Boycott Cold Stone Creamery
Dear Cold Stone Creamery,
I love your ice cream. On hot summer days, I’ve treated myself many-a-time to your Peanut Butter Cup Perfection, Chocolate Devotion, or Cookie Doughn’t You Want Some. How could I resist the smooth, creamy ice cream, freshly mixed with sweet, fun, tasty mix-ins right there on the spot? So, it really saddens me to write you this letter, just as summer is beginning to show her light in Chicago, to let you know that I will no longer be visiting your stores.
As you must already know, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer recently signed into law the harshest anti-immigration bill passed in the U.S. in more than a decade. As an American-born child of South Asian immigrants, I have experienced firsthand the negative repercussions of the oppression of immigrants, people of color, and those who are perceived as “foreign.” Stereotypes and misconceptions of what an American looks like–and in particular what an American doesn’t look like–made me grow up isolated, alienated and a survivor of violence committed against me by folks in the community I grew up in. Assumptions about my background and my right to be here were rooted in the same xenophobia and racism that are behind Arizona’s new law.
Because of SB1070, I simply cannot in good conscience spend another dollar on a business that is based in a state that dehumanizes me and the very people I know and love. Governor Brewer, by signing this bill into law, has validated all of the irrational fears of people who are not willing to acknowledge the economic, social and cultural benefits of immigration to our country.
I feel like I’m breaking up with you, Cold Stone, but it doesn’t have to be this way. I just need to know where you stand. I ask that you, Cold Stone Creamery, use your power and influence in the state of Arizona to publicly speak out against SB1070. Further, I ask that you publicly urge Congress to the do the right thing and pass comprehensive immigration reform. Until I know where you stand, I will not visit your stores again.
In hopes of your action, nikhil trivedi Chicago, IL