FREEBURG — At the Truman Day dinner on April 25, Missouri Democratic Party Vice Chair Yvonne Reeves-Chong of Waynesville likened the political party’s fight to what her family went through in the 1960s, specifically, the 1960 Olympics.

“Wilma Rudolph was the first American woman to win three gold medals in an Olympics,” she told those gathered at the Paul A. Hasenbeck American Legion Post 317 in Freeburg. “What made that so remarkable was that when she was 2 years old, she had polio and scarlet fever, and was not expected to be able to walk. And the story she tells is the doctor said that, ‘I would never walk, my grandmother said I would run.’ I believe my grandmother, and she believed her mother, because that was my grandmother.”

Rudolph was the 19th of 21 children, and Reeves-Chong’s mother was number 18. “Wilma Rudolph was a national hero at a time that our country was looking for heroes,” Reeves-Chong said. “They called her the gazelle. She took gold in the 100, the 200 and the four-by-four relay. But Wilma is not the hero of that story; the hero of the story is Blanche, my grandmother.”

Reeves-Chong explained that Wilma was born in 1940 at a time of deep segregation. “When the doctor said that this little black child born to a black man that worked in the railroad, and my grandmother, who was a maid, and this was their 19th child, doctor was not going to walk, grandmother would take her daughter, who could not walk, on the back of a bus, and go 40 miles to Nashville, to the only place that would treat her, three times a week. Day after day, week in and week out, my grandmother kept taking her until the child that could not walk, could run.”

As that family history relates to current events, Reeves-Chong called it a tough season. “This is perhaps the worst it’s ever been, and Democrats everywhere are looking for a savior,” she added. “We’re looking for a hero. We’re looking for Wilma, and I’m going to tell you, we need to be like my grandmother, Blanche. We need to be that person who goes up against unbearable odds, unwinnable situations, and we get on that bus, and we sit in the back, week in and week out, until what can’t walk, runs. That’s heroic. That’s what saves us.”

She also warned that Democrats will need to rely on themselves at every level of government. “Barack Obama is not coming over the hill to save you,” said Reeves-Chong, in her second term as vice chair. “Every one of us doing our part consistently is how we win. We go march in a protest when we’ve never marched in a protest before. We go call the legislator. We go testify at a House hearing. You sign up for email alerts. You talk to your neighbor. I know it’s scary, but the more people we talk to, the more people we find that agree with us. When we talk to them, we tell them about who we are, and what we value. People for years have said that Democrats have a lack of messaging. The message is just all over the place. And they’re right. You want to know why the message is all over the place? Because we’re Democrats. See Republicans take marching orders. Everybody gets in line. Charles Koch says you’re going to do this. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) writes the bills and hands them to our legislator. I don’t remember the representative’s name, but a couple years ago, he turned in a bill in Missouri that ALEC had given him, except that it still said Kansas, and he filed it. They take orders. I would say working with Democrats is like herding cats, but I don’t want to insult the cats.”

Reeves-Chong added that all Democrats have opinions. “If you put five Democrats in a room, you’re going to have six opinions, every damn time. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Y’all, did you see the news where the FBI arrested a judge? The FBI arrested a judge for failing to cooperate with ICE in her courtroom. If our judges become intimidated, what’s left to us? Can we start making a difference now? Maybe our six opinions aren’t so far off that we can’t work together.”

She cautioned that while Democrats are “very, very moral people, but sometimes our morality slides into egotism.

“Democrats are always going to disagree,” Reeves-Chong added. “We’re never going to be the same. People will say, ‘Yvonne, do you think the Democratic party moved too far left?’ Other people will go, ‘You know, they’re so conservative, the Democratic Party is just Republican, but white. That’s who we are, people, and in very few senses, are we one party. We are actually more an alliance that sometimes have competing interests, but we unite around a single principle, which is liberty and justice for all. If that’s the only place we agree, then damn it, that better be enough.”

