Ben & Jerry’s, in an anti-American Independence Day tweet and statement on its website, said that the United States of America is “The United States was founded on stolen indigenous land. This Fourth of July, let’s commit to returning it.”
Well, now that a company that runs its operation on land in America accused America of being on stolen land, the chief of one of the tribes from which land was taken is asking for the land back and accusing Ben & Jerry’s of being on stolen land.
That chief is Don Stevens, the chief of the Nulhegan Band of The Coosuk Abenaki Nation. He told the New York Post that hat if the woke ice cream maker is “sincere” in its claims about stolen land, then it needs to reach out to him because its headquarters in Burlington, Vermont, is located on Western Abanaki land. Stevens added that he “looks forward to any kind of correspondence with the brand to see how they can better benefit Indigenous people.”
Continuing, he told the NYP that “If you look at the [Abenaki] traditional way of being, we are place-based people. Before recognized tribes in the state, we were the ones who were in this place.” He added that his tribe members view themselves as “stewards of the land” and that “Humans have a responsibility to take care of resources in places because we have the ability to destroy.”
That’s not all. Rich Holschuh, spokesman for the Elnu Abenaki tribe and chair of the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs spoke to Fox News Digital about the situation, saying that he was in contact with Ben & Jerry’s about the land.
He said, “We are happy to engage with anyone who wants to talk about the realities of indigenous experiences here. They share many experiences and a lot of that involves around separating those people from their homeland.” Holschuh added, “The land is still here and the people are still here.”
This isn’t the woke ice cream’s brand first entrance into divisive politics and whether settled land obtained in wars of conquest is legitimately obtained. It also did so in a boycott of certain territory in Israel, writing, “We believe it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). We also hear and recognize the concerns shared with us by our fans and trusted partners. We have a longstanding partnership with our licensee, who manufactures Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in Israel and distributes it in the region. We have been working to change this, and so we have informed our licensee that we will not renew the license agreement when it expires at the end of next year.”
Despite its wokeness, the brand is hardly a responsible corporation, as a lawsuit alleges that it uses child labor in its supply chain even as it uses its supposed commitment to social justice to market itself to liberals and attempt to appear like something other than a greedy corporation.
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