The Latest Big Arrests at #DemocracySpring Were Ice Cream Moguls Ben & Jerry
When the #DemocracySpring demonstrations at the U.S. capitol started eight days ago, they were made up of known activists like The Young Turks’ Cenk Uygur. There wasn’t a lot of surprise when the usual suspects attended a protest against money in politics with the express purpose of being arrested for it. Five days in, though, actress Rosario Dawson got arrested, and the anger organizers and attendees felt over the lack of mainstream news coverage of their event dissipated with every article written about her.
The event went on for a week with arrests happening daily. Yesterday, Vermont-based ice cream moguls Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield joined the list after attending the event with employees and board members. Sure, it’s already common knowledge that the dairy darlings are into politics and especially support Bernie Sanders, who is one of the most well-known advocates for taking money out of politics, but willingly being arrested takes that support to a whole new level.
The company wrote a post on their website about it, saying this:
It all comes down to a simple idea that we believe in whole-heartedly: if you care about something, you have to be willing to risk it all—your reputation, your values, your business—for the greater good.
They have also been using the company’s Twitter account to review the event.
Money out!
People in!
I believe that we will win!#DemocracyAwakens pic.twitter.com/cTLthLcMnB— Ben & Jerry’s (@benandjerrys) April 17, 2016
Signs of the times: we found all the coolest signs from @DemAwakening >> https://t.co/tQDRadfDeM #DemocracyAwakens pic.twitter.com/WGvA5d1jz1
— Ben & Jerry’s (@benandjerrys) April 19, 2016
The sit-in portion of the event ended last night, so it looks like Cohen and Greenfield were among the last round of arrests, though they will absolutely crop up again before this election season is over.
[image via screengrab]
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