Don Stevens, chief of the Nulhegan Band of The Coosuk Abenaki Nation, told the New York Post on Friday that Ben & Jerry’s headquarters in South Burlington is located on Western Abenaki land.
“If you look at the [Abenaki] traditional way of being, we are place-based people,” the chief told the Post. “Before recognized tribes in the state, we were the ones who were in this place.”The state of Vermont recognizes four tribes that are descended from the Abenaki people, including the Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe. The Abenaki Alliance told Fox News Digital that their people had inhabited the land that included Vermont for 12,000 years.
Republican Gov. Kristi Noem came to the defense of her state’s most famous monument after the message went viral last week.