Banding together. Ben & Jerry’s cofounders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were arrested for protesting outside the U.S. Capitol Building on Monday, April 18, ABC News reports.
The business partners were handcuffed along with approximately 300 other people and were charged with unlawful demonstration activity and crowding.
According to the Ben & Jerry’s website, Cohen and Greenfield protested with a group called Democracy Awakening, which calls out injustice that takes place in Washington politics.
“Democracy Awakening is just the beginning of a movement to ensure that every citizen’s voice is heard and that power in this country is returned to the people,” the ice cream company’s site reads.
Cohen also opened up about the cause prior to his arrest. “The history of our country is that nothing happens until people start putting their bodies on the line and risk getting arrested,” he said, via the Ben & Jerry’s website. “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.”
Cohen and Greenfield are known for standing up for what they believe in. Last year, the pair released a new ice cream flavor called Save Our Swirled to raise awareness about climate change. They also changed the name Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough to I Dough, I Dough when the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in June 2015.
