Silence Is NOT An Option

Silence Is NOT An Option

All of us at Ben & Jerry’s are outraged(ˈoutˌrāj) about the murder(ˈmərdər) of another Black person by Minneapolis(ˌminēˈapələs) police(pəˈlēs) officers last week and the continued violent(ˈvī(ə)lənt) response by police against protestors(ˈprōˌtestər, prəˈtestər). We have to speak out. We have to stand together with the victims(ˈviktəm) of murder, marginalization(ˌmärjənələˈzāSHən, ˌmärjənəˌlīˈzāSHən), and repression(rəˈpreSH(ə)n) because of their skin color, and with those who seek justice(ˈjəstəs) through protests across our country. We have to say his name: George Floyd.

George Floyd was a son, a brother, a father, and a friend. The police officer who put his knee(nē) on George Floyd’s neck(nek) and the police officers who stood by and watched didn’t just murder George Floyd, they stole(stōl) him. They stole him from his family and his friends, his church and his community, and from his own future.

The murder of George Floyd was the result of inhumane(ˈinhyo͞oˈmān) police brutality(bro͞oˈtalədē) that is perpetuated(pərˈpeCHo͞oˌāt) by a culture of white supremacy(so͞o-,səˈpreməsē). What happened to George Floyd was not the result of a bad apple; it was the predictable consequence of a racist(ˈrāsəst) and prejudiced(ˈprejədəst) system and culture that has treated Black bodies as the enemy(ˈenəmē) from the beginning. What happened to George Floyd in Minneapolis is the fruit(fro͞ot) borne(bôrn) of toxic(ˈtäksik) seeds planted on the shores(SHôr) of our country in Jamestown(ˈjāmzˌtoun) in 1619, when the first enslaved(inˈslāv, enˈslāv) men and women arrived on this continent(ˈkänt(ə)nənt). Floyd is the latest in a long list of names that stretches(streCH) back to that time and that shore(SHôr). Some of those names we know — Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor(ˈtālər), Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Michael(ˈmīk(ə)l) Brown, Emmett Till, Martin Luther King, Jr. — most we don’t.

https://www.benjerry.com/about-us/media-center/dismantle-white-supremacy