Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) told a local newspaper Friday that the two people who have inspired his rebuke of President Donald J. Trump are his Black grandson and his father. Romney made headlines as being the only Republican senator to support the impeachment of Trump. Romney also broke with most in his party to join a Black Lives Matter march this summer in Washington, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.
“There’s no question but that who I am and what little courage I have is the result, to a large measure, of having watched by my dad exercise courage of his own,” Romney said reflecting on his father's influence on his life.
“I saw my dad make decisions, which were politically uncomfortable, and which had consequences for him.” But he said the elder Romney “was happy and satisfied because of it” because he felt he was doing the right thing," according to The Salt Lake Tribune.
Romney said courage and integrity were two traits his father possessed because they “only have value if there’s a cost associated with them, with exercising them.” Romney said his father commented, "'I never look back. I only look forward. Why would I look back?’ He was not troubled by the consequence of doing what he felt was right. And I’m sure that influenced, and influences, how I think about my life.”
The Black Lives Matter Movement is particularly of interest to the senator.
“It’s pretty straightforward for me,” he said. “Black Lives Matter is a statement saying that we have a justice system and a law enforcement system which from time to time does not exercise equal and fair justice. And that’s an important message.”
He said, “I’m not terribly popular with my party in the state of Utah,” Romney said. “But that consequence is nowhere near as great as the consequence of violating your own conscience.”
Romney said he thought about how Black people, like his grandson, say they must have “the talk” with children about the discrimination that exists because of their skin color.
“I don’t know how this grandson of mine will be able to understand that, and why is it that I will be treated differently than my siblings and my cousins, simply because the pigment of skin is different. I find that very troubling.”
Again, his father was an important fixture in his personal decision to attend the civil rights march honoring the Black Lives Matter movement.
“He was at the front of the [civil rights] parade,” Romney said. “In Washington, I was just back with all the other folks, which I was perfectly comfortable with. But I did think about him.”