Ben & Jerry’s: Police Shooting of Daunte Wright ‘Is Rooted in White Supremacy’

<> the Ben & Jerry's and Bonnaroo - new flavor party at Bowery Ballroom on April
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Ben & Jerry's
Hannah Knudsen

The fatal police shooting of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old black man, is intrinsically “rooted in white supremacy,” according to the famous Vermont-based ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s, which made the assertion this week while calling to “defund” the police.

“The murder of #DaunteWright is rooted in white supremacy and results from the intentional criminalization of Black and Brown communities,” the famed ice cream brand wrote, concluding the system “can’t be reformed.”

Rather, it must be dismantled and a real system of public safety rebuilt from the ground up,” Ben & Jerry’s added, using the hashtag #DefundThePolice:

Police in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, arrested 60 individuals following another night of mass rioting over the officer-involved shooting of Daunte Wright. The Brooklyn Center Police officer who shot Wright has been identified as Kim Potter, who resigned this week. Police chief Tim Gannon also resigned.

Gannon said he believed Potter, a 26-year police veteran, mistakenly reached for her firearm instead of a taser as Wright attempted to “get back into his car after officers attempted to arrest him for an outstanding warrant,” as Breitbart News detailed.

“It is my belief that the officer had the intention to deploy their Taser, but instead shot Mr. Wright with a single bullet,” Gannon said on Sunday.

“This appears to me, from what I viewed, and the officer’s reaction and distress immediately after, that this was an accidental discharge that resulted in a tragic death of Mr. Wright,” he added.

This is hardly the first time Ben & Jerry’s has waded into political waters. Earlier this year, the company erected a billboard in Tampa Bay, Florida, honoring disgraced former NFL star Colin Kaepernick:

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