Ben & Jerry’s unveiled a billboard honoring failed NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick in Tampa, Fla. ahead of the Super Bowl, which is set to take place in the same city on Sunday.
The ice cream company shared a photo of the billboard, which features Kaepernick holding up the newest dessert flavor named after him, called “Change the Whirled.”
Our new billboard in Tampa. pic.twitter.com/rCSz4jqp5G
— Ben & Jerry’s (@benandjerrys) February 1, 2021
Ben & Jerry’s also commissioned a 30-foot-by-90-foot mural in Tampa to honor Kaepernick.
The artwork features a group of children wearing T-shirts with phrases such as “Power to the People” and “I Know My Rights.”
One of the kids also wears a shirt with a picture of Kaepernick holding up a fist.
. @Kaepernick7 is continuing to build a future where Black youth feel seen, heard, loved, & honored. A 90′ by 30′ mural created by Kaepernick’s friend artist-activist @2cent_bmike celebrates Tampa youth and joy on the journey to justice. Learn more: https://t.co/lFg3Hkmiqm pic.twitter.com/2lBViCgn7W
— Ben & Jerry’s (@benandjerrys) February 3, 2021
“As we look back, it’s clear that Colin was on the right side of history,” Chris Miller, who heads Ben & Jerry’s global activism department, said in a statement.
“His pre-game protests were before George Floyd’s murder, before the 2020 summer of racial reckoning.”
Because he “sacrificed his career just so that he could speak up for and stand with people who’ve been systematically oppressed,” Ben & Jerry’s said it December it would create a new flavor for Kaepernick.
“That kind of courage is uncommon—and desperately needed,” the company said in a statement at the time.
Miller admitted the company wanted to help “normalize” and “reinforce” Kaepernick’s radical views about law enforcement and racism.
“It’s not a particularly radical notion to suggest that police forces and policing probably are not the best way to handling things like mental health crises and substance abuse, and contextualize them for people what a different vision of public safety looks like,” Miller told USA Today.
