Indigenous tribe requests Ben & Jerry's return 'stolen land' that company's headquarters is built on

Indigenous tribe members who are descendants of Native Americans requested the return of "stolen land" that ice cream company "Ben & Jerry's" sits on. 

According to a report from Newsweek, Chief of the Nulhegan Band of The Coosuk Abenaki Nation Don Stevens is "always interested in reclaiming the stewardship of our lands," but the ice cream company has not contacted them. 

Ben & Jerry's headquarters is in Vermont in an area that originally belonged to Native American tribes. 

This request comes shortly after the ice cream company's controversial Fourth of July post which stated that the United States "was founded on stolen Indigenous land" and urged the public to "commit to returning it."

The company said the return of land to Native Americans needs to start with Mount Rushmore because the iconic presidential landmark is carved into the Tunkasila Sakpe, which is considered sacred to the Lakota Sioux.

"But what is the meaning of Independence Day for those whose land this country stole, those who were murdered and forced with brutal violence onto reservations, those who were pushed from their holy places and denied their freedom? The faces on Mount Rushmore are the faces of men who actively worked to destroy Indigenous cultures and ways of life, to deny Indigenous people their basic rights," Ben & Jerry's wrote Tuesday on their website, referring to the faces of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln carved into the mountain.

"This Fourth of July, it’s time to return that sacred place to the Lakota. Let’s make it a day that embraces freedom and justice for all," the tweet concluded.