On Sunday, Mitt Romney joined more than 1,000 other protesters who marched to the White House in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. It was the latest in a string of acts of defiance against President Trump, including his vote to convict Trump on an impeachment charge in February, his disapproval of Trump clearing Lafayette Square for a photo op at St. John’s Episcopal Church last week and his admission that he would not vote for Trump’s reelection in November.
But Romney’s choice to march was about far more than Trump. The Republican senator from Utah was continuing a family tradition of strongly supporting civil rights, even when it was politically disadvantageous. Romney’s father, George, then the governor of Michigan, marched in support of racial equality in 1963. He was in the early stages of planning his own presidential run, and his actions stood in stark contrast to a Republican Party that was increasingly reaching out to white Southerners on issues of race. Later, President Richard Nixon even fired George Romney as secretary of Housing and Urban Development because of his zeal for enforcing open housing laws.
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