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Democracy Awakening: Ben & Jerry’s Founders Arrested At D.C. Protest

By Patricia Ramirez
Published on: 04:49 PST, Apr 19, 2016

The co-founders of the ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s were among around 300 protesters arrested at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., on April 18. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were taking part in the Democracy Awakening protests that descended on the nation’s capital city over the weekend.

As CNN reports, the Democracy Awakening protesters, including the co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, converged on D.C. beginning on April 16. Their aim is to bring about campaign finance reform, to protect voting rights, and to “demand a fair hearing and up or down vote on President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee,” according to the group’s website.

The protesters, including Ben and Jerry, had some additional demands and complaints that they want legislators in Washington, D.C., to address as well. Everything from climate change, the improvement of racial justice in the United States, food and water safety, health care reform, worker’s rights and minimum wage increases, education and immigration reform, and global peace were part of the group’s agenda as they picketed and protested outside the U.S. Capitol building. The Democracy Awakening activists feel as though U.S. voters aren’t being included in the legislative and political processes in this nation and that the U.S. Congress has let citizens down by failing to act.

Despite an appearance of being politically motivated, the Democracy Awakening organization, which was joined by Ben and Jerry on Monday, says it is not directly affiliated with any political party. Ben Cohen, however, has endorsed Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for President in the 2016 race. Ben & Jerry’s has even gone so far as to create a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor in Bernie’s honor. Ben Cohen reportedly even created a few dozen pints of Bernie Sander’s special mint chocolate chip Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in his own kitchen.

Of course, the “Bernie’s Yearning” flavor of Ben & Jerry’s isn’t just any mint chocolate chip. It’s mint ice cream topped with a giant chocolate chip, according to reports.

“…it represents all the wealth that’s gone to the top 1% of the population over the past 10 years. And the way you eat it is that you whack it with your spoon, then you mix it around.”

The Ben & Jerry’s ice cream company is a Vermont institution, and in addition to endorsing Bernie Sanders, Ben also worked on the launch of the Sanders campaign in Burlington.

Ben and Jerry Sanders
[Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images]

According to the U.S. Capitol Police, Ben and Jerry, as well as the other approximately 300 protesters, were arrested on Monday for “unlawful demonstration activities.” The statement released by the police indicated that Ben and Jerry and the rest of the arrested protesters were processed and released at the scene of the Democracy Awakening protests rather than being transported to a local detention center or jail and being booked there.

Ben & Jerry’s has been contacted with requests for comment on the incident, but rather than respond, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream has instead been tweeting about the arrest of its co-founders

Despite their arrest at Monday’s Democracy Awakening protest in D.C., Ben and Jerry aren’t planning on silencing their voices just yet. The pair reportedly have plans to campaign for Bernie Sanders in Delaware on Tuesday, April 19. Ben and Jerry are hoping to help the citizens of the state “Feel the Bern” by handing out free Ben & Jerry’s ice cream at an event in Delaware at 5 p.m. EST. No word on whether “Bernie’s Yearning” will be on the menu.

In addition to continuing their political activism, tweeting their protest and arrest story from the “Democracy Awakens” protest, and refusing to directly respond to media queries for comment on what happened, Ben & Jerry’s has created a webpage explaining why the company’s co-founders were arrested on Monday. The title of the page: “Why Ben and Jerry Just Got Arrested.”

Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's
[Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images]

According to the page, just before the arrest, Ben Cohen spoke to interviewers about the possibility of being arrested and why he was willing to risk it.

“The history of our country is that nothing happens until people start putting their bodies on the line and risk getting arrested.”

The page goes on to say that the reason that the Ben & Jerry’s co-founders were willing to risk arrest at the Democracy Awakening protest can be boiled down to a very simple truth.

“[I]f you care about something, you have to be willing to risk it all—your reputation, your values, your business—for the greater good.”

This isn’t the first time Ben and Jerry have become directly involved in social issues that they believe wholeheartedly in. The Ben & Jerry’s co-founders have a history of letting their famous ice cream flavors do some of the talking for them. When the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationally in June of 2015, Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough became “I Dough, I Dough.” To bring awareness to climate change issues, last fall, Ben & Jerry’s launched “Save Our Swirled.”

There’s been no word yet from Ben & Jerry’s regarding how its co-founders plan on handling the legalities of their arrests at the Democracy Awakening event, but the ice cream company has said that it believes that the protest was “the beginning of something big.”

[Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images]

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