Co-Founders of Ben & Jerry’s Say Police Brutality Against Blacks is a “White Problem”

Ben & Jerry’s ice cream co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield are letting their voices be heard by speaking out against police brutality.

In a Nov. 9 opinion piece for USA Today, Cohen and Greenfield wrote, “When police abuse Black people, it’s not a Black problem. It’s a white problem. While Black people bear the brunt of police brutality, it’s white people who allow this racism to continue.”

The duo referenced several key incidents that occurred in Maryland, Kentucky, and Ohio, in which African Americans were assaulted by the police, BET reported.

“When we were growing up, our mothers taught us the policeman was our friend. Black mothers have no choice but to teach their children to fear the police.”

“As uncomfortable as it makes us feel, our inaction feeds and perpetuates injustice. Some of us claim to be neutral, but the reality is that neutrality preserves the status quo. If we choose to use it, we white people have the power to hold rogue cops accountable and create a society where Black mothers can also teach their children that the policeman is their friend.”

Ben and Jerry are proving how serious they are about the issue, they weren’t just speaking about it but they’re also putting up the money. They are co-chairs of the Campaign to End Qualified Immunity, which “includes a coalition of more than 2,000 business leaders, professional athletes, police, and celebrities, as well as dozens of national organizations, including Americans for Prosperity, the ACLU, and hundreds of thousands of concerned citizens, to mobilize people in every state to demand integrity, accountability and better public safety.”

The campaign is fighting and demanding an end to qualified immunity, which was started in the 1960s by the Supreme Court which implemented qualified immunity to stop civilians from suing public officials–including police officers–for constitutional violations. And of course, this includes excessive use of power.

Ben and Jerry are known to use their position of power to bring attention to political and social issues. In 2016, the duo released an official statement in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.