Ben & Jerry’s calls for return of ‘stolen indigenous land’ in July Fourth message

Ben & Jerry’s called for the return of “stolen indigenous land” in its Fourth of July message, pointing to Mount Rushmore as the place to start. 

The ice cream company said in a post on its website that the parades, barbecues and fireworks are displays typical of the holiday can “distract” from the “essential truth” of the birth of the United States — that it was founded by taking land from Indigenous populations. 

“This 4th of July, it’s high time we recognize that the US exists on stolen Indigenous land and commit to returning it,” the company tweeted. 

The post outlines the history of the land that became Mount Rushmore, which features the likenesses of four presidents — George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln — carved into the mountain. 

Ben & Jerry’s said the mountain was previously known as Tunkasila Sakpe for the Lakota Sioux tribe and was seen as a sacred, holy mountain in the Black Hills of what is now South Dakota. 

The company said the Lakota and other Indigenous tribes signed two treaties with the United States in the 1850s and 1860s after decades of fighting, establishing a home for them of 35 million acres including the Black Hills. 

But the U.S. government broke those treaties after gold was discovered a few years later, and prospectors and settlers moved into the area. This forced the Sioux, a group of tribes known by that name, to give up their land and move to smaller reservations. 

“From there, in 1927, they watched as their holy mountain, now located on land known as South Dakota, was desecrated and dynamited to honor their colonizers, four white men—two of whom enslaved people and all of whom were hostile to Indigenous people and values,” Ben & Jerry’s wrote.

The Supreme Court ruled in 1980 that that the land was stolen and awarded the Sioux more than $100 million, but the tribes have refused payment, because they argue they want the land back. 

The post said the money has been held in a trust that has gained interest since then, and the tribes still refuse to take it despite living in among the poorest communities in the country. 

“Why are we talking about this? Because on the Fourth of July many people in the US celebrate liberty and independence—our country’s and our own,” the company said. 

“But what is the meaning of Independence Day for those whose land this country stole, those who were murdered and forced with brutal violence onto reservations, those who were pushed from their holy places and denied their freedom?” it added.