A few quick, necessary facts about Mia Love of Utah

June 27, 2012 By

One of the things that your GetReligionistas keep saying — to the point of aggravating many readers — is that it is often possible for journalists to spot and define a religion ghost quite easily, using relatively few lines of type in this post-USA Today journalistic world in which we live.

I mean, after 24 years of writing a weekly column that is approximately 666 words long (I jest, but not by much), I am well aware that almost all journalists wish that their stories could be two or three or 20 inches longer. Extra length allows the inclusion of all kinds of interesting alternative, balancing voices and even the occasional paragraph or two of accurate background material.

The other GetReligionistas have been there too. We know that pain. Our stories have been cut, too.

Thus, in that spirit, I would like to spotlight an example of a daily political story — although one that is a generous 1,200 words long — that spots the its religion ghost and briefly and concisely gives the reader the bare minimum of information that is needed to promote, well, understanding. This particular Washington Post story ran under the headline: “Mia Love of Utah hopes to become the first black Republican woman in Congress.”

Obviously, there are all kinds of stereotypes involved in the report and the lede states the obvious:

SALT LAKE CITY – Other than her conservatism, there is little about Mia Love that doesn’t stand out in Utah. She is a black Republican, a 36-year-old mother of three, a fitness instructor and mayor of a growing town.

Now, her congressional race against a popular incumbent whom Republicans have struggled to defeat has made Love a minor celebrity among GOP stalwarts.

She recently introduced herself to a group of teachers, standing in the gilded state Capitol, which historically has been the domain of white men, by describing her Haitian American father. “He said: ‘Mia, your mother and I never took a handout. You will not be a burden to society,’?” she said with a stern smile. “?‘You will give back.’?”

OK, so her family background is Haitian. What’s the first question, GetReligion readers, that pops into your mind when you see that information near the top of this story? Right. Me too.

Only a few lines later, the Post story quickly gets to half of the information that is needed in this religious equation:

If she wins, not only would she help Republicans keep control of the House, but she would become the first black Republican woman to serve in Congress. Love, who is Mormon, also could go a long way toward helping presidential candidate Mitt Romney, putting a fresh face on his church and his party as both try to appeal to an increasingly diverse nation.

So we are dealing with a black, female, Mormon of Haitian background. That’s interesting.

Suffice it to say that the land of Haiti is not famous for having a large Mormon population. Haiti is, however, well known as a land rich in Catholic culture as well as in the practice of voodoo. As the old saying goes (and there are many variations), Haiti is 70 percent Catholic, 30 percent Protestant and 100 percent voodoo.

Suffice it to say that this story still has ground to cover if it is going to address even the bare minimum of religious questions raised by Love’s life and career. However, a little more than half way into the story, readers are rewarded with this short, crisp summary of some of the events in the candidate’s life that are relevant to her rise in Utah.

Love has placed no special significance on the history she could make in Congress, but she knows the stakes are high. Matheson, who also had an uncontested primary, has outpaced her in fundraising by nearly 10 to 1. And she recognizes that some might question her ties to her adopted state: How does a woman born in Brooklyn and reared in Connecticut end up in Utah?

While in college she met her future husband, Jason Love, who was in Connecticut on a Mormon mission. Fourteen years ago, she moved to Utah; left the Catholic Church, in which she was raised; and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Love, whose husband is white, said she has felt nothing but acceptance in Utah.

She has said that when she heard talk about taking the words “under God” out of the Pledge of Allegiance, she decided to run for city council in Saratoga Springs, a town of about 18,000, and was elected mayor in 2009.

Would many readers want to know more? Of course. Some might even want to ask a voodoo question, although I think that’s a sideline subject here. The key is her move from Catholicism to Mormonism and its role in her personal history.

In the end, does this story at least give people outside of Utah a chance to understand how Love ended up in this particular race, in this particular state at this particular time? I would say, “yes.”

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Filed Under: Catholicism, Mormons, People, Politics, Race
About TMatt

Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He writes a weekly column for the Scripps Howard News Service.