Reeves-Chong criticized the Trump administration’s direction, calling it a high-stakes situation. “We better figure out that we are the hero,” she said. “We are the ones that have to do this. No one else can save you but you. You — the Democratic Party. There’s not one of us that’s special, but all of us together are extraordinary. When we work together, we win.”

She alluded to a meeting of Democrat party officials from District 2 (St. Louis, St. Charles, Franklin, and Warren counties) she attended by Zoom before coming to the Truman Day dinner. Incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner won reelection last year, but Reeves-Chong said she is vulnerable. “A report that came out that says in a hypothetical matchup, she only has a four-point lead,” said Reeves-Chong of a 2026 election matchup against Democrats. “We can close that gap if we work together.”

She added members of the Democrat National Committee (DNC) was at the meeting, and believe that Missouri is coming back on to national maps. “The DNC was in Missouri today because they see what’s possible and the best part of it,” Reeves-Chong added. “The work we’ve been doing over the last few years has made a difference. We are no longer fly-over country. We’re starting to get there. We’re building the energy, we’re coming together, and we’re going to ride there on our values. We’re going to ride there on our consistency. What’s that saying? ‘How do you eat an elephant?’ You get a bite and you get a bite, and if everybody takes our bite, we’re taking that elephant down.”

She also spoke of  Democratic state treasurer nominee Mark Osmack, who lost his bid to Treasurer Vivek Malek last November.

Reeves-Chong noted that Osmack plans to donate a kidney to a friend later this month. “That’s what Democrats do,” she said. “He’s got every excuse in the world not to — he’s got a wife, three kids., and a little baby that’s four weeks old. He’s flying back east and taking the time off work. He does not get paid for the time he has to take off to give this kidney. But he’s a match, and I’ve never been so mad that he’s not our treasurer because, damn it, we should have elected him. That’s the kind of person that we should put in office, because that’s who Democrats are. We had a great slate of candidates last term. They campaigned hard, and didn’t stop. It was never about winning an election. It was about making a difference. And they still get up every day and talk to people. Y’all that’s Blanche Rudolph level. That’s who I’m asking you to be, but you can hang on to your kidney. That might be over the top, so you can keep your organs, but that’s how we win. That’s what we do, and that’s who we are. It’s who we’ve always been. We just need to get up and act like it.

“We need everybody on board, because it’s the only way we win this moment, and losing this moment is not an option, so I’ll schedule with your county chairs to come out,” Reeves-Chong added. “You’re going to come to the meetings. You’re going to bring your friends, your families, your children. Bring your children; if you’re not teaching your children how to navigate politics, who will? If you don’t teach them that it’s important, who will? We’re going to get on the bus, week in, week out, and do what it takes. And just like my grandmother would look at her crippled child and told her that she would run I am telling you — with every fiber of my being — that if we get on the bus and do what needs to be done, week in and week out, we win.”

Reeves-Chong grew up in many places as a member of a U.S. Army family and recently retired from her position as sales and finance manager at Seller-Sexton Mazda in St. Roberts. She holds a B.A. from Claremont-McKenna College, and is currently working in rural Missouri, organizing and reorganizing Democratic organizations.

Outgoing Osage County Democrat Club President Larry Hunt reminded the group that President Harry S. Truman’s famous desktop quote, “The buck stops here,” applies to all Democrats. “It’s our responsibility, so we need to get out, put our shoulder to the wheel, and get a lot of a lot of work done,” he added.

The Osage County Democrat Committee will meet at 7 p.m. on May 8 at the Osage County Library. The Phelps County Democrat Committee meets on the second Tuesday of the month at 5:30 at Hopper’s Pub and Grill on Pine Street in Rolla. Maries County Democrats meet on the second Wednesday of the month at 6:30 at the Vienna ballpark.

All meetings are open to the public and representatives of each committee encouraged attendance if possible to share ideas.