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Ben & Jerry's ice cream did something that few other major companies have; they fought for Indigenous people's land. On the 4th of July, the ice cream company called out the irony of Independence Day when this land is only free for some. The statement was controversial for “patriots” and American “nationalists” who want to see their country as perfect.
Ben & Jerry's tweeted on the 4th of July their piece. Alongside an informational article, which many people probably didn't even read, they tweeted: “The United States was founded on stolen indigenous land. This Fourth of July, let’s commit to returning it.”
The informational argued that the US was founded on stolen land and fought for returning Mount Rushmore to the Lakota Sioux people.
For those who don't know, the land of Mount Rushmore initially belonged to the Lakota tribe. Their land was stolen from them once gold was discovered there, and the US government made room for gold miners and relocated the Lakota to more “useless” land. However, that land is known as the Black Hills to the Lakota, and the land is sacred. The Black Hills are “the heart of everything that is.”
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Americans added insult to injury once they blasted the faces of four American presidents into their sacred land, two of whom enslaved the Lakota and all were hostile towards them. The Lakota people have protested throughout time, and this current movement started in 2020 with the Land Back movement.
The US Supreme Court ruled in the 80s that Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills was stolen.”They awarded the Sioux $105 million in damages, but the tribes refused the payment. Why? Because this sacred land is theirs—and it’s not for sale,” their website reads.
“But what is the meaning of Independence Day for those whose land this country stole, those who were murdered and forced with brutal violence onto reservations, those who were pushed from their holy places and denied their freedom? The faces on Mount Rushmore are the faces of men who actively worked to destroy Indigenous cultures and ways of life, to deny Indigenous people their basic rights.”
