Advertisement Ben & Jerry's releases statement supporting Black Lives Matter movement "All lives will not matter until Black lives matter." Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Ben and Jerry's has joined the Black Lives Matter movement.The ice cream company posted a statement signed by the founders Friday on its website. The company's tweet was retweeted nearly 40,000 times and liked more than 53,000 times."They matter because they are children, brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers," the statement opens. "They matter because the injustices they face steal from all of us -- white people and people of color alike. They steal our very humanity."The pair said systemic and institutionalized racism were defining civil rights and social justice issues of our time.Ben and Jerry asked Americans not to be complicit."There is good news: the first step in overcoming systemic racism and injustice is to simply understand and admit that there is a problem," the statement reads. "It’s trying to understand the perspective of others whose experiences are different from our own. To not just listen, but to truly understand those whose struggle for justice is real, and not yet complete."The two said it has been difficult to watch "the list of unarmed Black Americans killed by law enforcement officers grow longer and longer."The statement said black Americans and white Americans have "profoundly different experiences and outcomes with law enforcement and the criminal justice system."The company said it has a moral obligation to take a stand for justice and black lives."We want to be clear: 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 read. "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."Ben and Jerry said our public institutions disadvantage and discriminate against people of color from the beginning of their lives."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 said. "All lives do matter. But all lives will not matter until Black lives matter."The two said change happens when people are willing to listen to their neighbors and learn from their struggles."We’ll be working hard on that, and ask you to as well."Read the full statement here42020954