On the 4th of July, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream company called for the return of “stolen Indigenous land” in the United States, starting with Mount Rushmore, the symbol of the American theft of Native lands and the continued oppression of the tribes. The tweet has sparked controversy and boycott calls for their products.
What’s worse for the Vermont ice cream company is that a Native American chief, Don Stevens, has come forth to call on them to put up or shut up, asking them to be the first to return “stolen” land: the ice cream makers’ headquarters in Waterbury Village are built on “tribal land.”
“I have not been in direct communication with Ben and Jerry’s, but I’m always open to any sort of correspondence or communication to figure out the purpose behind the tweet and how we could work together to uplift our community,” Stevens, Chief of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation said, on “Fox & Friends Weekend” Saturday.
The brand, founded by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield in 1978 in Burlington, Vermont, has been owned by the Dutch multinational conglomerate Unilever since 2000. On Tuesday they wrote: “This 4th of July, it’s high time that we recognize the U.S. exists on stolen indigenous land and commit to returning it.”
Chief Stevens had a ready reply, as he told co-host Pete Hegseth, “I think the best way is for Ben & Jerry’s to reach out, contact us as the state-recognized Abenaki tribes in our homeland and where their factories and headquarters sit and have a conversation…”
There are four state-recognized tribes located in Vermont. He also stated that Ben & Jerry’s company headquarters is located in South Burlington, Vermont, which is on Western Abenaki land.
“Our way of being is that we are place-based people. And we shared this place with other animals, trees and beings, so we were stewards of the land,” Chief Stevens explained. “So when we say, how do we manage those resources and how do we uplift all of the people that are in that place? So, ‘Land back’ is kind of a European term….”
Chief Stevens’ tribe struggles with food insecurity and a lack of land so they are eager to discuss Ben and Jerry’s proposal—if it is serious.
Mount Rushmore.
“If we ever had land that we could grow our food and raise our animals on, then it would help with our food insecurity and ultimately reduce our health disparities. So, any time that we could restore the land would be a blessing for our people,” he said.
“We’ve been here for 12,000 years. We’ll be here for the next 12,000. And any time Ben & Jerry’s or any business is willing to work with us and partner in finding ways to utilize the land that we are in to help us, that would be a wonderful thing,” Chief Stevens said.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem chimed in, and no doubt in agreement with many others who read that tweet, responded to Ben & Jerry’s with: “They have ‘no idea’ what they’re doing.”
The ice cream maker’s tweet quickly sparked a barrage of insults, outrage and mockery, with many suggesting that it be given the “Bud Light treatment” — that is, boycott and cancel them as the American public did when the popular beer brand enlisted the trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney as its ambassador.
The latest poll showed that as a result, Anheuser-Busch fell out of the top ten beer brands for the first time, underscoring that American consumers have many other choices of beer or ice cream and they also have the power to punish merchants who meddle in unpopular political causes.
