Ice cream manufacturer Ben & Jerry's has issued a lengthy statement in response to George Floyd's death - the 46-year-old black man who passed away following his arrest by Minneapolis police.
The statement began: "All of us at Ben & Jerry's are outraged about the murder of another black person by Minneapolis police officers last week and the continued violent response by police against protesters.
"We have to speak out. We have to stand together with the victims of murder, marginalization and repression because of their skin color, and with those who seek justice through protests across our country. We have to say his name: George Floyd."
Ben & Jerry's have taken the stance that Floyd's death on May 25 was not the result of a "bad apple" in the Minneapolis Police Department, but the "predictable consequence" of the current justice system in the US.
Per the Guardian, after reviewing the bodycam footage of Floyd's arrest, state charging documents report that the now-former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin held his knee on Floyd’s neck for a total of nearly nine minutes.
It also states that Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd's neck for two minutes and 43 seconds after Floyd had become non-responsive.
The ice cream manufacturer didn't just mention the death of Floyd, but the killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, and Martin Luther King Jr., stating that they were the result of "toxic seeds planted on the shores of our country" long ago.
Ben & Jerry's then asked President Trump to denounce the racist groups that "overtly support him," and to not use his Twitter account to "promote and normalize their ideas and agendas."
"The [Department of Justice] must also reinstate policies rolled back under the Trump administration, such as consent decrees to curb police abuses."
Ben & Jerry's also supported the Congressional bill H.R. 40, which, for anyone unfamiliar with the bill, supports reparation proposals, the study of slavery and discrimination from the early 17th century onward, and calls for the government to establish a task force for "ending racial violence and increasing police accountability."
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