Mia Love embodied female versions of both a Horatio Alger figure and Abraham Lincoln — someone who rose from poverty and difficult beginnings because of her innate faith in God and the American dream.
She was a living reminder that this old-fashioned dream still beckons to impoverished immigrants who come to this country with a few coins in their pockets and the willingness to work.
More than that, she was the embodiment of modern America, someone who faced the indignities of prejudice, incivility and marginalization and yet rose to a seat in Congress. She achieved national prominence because of her undaunted belief in the promises of hard work, freedom and opportunity; her faith; and her willingness to listen and empathize. Her confidence was a rock-solid bulwark amid the constant barrage of negativity that seems to dominate public discourse these days.
Focus on the positive
She preferred to focus on the positive, speaking often of her desire to focus on people’s similarities, and not their differences.
In some ways, she was a walking contradiction, a reminder of the marvelous complexities that make up the American quilt. Before Love, no Black woman had ever been elected to Congress as a conservative Republican, let alone from Utah. Yet she not only embraced that role, but she also joined and became a respected member of the traditionally all-Democratic Congressional Black Caucus.
With Love’s death on Sunday, Utah lost one of its great originals and modern pioneers, but it will never lose her legacy. Her example will live on. Her successes spoke volumes about herself, but just as much about the people who elected her in defiance of the stereotypes people tend to hurl in the public square, as well.
Humble roots
She spoke often of how her parents came to the U.S. with only $10 in their pockets. They taught her to love America, warts and all, and to believe that determination and resilience would be rewarded. That dry-eyed look at the nation made her determination indomitable. Friends said that Love saw the United States as more than just a nice place to live. It was a place where the greatest human ideals could thrive. She proved that to be true.
Colleagues have extolled her ability to listen to the concerns of others, and that gave her a unique perspective on the motivations that drove human behavior and ideology. She understood, for instance, that her own conservative roots were grounded in the oppression her parents experienced from a brutal federal government in Haiti, which gave her greater faith in local governments that operate closest to the people. At the same time, she learned to appreciate that others, such as her colleague Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., had learned to rely on the federal government in Washington to protect him from brutal local governments.
That kind of knowledge helped her reach across the political aisle while holding true to her roots.
Content of your character
She extolled the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s ideal that people should be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. She often said the United States is a place where one can be as unequal as he or she is willing to work for.
In her touching final op-ed published by the Deseret News, Love said, “I hope you will see the America I know in the years ahead, that you will hear my words in the whisper of the wind of freedom and feel my presence in the flame of the enduring principles of liberty.”
To anyone who studies the life of this Utah original, this should ring true, indeed.