Ben & Jerry's praised for their powerful Black Lives Matter message

The company has released a message in the wake of George Floyd's death
Getty
Ellena Cruse3 June 2020

Ben & Jerry's has been praised for releasing a corporate statement expressing outrage over the death of George Floyd.

The ice cream makers have publicly supported Black Lives Matter in the past, but said now there needs to be "concrete steps" taken to dismantle "white supremacy in all its forms".

The company has drawn up a four-point plan which calls on Donald Trump , Congress and Department of Justice to take action.

The post comes a week after Mr Floyd died during an arrest for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill, after a white officer kneeled on his neck.

A Minneapolis officer kneels on the neck of George Floyd - a handcuffed man who was pleading that he could not breathe
AP

In the statement, Ben &Jerry's said 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.”

It said: “We have to speak out. We have to stand together with the victims of murder, marginalisation, 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.George Floyd was a son, a brother, a father, and a friend.

George Floyd died on Monday, May 25
AP

"The police officer who put his knee on George Floyd’s neck and the police officers who stood by and watched didn’t just murder George Floyd, they stole him. They stole him from his family and his friends, his church and his community, and from his own future."

The company said the incident was the result of inhumane police brutality which is perpetuated by "a culture of white supremacy".

It continued: "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.

George Floyd Protests - In pictures

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"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.

"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."

In the four-point plan, Ben & Jerry's firstly called on Mr Trump and elected officials to commit to a "formal process of healing and reconciliation".

They said instead of calling for 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 normalise their ideas and agendas"

Secondly it has asked Congress to pass legislation to create a commission to study the effects of slavery and discrimination from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate remedies.

"We cannot move forward together as a nation until we begin to grapple with the sins of our past," it added.

"Slavery, Jim Crow, and segregation were systems of legalised and monetised white supremacy for which generations of Black and Brown people paid an immeasurable price. That cost must be acknowledged and the privilege that accrued to some at the expense of others must be reckoned with and redressed."

It's also backed Mr Floyd's family and said a national task force should be created to draft laws aimed at ending racial violence and increase police accountability.

"We can’t continue to fund a criminal justice system that perpetuates mass incarceration while at the same time threatens the lives of a whole segment of the population," it added.

George Floyd's family call for justice

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In its last request, it called on the "Department of Justice to reinvigorate its Civil Rights Division as a staunch defender of the rights of Black and Brown people."

It said: "The DOJ must also reinstate policies rolled back under the Trump Administration, such as consent decrees to curb police abuses.

"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."

It finished by saying, "we have to use this moment to accelerate our nation's long journey towards justice and a more perfect union."

The message was praised on social media with writer Jemele Hill tweeting "this is how you put out a statement".

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