Getting to better conversations on race with Mia Love, acknowledgment is everything
Jun 5, 2023, 8:00 PM
Former Congresswoman Mia Love, R-Utah, on Monday, July 9, 2018. Former congresswoman Mia Love says the more Democrats and Republicans can acknowledge together, the more good they can do. (Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News file)
(Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News file)
SALT LAKE CITY — Monday morning, presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott, R- South Carolina, appeared on ABC’s The View stirring up a conversation on racism.
Someone who has appeared on The View as a guest host and been part of really critical conversations about race is former congresswoman Mia Love. Love joins Inside Sources host Boyd Matheson to discuss how we can have better conversations about race.
As the first Republican Black woman in the House of Representatives, Matheson says Love has a “very unique” perspective when it comes to race. Love says she watched the interview with Sen. Scott and thought he was “absolutely phenomenal.”
“He was honest and straightforward,” Love tells Matheson. “I loved it.”
Something she noticed about the interview is the hosts “didn’t want to hear” Scott’s claims. This reminded her of her experience being on The View.
“I felt so frustrated because I remember I was making my points and it was just, it’s almost like they know, ‘oh, crap, this is, this is not going to, this is not going to work with our narrative,” she says. “So let’s just cut this off and move on to something else,’ And I saw that happen a lot with him.”
Identity politics
Matheson says he’s curious to hear Love’s thoughts on a few of the things Scott discussed on The View.
“Looking at this idea of the message to minorities, of any kind, that you have to be the exception in order to be successful in this country,” Matheson says. “He said that was dangerous. Give us some perspective on that.”
Love responds, saying this idea is dangerous.
“It is dangerous because it creates an attitude of being a victim,” she says. “When I won the race in the congressional fourth district, I would shout out to everyone in the country … where I came from. I would say ‘yes, believe it or not, I am a representative from the state of Utah.”
Love goes on saying Utahns didn’t care what color she was or what gender she was.
“They care more about feeding their families, they care more about chasing their version of the American dream,” Love says. “When that happens, racism goes away, they just vote for the candidate that’s going to protect their freedoms.”
Mutual acknowledgment
She and Matheson agree that politics must get to a place beyond debating things such as race, gender and sexual orientation.
“We have to be in a space where we can get past just calling each other names or just screaming talking points,” Matheson says.
“Right, we have to be able to be to sit at a table and talk about things respectfully that we disagree with,” Love says. “And, remember, I talked about this idea, there’s one word that really is missing from Congress (and it) is acknowledgement.”
Love says both sides need to be able to acknowledge the same thing in order to work on it.
“If both sides can acknowledge that Republicans have done quite a bit to help Americans, to help Black Americans,” she says. “Tim talked about the fact that we have brought unemployment down to 5.64%, the lowest level in history in this country when it comes to unemployment for Black Americans.”
She says the more Democrats and Republicans can acknowledge together, the more good they can do.
Listen to the full segment.
Inside Sources with Boyd Matheson can be heard on weekdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Related: Mia Love to Congress: Keep it simple, one bill does not need many topics
