Portland Advocate_1981-11

-- -- TheMyth Of Thanksgiving See Story Page 7 . November, 1981 "NOW IS THE TIME" FOR AND BY BLACK PEOPLE Vol.l, No.7 Black Community Activist Seeks District 18 House Seat by D. K. Charles Vesia Loving, an outspoken ad– vocate for the rights of Black people in Portland for the past 15 years, will be a candidate in 1982 to represent a Northeast Portland district in the State Legislature. Mrs. Loving, one of the ori– ginal members of the Black United Front, will compete in the May Democratic primary for the dis– trict 18 House seat. Many Black Portlanders fought hard during the 1981 legislative reapportion– ment process to create a district where Blacks could take the best advantage of our political strength. The district, with about 40 percent Black residents, was the result of those efforts. Mrs. Loving, who also works as a teacher's aide at Boise Ele– mentary School, _said she is run-. ning for the Legislature because "there are a lot of things that need to be done and I'm not afraid to do them~ "I don't know anyone who has been as involved in the community as I have been. My theme will be 'Let the work that I've done speak for me,'" she said. She said that she had been thinking about entering politics for sev– eral months, but just made up her mind recently after talking with members of her family and friends in the Black community. "I did get a lot of confidence from my friends and family," she said. "The decision to run was something that I decided person– ally to do . . I'm not anyone's candidate. I decided that I've been out here trying to change things all of these years and now I need to be where the laws are made," she added. If elected to the Legislature, Mrs. Loving said education would be one of her priorities. "I would still work for · a better education for all children." She said one of the biggest pro– b~ems for education in the state is the way schools are financed. The system, which depends on property taxes, hurts many com– munities. "It's a disadvantage for parents. You are caught in the middle. Elderly people and the poor can't afford to pay high property taxes," she said. She said_ she would also like to see legislation passed to help young mothers. "Women and children should have better support. I would work for bet– ter rights for women. If women are going to work, they need better pay and good daycare for their children," s:!:le said. Vesia D. Loving is the mother of four children who went back to college after her children were born in order to get a degree in teaching. Mrs. Loving said that she is just nine hours short of getting her certification but that she has been so busy with community projects during the past four years that she hasn't had time to finish. She has been an aide at Boise school for the past 14 years. She was active in Model Cities projects during the 1960's. She was a member of the Community Coalition for School Integration which worked for an integration Mrs. Loving said her legis- · policy for Portland Public lative concerns would also be schools that would be equal for about health issues and issues_ Black and whites. Mrs. Loving affecting the elderly. She saldbecame involved in the Front she would work for better hou- while still working with the sing for residents of Portland. Co~lition to get the school Mrs. Loving has lived in Portland for 37 years. She was born in Warren, Ark. and came to Portland with her parents as a teenager. Her parents were among the Blacks who came to Portland during World War II to work in the shipyards. She board to listen to its proposals. The Front was successful in ending the one-way bussing that scattered Black children across town. Mrs. Loving is a long time member of Vancouver Avenue Bap– tist Church. .