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would seem that fate may have placed Representative Akasha Lawrence Spence in this gap for a reason. Not only is she a Representative of District #36, which spans from Portland’s SW Waterfront, Chinatown, upper SW Hills and parts of Multnomah Village, she has also taken up the movement of her broader Black community as one of the leaders who helped to shape an internal collective known as BLASK.
Pictured: Oregon Representative Akasha Lawrence Spence
The Black Ask, aka BLASK, was shaped by over 60 Black organizations with strong leadership coming from Representative Lawrence Spence, Nkenge Harmon Johnson, President & CEO of the Urban League of Portland, Jesse Beason, President & CEO of the Northwest Health Foundation and Joy Alise Davis, Executive Director of PAALF. BLASK was formed to create a Black focused measure they would eventually call “The Oregon Cares Fund for Black Relief and Resiliency”. It was created to ensure that the Black businesses, Black led organizations and Black individuals were fairly represented during a special Legislative session that divvied up nearly 1.4 billion in CRF money that the State wanted to use to help those who had been underserved in the initial 2 trillion in Federal dollars issued out in March.
REPRESENT
WORDS BY | FAWN ABERSON
How the tireless advocacy of Representative Akasha Lawrence Spence and other Black leaders yielded $62 million for the OCF for Black Relief and Resiliency. At a time where economic turmoil and radical civil unrest are boiling over and long-term racial discord is twisting thorns of insecurity into the souls of the American people, there is something about Representative Akasha Lawrence Spence’s role in politics that denotes a bit of destiny. Amongst the 60 leaders in the Oregon State House of Representatives tasked to oversee districts of around 63,850 citizens over a twoyear election cycle, Representative Lawrence Spence is one of only two African-Americans along with Representative Janelle Bynum. Additionally, of the 30 State Senate seats in Oregon, only two of those are filled by African Americans, Senator Lew Frederick and Senator James Manning. However, Rep. Lawrence Spence wasn’t elected for this job as per usual, she 44
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was appointed by Multnomah County Commissioners to replace former state Rep. Jennifer Williamson, D-Portland, who resigned in December of 2019 to run for Oregon Secretary of State in the 2020 election--a race she ironically dropped out of abruptly in February. Currently, Rep. Lawrence Spence will continue as appointed until January of 2021, having chosen not to run in the general election. It is most certain that upon acceptance of this appointment, Rep. Lawrence Spence, like any of us, couldn’t possibly have predicted the massive domino effect that was about to impact the systemic world order of health, economic and racial justice. Subsequently, the fallout of each of these dominos is hitting the Black community in particularly menacing ways and at a time when Black representation in positions of influence is so crucial, it
BLASK organizers anticipated that passing this measure might be a heavy lift, but the group was fiercely united in making sure the Black community had a seat at the table and not the “per usual” crumbs. Also, Oregon had already awarded a culturally responsive funding for the Latinx Leadership Network earlier this year, a package which included “fully funding the proposed Oregon Worker Relief Fund, which is critical to the financial security of undocumented workers.” In mid-July, Rep. Lawrence Spence teamed up with Rep. Bynum, Sen. Frederick, and Sen. Manning, to introduce this measure as a $62 million dollar ask that would go directly to the Black community through a funnel process between a venture nonprofit firm called the Contingent and the Black United Fund. The measure passed with the full support of the Governor Kate Brown, House Speaker Representative Tina Kotek and others from the Oregon State Legislature Joint Emergency Board, only 3 nay votes were recorded, all coming from Republicans. Rep. Akasha Lawrence Spence sent an emotional message to the BLASK collective, post award announcement that read in part, “I am overwhelmed by the work that we all put in to get us here, by the time we spent convening and I am honored to be a part of this movement with you. In some ways, many, this is only the beginning, we have so much to do get this money into the hands of Black Folks statewide.”
