(Daily Mail) Ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s sparked outrage with a July 4th tweet calling for the United States to return ‘stolen indigenous land’ starting with giving Mount Rushmore back to the Lakota Sioux tribe.
The company, which was founded by longtime Bernie Sanders allies Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenwood but has since been sold to British multinational Unilever, tweeted the message to its 494,000 followers.
‘This 4th of July, it’s high time we recognize that the US exists on stolen Indigenous land and commit to returning it,’ the company’s official account wrote before suggesting Mount Rushmore should be handed back to its original owners.
The tweet sparked immediate outrage on social media, with many disgusted customers using the #boycottbenandjerrys hashtag to slam the message as anti-American sentiment on a day meant to celebrate the United States.
One commenter compared the statement to Bud Light partnering with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney – which resulted in the beer giant losing more than $20 billion in market value.
Ben and Jerry’s lead by CEO Dave Stever (pictured) sparked outrage on Tuesday with a tweet to its 494,000 followers
The ice cream brand, which has long courted progressive audiences, called for the United States to return ‘stolen indigenous land’
Another commenter called for ‘#boycottbenandjerrys for being hateful and divisive to Americans on the 4th of July.’
Joseph Massey called them hypocrites for all the cows that had to suffer to make the company’s ice cream.
‘First you need to apologize to the millions of cows you milked without consent,’ he wrote. ‘Your product is colonialist misogyny in the form of an overpriced desert. Stop feeding the people cow trauma.’
Kevin Dalton continued on the hypocrisy, noting that technically, Ben & Jerry’s own factories were on stolen land.
‘I look forward to the virtue signaling Ben & Jerry’s returning their factory’s land to the Abenaki and Mohican Native Americans that have lived in Vermont for 10,000 years.’
Eli Klein chimed in: ‘A commitment to give America away sounds a bit much.’
‘This is absolutely stupid and pandering nonsense,’ added Libby Emmons.
Ben & Jerry’s has, throughout its history, been a supporter of far left causes and partnered with various movements for social justice.
The tweet then linked to a post on the company’s website explaining why America should ‘start with Mount Rushmore’ and how they hope to support a movement that would dismantle ‘white supremacy and systems of oppression.’
‘Ah, the Fourth of July. Who doesn’t love a good parade, some tasty barbecue, and a stirring fireworks display? The only problem with all that, though, is that it can distract from an essential truth about this nation’s birth: The US was founded on stolen Indigenous land,’ they wrote.
They said the Lakota Sioux tribe referred to Mount Rushmore as Tunkasila Sakpe and that the tribe considers the land sacred.
Ben & Jerry’s also cites treaties that allowed the tribes to keep Mount Rushmore dating back to the 1920s and a Supreme Court decision that ruled the land had, in fact, been stolen from the Lakota tribe after they staged a sit-in in 1970.
The court ruled that the Lakota Sioux were due $105million but the tribes refused payment, demanding their land be returned.
The ice cream giant then announced its support for the Land Back Movement, which it says is ‘about restoring the rights and freedoms of Indigenous people.’
‘It’s about dismantling white supremacy and systems of oppression and ensuring that Indigenous people can again govern the land their communities called home for thousands of years.’
The company said the Lakota Sioux tribe referred to Mount Rushmore as Tunkasila Sakpe and that the tribe considers the land sacred
