Ben & Jerry have joined the hundreds of protesters getting arrested in front of the U.S. Capitol as a part of Democracy Spring. The famed ice-cream makers were rounded up along with 300 other protesters and booked for “unlawful demonstration activities,” according to Capitol Police. The “Democracy Awakening” protest at the Capitol is part of a larger wave of protests taking place throughout the country. In a press release on their own website, the 65-year-old co-founders explained their reasoning for joining the protest movement, which hopes to reform campaign-finance laws and restore the Voting Rights Act.
“The history of our country is that nothing happens until people start putting their bodies on the line and risk getting arrested,” said Ben Cohen.
Via the release:
“But Jerry and Ben and hundreds of others felt that they had to do something more, once the marches and the speeches came to an end. As Ben said, there’s a powerful legacy of direct action in this country…Sometimes, when something really matters, you have to put your body on the line. You have to take a stand.”
The B&J co-founders join a list of famous personalities who have been arrested in the protests, including actress Rosario Dawson and the Young Turks anchor Cenk Uygur.
Ben & Jerry have used their ice cream to make political statements in the past, from an ice cream that celebrated the Supreme Court upholding the right for gays and lesbians to marry to their private-label support of Bernie Sanders’ stated goals of wealth redistribution. Here’s hoping that their arrest prompts even more delicious, protest pints. Penal Butter Cup? Democracy Half-Bakening? One Person-One Vote Vanilla? These are gold! Gold!
