Left-wing ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s has announced a new temporary flavor honoring Squad member Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), a leading proponent of the unpopular “Defund the Police” movement.
The Vermont-based ice cream company announced the new flavor on Monday, which is called “Change is Brewing” and features coffee ice cream with marshmallow swirls and fudge brownie bites. In a statement announcing the flavor, Ben & Jerry’s said: “It’s time to divest from systems that criminalize Black communities & invest in a vision of public safety that allows everyone to breathe free.”
NBC News reported that the flavor is intended to promote the People’s Response Act, which was introduced by Bush and would replace police officers with social workers who would respond to mental health incidents. As Bush told NBC, her bill would divert funding from police departments to “grassroots organizations already doing the work of keeping our communities safe, and creating alternative responses to 911 calls for mental health emergencies.”
“The People’s Response Act can and will transform public safety in our country. This is the future that we deserve — and Ben & Jerry’s support of this bill shows the momentum we have towards making it a reality,” she added.
While Bush has publicly supported defunding police departments, her campaign spent about $70,000 on private security. When CBS News asked Bush about the hypocrisy, she claimed that she needed the security, suggesting others don’t.
“I’m going to make sure I have security because I know I have had attempts on my life and I have too much work to do,” Bush said, according to The Daily Wire. “There are too many people that need help right now for me to allow that. So, if I end up spending $200,000, if I spend $10 more dollars on it, you know what, I get to be here to do the work.”
“So, suck it up and defunding the police has to happen,” she added. “We need to defund the police and put that money into social safety nets.”
The Daily Wire also reported:
Bush’s campaign spent $54,120.92 between April and June for “security services” to a firm called RS&T Security Consulting. She also paid $15,000 to Nathaniel Davis for “security services” over the same period. She has spent over $100,000 on private security so far this year.
According to a recent report from The Daily Caller released earlier this year, other “Squad” members also spent thousands of taxpayer dollars on private security. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) paid $24,279.13 for “security” on January 25, as well as $3,986.60 for “security services” on January 19 and $849.22 on February 2. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) spent $3,103.61 for her personal security, while Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) spent $4,186.75.
This is not the first time Ben & Jerry’s has sided with social justice causes and activists that are unpopular with wide swaths of the American public. From The Daily Caller:
In 2020, Ben & Jerry’s partnered with Colin Kaepernick to create a nonfat frozen yogurt called “Change the Whirled” where proceeds funded his social justice organization called “Know Your Rights Camp.” In 2016, Ben & Jerry’s publicly supported Black Lives Matter in a blog post.
The ice cream maker has also been accused of anti-Semitism for boycotting Israel, with franchises losing money after the boycott was announced and demanding it be lifted.