Frequently during the week of mid-terms, college students flock to Target or to the school book store in a sort of delirious fervor to get their pint (or four) of Ben & Jerry's (the only true cure for an overworked brain). What is seen either as a guilty pleasure or an act of devotion just became even more than that– a way to support social justice. It's a little more complicated than just buying a pint of "Cherry Garcia," but ice cream wizards, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield are using their popular frozen dessert to get the word out about racism.

On Wednesday October 5th, Ben and Jerry officially declared their support for the Black Lives Matter movement. The founders of Ben and Jerry are known liberal activists who were arrested on Capital Hill for protesting the unlawful use of funds in certain areas of politics, back in 2010. On Twitter this week, they showed their commitment to social justice and combatting systemic racism with their tweets.

On October 6th, Ben & Jerry's spoke plainly, saying, "Black Lives Matter. Choosing to be silent in the face of such injustice is not an option." This was a key point from the longer post they shared on their website the same week. In the lengthy post, they argued that, Black lives matter because, "the injustices they face steal from all of us -- white people and people of color alike. They steal our very humanity."

And why speak out against "being complicit?" Because "systemic and institutionalized racism are the definite civil rights and social justice issues of our time" and the act of being silent in the face of the "violence and threats to the lives and well-being of Black people is to be complicit in that violence and those threats."

Ben and Jerry's decided to speak out about the growing number of deaths in the Black community caused by this systemic racism, because they saw it as a "moral obligation to take a stand now for justice and for Black lives."

They also clarified that their choice to say that Black lives matter "is not saying that the lives of those who serve in the law enforcement community don't." And they went further to explain that they were not "pointing fingers" at the racism of individual persons but the hard-wired racism in the legal system and all other institutions. Beneath their claims is a cry for unity. Beneath the unrest and conflict in our country is a society wounded by divisions and crippled by fear.

Ben and Jerry's call for action is them "urging us to come together to better our society and institutions so that we may finally fulfill the defining promise of this country: to be a country with dignity and justice for all. All lives do matter, but all lives will not matter until Black lives matter."

This message prompted the hashtag #BenandJerrysNewFlavor which became a top trending topic on Friday afternoon. Now popular flavor suggestions include "Hands Up Don't Scoop," and "Fudge the Police."