a US court rejected the claim, stating that the idea the company’s messaging could be marred or customers could become confused about its core values was “too speculative”.
Source: VosIzNeias
