Ben & Jerry's July 4th Message Asks America to Return Stolen Land

By Ashley Turner

Ben & Jerry's used its Fourth of July message as an opportunity to urge the American government to return "stolen indigenous land." According to a post on the company's website, the parades, barbecues, and fireworks that are typical of the holiday can distract people from what the company claims is the "essential truth" of the creation of the United States, which is the fact that it was founded by taking land from Indigenous peoples. 

"The United States was founded on stolen indigenous land. 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. This post explains the history of the land on which Mount Rushmore stands, which is engraved with the likenesses of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. 

In its proposal for the U.S. to "Start With Mount Rushmore," the Vermont ice cream company outlined the history of the iconic monument and the significance it has to Native American culture. "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?" 

Ben & Jerry's said. "The faces on Mount Rushmore are the faces of men who actively worked to destroy Indigenous cultures and ways of life, to deny Indigenous people their basic rights." According to Ben & Jerry's, the mountain was previously called Tunkasila Sakpe for the Lakota Sioux tribe. It was considered to be a sacred mountain of the Black Hills in what is now South Dakota.

Following decades of fighting, the company said that in the 1850s and 1860s, the U.S. signed two treaties with the Lakota and other Indigenous tribes that established a home for them of 35 million acres, including the Black Hills. After gold was discovered a few years later, the U.S. government broke those treaties, and prospectors, settlers, and their families moved into the area, forcing the Sioux to lose their land and subsequently relocate 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.

In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled that the land was taken from the Sioux and awarded the tribes more than $100 million. The tribes, however, have refused payment, arguing that the land should be returned. Since then, the money has been held in a trust that has earned interest, but the tribes still refuse to take it despite living in one of the nation's poorest communities. "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. "The US exists on stolen land. We have to acknowledge that—today and every day. In the case of Mount Rushmore, the Supreme Court already did! This Fourth of July, it's time to return that sacred place to the Lakota," they continued. "Let's make it a day that embraces freedom and justice for all."

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