“…Right now things are about as perilous as they’ve ever been in our nation’s history. That is the simple truth. Things haven’t looked this dim since right before the Civil War. And, like Jess [Piper] mentioned, when we’re talking about suspending habeas corpus, that has not been done since the Civil War. When we have people being grabbed off the street the simple truth is this – this is a pivotal moment and I don’t know if the United States of America survives this moment. It’s not guaranteed. [voice: “We’re not united anymore.”] Liberty and justice, freedom, those things are not guaranteed to us. And if we fail this moment our country will cease to exist in the way we’ve known it…”
On Saturday, May 10th, Johnson County Democrats held a social and organizing event in a park on the west side of Warrensburg. Over 100 individuals attended, listening to a number of speakers. Yvonne Reeves-Chong, Vice Chair of the Missouri Democratic Party addressed the crowd:
. “…Here’s the other thing that’s true. No one is coming over the hill to save you. No one. Superman is not coming up over the trees. Barack Obama is not dropping from the sky. The only people that can save us, the hero of this moment has to be you…”
“…It’s the week in, the week out that’s the heroic thing. So for this moment I’m calling each of you to be like Blanche [Rudolph], to get up, to knock the door, to talk to your neighbor, to not let injustice stand. And you do that week in, you do it week out. You run for office when it’s scary. When you hear that bigoted comment. Ya’ll, I’m not asking you to get into a long philosophical argument, but I am asking you to turn around a say, ‘Hell no.’ We don’t have to let bigotry stand…”
“…We are the Democratic Party. But more importantly, we are Americans. [applause] And, ya’ll that flag means something. It means something to me. We are the party that truly understands that liberty and justice for all means everybody or it means nothing at all. [applause]…”
“…We don’t need to explain trans people. We don’t need to explain gay people. And, please, stop explaining black folk. Ya’ll ain’t good at it. [laughter] Yeah, not good at it. Stop explaining things. It’s liberty and justice for all. And all is all is all is all…”
“…All. Because that’s who we are. That’s where we stand. That’s how we fight. Every single one of us. Week in, week out…”
Missouri Democratic Party Vice-Chair Yvonne Reeves Chong.
Today, on social media:
The times are dark. I’ve read your posts; I know you’re scared. Evil and madness are raining down from the White House. The modern version of Hitler’s Brown Shirts have been set loose from jails to prey on his opponents. These are the darkest days. America as we know it may not survive.
But hear this, I will not go with a whimper. I am the descendant of slaves and I will not die as one. When I say, “over my dead body,” I say it with my whole chest.
Resist.
“RESIST” (2024) Posterboard. Permanent marker. 22 x 28.
“…We are in this for the people that live next door to us…”
Yvonne Reeves-Chong (D), candidate in the 122nd Legislative District – Sedalia, Missouri – January 25, 2020.
Lindsey Simmons, a Democratic Party candidate in the 4th Congressional District, held a campaign meet and greet event, including area and statewide candidates, in Sedalia yesterday evening.
Yvonne Reeves-Chong (D): … The 122nd, we, it’s actually open, but, we aven’t had a Democrat run for that seat since 2006. We ceded the territory. And, I’m going to make a difference, as she mentioned.
I’m running this thing, and I’m running this race, and I’m making them chase me. [applause] Guys, I went up with four by eights [signs] last week. And I’m talking to every single person. I woke up at six thirty, well, I woke up at five thirty. Six thirty this morning I was at the Great Chili Cookoff. [laughter] Because there were four hundred people at the Great Chili Cookoff. Now, I’m strictly a microwave kind of girl. [laughter] So I found some good Democrats that could cook. And we made some dang good chili, came in third. [applause]
But one of the things that happened today that I thought was really interesting, I was in the kitchen because they allowed me to stir, no more. And I was doing stirring duty and one of the other contestants walked over and said, you know, I just took a picture of you and sent it, sent it to my cousin, who is my opponent, because you’re here and he isn’t. [applause]
Everybody’s going to tell you that we can’t win. They’re gonna tell you that this is red territory. And on the surface I think they might be right. It looks kind of red. Until we start talking to people.
What makes the difference? My district is a red district. And every district that we don’t compete in is a red district. [applause]
Last week I held a town hall meeting. I decided we were gonna talk about guns. And I’m a Democrat. And I got a hundred people together in a red district. And I had Moms Demand Justice up here in the front row. And I had the guy over in the back corner, ’cause you know those guys are gonna sit in the back corner. [laughter] Going, your gonna take my gun. And we spent an hour talking. And at the end of that hour we came up with a background check law that every single person in that room agreed to. [applause] We are not going to win on Facebook. We are not going to win by talking to each other in groups like this. And I love doing this. It’s necessary, but it will not win our race. I’m lucky. I have a pretty contained district. And I’m going to talk to every single person. [applause] When we left the gun town hall the guy in the back walked up to me and said, I really hate that you’re a damn Democrat. [laughter] I looked at him and said, gonna break a trend, aren’t I? He said, yep, gimme a big old hug ’cause I gotta vote for you. [applause]…
Yvonne Reeves-Chong (D): …So, I’m gonna be that damn Democrat. And I’m going to talk to people who don’t like me. We are in this for the people that live next door to us. And the people that work at the companies, not just the people that own the companies. [applause]
If I can give you any hint, and we’ve got a lot of candidates here, we’re getting ready to do some really great things this year. We’re aiming for greatness.
And, I, I’m a single parent. Raised my son. And I think he’s great. He’s a pretty successful kid. He’s got his head on straight, um, he’s a pastor, been a pastor for fifteen years. And so I talk to him. You know, ’cause I gotta get my mom strokes in. ‘Cause, obviously, I did a great job. [laughter] And, and I asked him, I said, what could I have done better? Expecting him to say, Mom, you’re the best. And he said, Mom, you did a lot of really terrific things, you gave me voice lessons, and piano lessons, we went to museums, we discussed cultural things, you got me a terrific education. But, you know what, Mom? It would have been easier to be great if you had done one thing. Well, what’s that? He said, Mom, you should have taught me how to make my bed every morning. I said, what? He said, Mom, you see, it’s the little daily things we do tat ease the path to greatness.
It’s not the big things. We’re not gonna win this race on Election Day. We’re gonna win our races by making our beds every morning and talking to the woman at the drive through, or going to talk to the hotel maid, if you’re staying in a hotel overnight. You’re gonna talk to the person at WalMart. We’re gonna door knock, but we’re gonna have real conversations with real, with real people. You’re gonna talk to that neighbor with the Trump sign in his yard. Talk to him. He voted for Trump ’cause he’s mad. And he should be. And if you look at what’s going on in Jeff City right now, furious. So, you strut right past that Trump sign, knock on the door with the Confederate flag. [laughter] Oh, I do. Those are my people. [laughter][applause] Talk to them. That’s really all they’ve asked for, for years. They asked us to please talk to ’em.
So, let’s go make our beds. Let’s do those small things. Every one of us. In every one of these districts…
