evidence: When this chapter in America’s history of its struggle against racism is written, two names will stand out among all the others: Ben and Jerry. Or at least that seems to be what the ice-cream company hopes, given the somewhat bizarre statement that it issued this week. In response to the brutal killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, and the protests and riots that continue to roil the United States, this peddler of sickly sweet desserts proclaimed: ‘We must dismantle white supremacy. Silence is NOT an option.’ It says that nothing will change ‘until white America is willing to collectively acknowledge its privilege, take responsibility for its past and the impact it has on the present’. [...] Ben & Jerry’s has some form here. It was set up by two Vermont hippies and always had a homespun, right-on image. But despite being owned by multinational food giant Unilever since 2000, it has continued to weigh in on various issues. In 2017, it banned the sale of two scoops of the same flavour in its Australian shops as part of a push for gay marriage. And in 2018, it put out a ‘Pecan Resist’ flavour in a not-so-subtle swipe at president Trump.