It Wasn’t Easy,
But You Showed Up

In the middle of a global pandemic, at a time when trust in elected leaders is low and barriers to voting high, you showed up for democracy. You mailed your ballots early, you stood in lines for hours, you traveled great distances, and you cast your votes. On behalf of all of us at Ben & Jerry’s, thank you.

The last four years have been unprecedented. Donald Trump, his administration, and his enablers sowed the seeds of division while waging an attack on the norms and values that define our democracy. He harnessed racism, misogyny, and hate; ignored science and dismissed public health experts; attacked our free press; lied unrelentingly; and actively tried to suppress the vote. But the country he tried so hard to divide united in record numbers for our democracy—an imperfect democracy, but a democracy nonetheless.

Voter turnout was the highest it’s been in a century. Young voters turned out in record numbers. In casting your votes, you invested in a government that more accurately represents all of its citizens.

For the first time in our country’s history, we’ve elected a woman, a Black woman, a South-Asian-American woman to the vice presidency. Amid the ongoing struggle to dismantle white supremacy and ensure that every Black life matters, this is a dramatic and important step on our long and unstoppable march toward justice.

For too long we have been made to think that our nation is polarized, that there are two Americas. But there is consensus on many of the issues we face.

• 61% of Americans believe there is too much economic inequality.
• 76% agree it’s more difficult to be a Black person than a white person.
• 61% of Americans support same-sex marriage.
• 67% say the government is not doing enough to reduce the effects of climate change.
• 80% support expanding renewable energy.
• 60% support stricter gun laws.
• 70% say it is important to reduce the prison population in America.
• 73% of Americans believe that political contributions lead to greater political influence.

All of us who share these values must work together to put them into action.

We call on Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to stand on this common ground and back us in building a just future. Because rejecting Donald Trump is not enough.

We cannot return to “normal”—normal prior to Donald Trump was unacceptable. After breathing a sigh of relief, we must recognize that for many Americans, particularly those who have been continuously and deliberately marginalized throughout our country’s history, there is no reason to believe that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be different than administrations that have come and gone for centuries without addressing the structural racial inequities that were central to our nation’s founding and are systemic today. We must commit ourselves to not just rejecting racism, but to becoming an anti-racist country.

Let us commit to transforming the energy that drove record turnout into a resolve to hold Joe Biden and Kamala Harris accountable for creating a new, more just and equitable normal and living up to the highest ideals of the democracy we voted for. We’ll commit to that. How about you?