Ben & Jerry’s Make It Known That ‘All Lives Will Not Matter Until Black Lives Matter’

Ben & Jerry’s is typically known for tasty treats and social justice is weighing in on the Black Lives Matter movement. In a statement released on the company website Thursday, they outline the “systemic and institutionalized racism” that they feel “are the defining civil rights and social justice issues of our time.”

The post was titled “Why Black Lives Matter” and began simply, “because they are children, brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers.”

The company explained that they have a “moral obligation” to state their position on such a serious issue affecting America. “We’ve come to understand that to be silent about the violence and threats to the lives and well-being of Black people is to be complicit in that violence and those threats,” the post reads.

When it comes to addressing the right-wing narrative “all lives matter,” the post wasn’t afraid to dive in to clarify what that means when compared to “Black lives matter” or even “blue lives matter.”

“We believe that saying Black lives matter is not to say that the lives of those who serve in the law enforcement community don’t,” the statement reads. “We respect and value the commitment to our communities that those in law enforcement make, and we respect the value of every one of their lives.”

The post continues, saying that regardless of a person’s color, “our nation and our very way of life is dependent on the principle of all people being served equal justice under the law. And it’s clear, the effects of the criminal justice system are not color blind.”

They clarified that they don’t place blame on individual officers, but believe it’s the systematic racism that is the culprit. “For this reason, we are not pointing fingers at individuals; we are instead urging us to come together to better our society and institutions so that we may finally fulfill the founding promise of this country: to be a country with dignity and justice for all,” the statement continues.

Ultimately, the post concludes acknowledging, “All lives do matter. But all lives will not matter until Black lives matter.”