Super-woke Ben & Jerry's releases Change is Brewing ice cream flavor in support of Cori Bush's $10 billion proposal to replace police with social workers in 'mental health and drug' emergencies
Ben & Jerry's is releasing a new ice cream flavor in support of a $10 billion bill by Rep. Cori Bush that would replace police officers with social workers and other first responders in incidents of mental health and substance abuse.
The Vermont-based ice cream company announced the limited batch, Change is Brewing, in a press conference Monday featuring the company's 'head of activism', Jabari Pall, and Bush herself.
The cold brew-flavored ice cream, complete with marshmallow swirls and fudge brownies, was developed in partnership with black-owned coffee and tea company Blk & Bold and New York's Greyston Bakery, known for its brownies.
'The flavor supports the vision of the world in which every community is safe and everyone including black and brown people can thrive,' Pall said.
The illustration on the pint features a black woman painting the word 'liberation' on an easel.
The limited batch cold brew, marshmallow swirl and brownie flavor 'Change is Brewing' was announced Monday in support of Rep. Cori Bush's (D-MO) People's Response Act
The $10 billion bill would create a federal unit of first responders that would replace police officers in incidents involving mental health and substance abuse issues
'I'm the St. Louis congresswoman and I'm proud to be the St. Louis congresswoman, to be someone whose work was born primarily out of the Ferguson uprising,' Bush said at Monday's press conference, referring to her time community organizing in Missouri after the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown.
'For decades, our communities have suffered under the violence of intentional disinvestment and underfunding.
'Our healthcare, our education, our housing, our green spaces all left in shambles while our police spending per capita continued to increase to its present level as one of the highest in the country.'
Ben & Jerry's also partnered with the Movement for Black Lives for the new flavor.
Bush, a Black Lives Matter activist, unveiled the $10 billion People's Response Act in June.
The bill would create a new federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services to 'research and fund alternatives to incarceration and policing that will save lives in our communities,' Bush said.
It would also launch a federal unit of first responders - which would include licensed therapists, psychiatrists and violence intervention workers - to support local and state police in situations involving mental health and substance use crises, according to a press release of the bill and the bill itself.
Between April 15 and June 28, Bush spent nearly $70,000 of her campaign funds on personal security, almost $20,000 above the median household income for residents in her district.
'I'm going to make sure I have security because, I know, I have had attempts on my life,' Bush told CBS News in an interview outside the Capitol. 'And I have too much work to do, there are too many people that need help right now, for me to allow that.'
Activists have long worried that armed police officers can escalate delicate situations involving someone with mental health or substance abuse issues.
In October of last year, protests and riots broke out after Philadelphia police killed 27-year-old Walter Wallace, Jr. when he came out of a house holding a knife during a domestic dispute.
Protests and riots broke out in Philadelphia after Walter Wallace, Jr., 27, was killed by police during what his family says was a crisis brought on by bipolar disorder
Wallace's family later filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the two officers who killed him
His family said he was suffering from a crisis brought on by bipolar disorder. They later filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the two officers who killed him, according to the Philadelphia Enquirer.
Last September, a Salt Lake City officer shot 13-year-old Linden Cameron 11 times after his mother called for help saying he was experiencing a mental health crisis.
She allegedly told officers her son, who has autism, had shown her a gun, but that she didn't think it was real.
The family later sued the Salt Lake City Police Department, according to KUTV.
'As a result of the shooting, L.C. sustained serious and permanent injuries, including left arm paralysis, ankle injuries requiring surgery and hardware, internal organ damage, severe emotional and mental anguish and trauma, and other injuries,' the lawsuit states.
Bush was a Black Lives Matter organizer in Ferguson, Missouri after the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown. Above, she speaks at a press conference on September 3 in Minneapolis
Bush's People's Response Act is co-sponsored by 'Squad' members Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Rashida Tlaib and Rep. Ro Khanna. It is endorsed by Black Lives Matter, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Human Rights Campaign.
The bill comes at a steep price tag of $10 billion, and Bush has said she would eventually like to defund the Department of Justice to help pay for it.
'Once this division is moving and off the ground, and we have the data to show how well it's doing, then we're able to start to move more things out of the DOJ and put it where it belongs,' she told NPR.
Ben & Jerry's was founded in Burlington, Vermont in 1978, three years before Bernie Sanders took over the city as mayor.
The company has made its political leanings very clear through various partnerships and statements.
Last year, the company teamed up with former NFL star Colin Kaepernick for a nonfat frozen yogurt called Change the Whirled. Proceeds went to his social justice organization Know Your Rights Camp.
In 2009, the company renamed its popular Chubby Hubby flavor 'Hubby Hubby' in support of Vermont legalizing gay marriage.
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