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Ben & Jerry’s Launches New Ice Cream Flavor In Support Of Rep. Cori Bush’s $ 10 Billion Bill That Would Replace Police Officers With Social Workers And Other First Responders In Mental Health Incidents and drug addiction.
The Vermont-based ice cream company announced the limited batch, Change is Brewing, at a press conference Monday featuring the company’s “head of activism,” Jabari Pall, and Bush herself.
The cold brew flavored ice cream, with marshmallow swirls and fudge brownies, was developed in partnership with coffee and tea company Blk & Bold and New York’s Greyston Bakery, known for its brownies.
“The flavor supports the worldview in which every community is safe and everyone, including blacks and browns, can thrive,” Pall said.
The illustration on the pint features a black woman painting the word “liberation” on an easel.
The limited batch of cold brew, marshmallow swirl and brownie flavor ‘Change is Brewing’ was announced Monday in support of Representative Cori Bush’s (D-MO) People’s Response Act.
$ 10 billion bill would create a federal first responder unit to replace police officers in incidents involving mental health and addiction issues
“I am the congressman from St. Louis and I am proud to be the congressman from St. Louis, to be someone whose work grew primarily out of the Ferguson uprising,” Bush said during Monday’s press conference, referring to his time of community organizing. in Missouri after the police murder of Michael Brown in 2014.
“For decades our communities have suffered from the violence of intentional divestment and underfunding.
“Our health care, our education, our homes, our green spaces have all gone to pieces as our per capita police spending has continued to rise to its current level, 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 “seek out and fund alternatives to incarceration and policing that will save lives in our communities,” Bush said.
It would also launch a federal first responder unit – which would include licensed therapists, psychiatrists and violence response workers – to support local and state police in situations involving mental health and substance abuse crises. , according to a press release of the bill and the bill. himself.
Between April 15 and June 28, Bush spent nearly $ 70,000 of his campaign funds on personal security, nearly $ 20,000 more than the median household income of residents in his district.
“I’m going to make sure I have security because, I know, I’ve had attacks on my life,” Bush told CBS News in an interview outside of Capitol Hill. “And I have too much work to do, there are too many people who need help right now, for me to allow it.”
Activists have long feared that armed police could exacerbate sensitive situations involving someone with mental health or drug addiction issues.
In October last year, protests and riots broke out after Philadelphia police killed Walter Wallace, Jr., 27, as he came out of a house with a knife during a domestic feud .
Protests and riots broke out in Philadelphia after Walter Wallace, Jr., 27, was killed by police in what his family says is a crisis brought on by bipolar disorder
Wallace’s family then filed a wrongful death complaint against the two officers who killed him
His family said he was suffering from a seizure caused by bipolar disorder. They then filed a wrongful death complaint 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 her mother called for help saying he was having a mental health crisis.
She reportedly told the police that her son, who has autism, showed her a gun, but that she didn’t think it was real.
The family then sued the Salt Lake City Police Department, according to KUTV.
“As a result of the shooting, LC suffered serious and permanent injuries, including paralysis of the left arm, ankle injuries requiring surgery and equipment, damage to internal organs, emotional anguish and trauma, and mental and other injuries, “says the lawsuit.
Bush was a Black Lives Matter organizer in Ferguson, Missouri after the police murder of Michael Brown in 2014. 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 Representative Ro Khanna. It is supported by Black Lives Matter, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Human Rights Campaign.
The bill costs $ 10 billion, and Bush has said she would eventually like to fund the Department of Justice to help pay.
“Once this division is on the move and launched, and we have the data to show how well it is doing, then we can start taking more things out of the DOJ and putting them in their place,” he said. 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 expressed its political leanings very clearly through various partnerships and statements.
Last year, the company partnered with former NFL star Colin Kaepernick for a fat-free frozen yogurt called Change the Whirled. Profits went to her social justice organization Know Your Rights Camp.
In 2009, the company renamed its popular Chubby Hubby flavor “Hubby Hubby” to support the legalization of same-sex marriage in Vermont.
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