Texas mixed-race family asks ice cream company to change 'The Great Divide' flavor name
DALLAS (WKRC) - A mixed-raced family is asking an ice cream company to make a change to its popular ice cream flavor in order to be more inclusive.
The flavor, which Blue Bell Creameries calls 'The Great Divide' splits chocolate and vanilla ice cream.
Traci Schmidley, a mother of six children and a foster mother to more kids, posted her plea on a Facebook post that read:
To The Makers of Blue Bell Ice Cream:
My name is Traci Schmidley. Two of my sons and one of their friends wanted to write you a message about something they considered recently. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read their letter and considering their perspective.
From Isak, Kaleb, and Jayden:
Hi Blue Bell! We love your ice cream! We all think Cookies and Cream is the best ice cream on the planet! Last week we had an ice cream party and we had the flavor the Great Divide. It’s a good flavor for parties because we can add a lot of unique toppings to it. But, we began to talk about the name and we think some people might misunderstand the name and think the name the Great Divide is about people and the division that exists in our world because of different skin colors.
Isak and Kaleb have lighter skin and Jayden has darker skin. But Isak and Kaleb also have a brother and sister adopted from foster care who have dark skin as well. We are all our own color and own flavor and there is no divide between us. We think we are all delicious in our own ways. So, we have a suggestion for a new name for your chocolate and vanilla ice cream flavor:
BETTER TOGETHER!!
Thank you for taking the time to listen to our ideas. We love your ice cream. We think having a big bucket of Better Together chocolate and vanilla on dinner tables across the country will make our families and communities stronger than ever!
From Your Fans,
Isak, Kaleb, Jayden & Friends!
Blue Bell responded to Tracy’s post by thanking her and the children for their suggestion and thoughts.