  • Bill

    I thought the piece was quite good. I knew nothing about Mrs. Love and came away knowing something and wanting to know more. Yes, I’d like to know more about her conversion from Catholicism to Mormonism, but would rather have that story told in detail in another piece, not being rushed through in this one.

    One line did make me chuckle:

    And she recognizes that some might question her ties to her adopted state: How does a woman born in Brooklyn and reared in Connecticut end up in Utah?

    I think she moved there with her husband. Such things happen. Now, how about Hillary as senator from NY, RFK in NY,and other Kennedys in Rhode Island?

  • Raymond Takashi Swenson

    I agree, the article tells the most salient facts in a straightforward way. This candidate is in an interracial Mormon marriage and has been not only welcomed by her chosen church neighbors, but is also popular enough to be elected mayor if her city and to get a 70% vote of confidence in the state Republican convention that eliminated two other rivals for the nomination. That is 11% better than six-term Senator Orrin Hatch got from the same group, which forced him to run in a primary election for the first time in 36 years. The Republican party in Utah is more conservative than average, and they found Love an even more popular contestant than the Senator.

    Democrat and Mormon Jim Matheson is running for reelection against Love, with 10 times as much campaign ad money. But in a congressional race, Love’s compelling story and opportunities to tell it in lots of personal appearances can make up the difference.

    Some one-on-one time between Romney and Love would raise her chances in Utah and Romney’s nationally. It would add to the interest in the national Republucan convention if Love were given even ten minutes of speaking time to boist her visibility and the bona fides of tge Republican Party as the home of emancipation and racial equality.

  • Mitch

    Fairly good piece. I question why one who is holding himself out as a critic of other journalists, and of whether the article being analyzed is complete, would use a device like “suffice it to say” to start two paragraphs. That would seem to be either a throw away phrase like”it came to pass,” or a device to announce that what the writer chooses to tell us is all we should want or need.

    The writer notes that the original writer has used stereotypes. But then he trumps them all by implying that because voodoo is popular in Haiti, since Ms. Love is from there she must have a voodoo history that needs to be discussed.

  • http://www.tmatt.net tmatt

    MITCH:

    Actually, I argued against the need for a voodoo question. I didn’t see it having any relevance.

    “Suffice it to say” in this case simply means the numbers are overwhelming — which I then discussed.

  • John Pack Lambert

    The opening sentance of the article is just blatantly false. As a married 36-year-old mother of 3 who is a Mormon Mia Love is in many ways the standard resident of Utah. Her number of children might be a little below the state vaverage, but not noticably. She got married at about the average age for the state, she has lived in the state her entire married life (which is less common than some might think). She is part of the majority religion in the only state where a majority of the population is part of one religion. That, not her conservativism, is what makes her in line with the rest of the state.

    Utah is also the youngest state in the nation, which means that unlike some states Mia Love is above the median age, and closer to the median age for adults than she would be in any other state.

    The Deseret News did run an article on Mrs. Love and her connections with Haiti in the wake of the January 2010 earthwauke (which was the month she became mayor), but they ran other articles on other Haitians in Utah. Even though Mrs. Love was born in the US, she still has uncles and aunts she keeps in touch with in Haiti.

    Actually come to think of it there is another connection between Mitt Romney, Haitians and Mormonism that needs to be mentioned if the whole story in understood. While Mitt Romney was president of the Boston Massachusetts Stake there were Haitian-speaking church units organized in the stake.

  • John Pack Lambert

    Mrs. Love was one of the people featured last fall in the “I am a Mormon” campaign.

    On another note, as far as I can tell if elected Mia Love will be the most Haitian member of congress to date. There may be others who had some distant ancestros who lived in Haiti, but I have not seen any indication that there have ever been any who were children of one, let alone two Haitian immigrants. So why is this not a first that the media mentions? For that matter, will Mia Love be the first African-American congress member with a white spouse? If so, why is this not a mentionable trait. Who is it who gets to decide which traits are mentionable firsts, and which ones are hidden and ignored?

  • James Johnson

    Not sure the point of this article at all or the criticisms involved. Her race, husband, religion, background, job may define and shape her thoughts, but it is not reality. It is foolishness. And to say that any of this is important is just not American.