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Today we are here to have a very important discussion about an upcoming election with someone who, as I mentioned earlier, found in the preview, is someone that I've gotten to know and love for the work that he's done in the community. He's someone that's really no stranger to the people of Charleston, Berkeley, and North Trust counties. He's been doing amazing work at the State House level for District 109. I bring to you Representative Dion Teter.
Hello, sir. Hey, how you doing? I am great. Can you hear me okay?
Yes, yes. All right. Thank you so much for joining us Representative Teter. Please introduce yourself to the audience for those who may not know you.
Yeah, so I'm Dion Teter. I'm State Representative for District 109 in the house. That's Charleston and Dorchester counties been serving since 2020 election when I was first elected and then reelected in 2022. And now I am seeking the seat of State Senate District 42, which is was currently or recently held by former State Senator Marlon Kepson.
All right. Thank you so much for sharing that. And thank you for your time of service as well at the State House. So let's talk about your journey to getting there.
So who is Dion Teter? You know, we know Representative Dion Teter, but let's get to let's dig a little deeper into who is Dion. Who will be on? So originally, you know, it's no secret.
I was not born in Charleston. So I'm originally from Durham, North Carolina. I was born and raised there. Grew up with both my parents, my mom work in class people.
So I grew up where my parents sacrificed a lot and they worked very hard so that I can be in the positions that I'm in now and have the successes I have now. And so I really appreciate them for that. I'm first generation college student. My parents didn't go to college.
My mom's a secretary. My father was a custodian, a janitor. And I saw how hard they both worked, all downtown, particularly my mom, putting in all the work as a secretary, but then, you know, the people with the higher titles usually get all the credit. And she's the one that's there late nights doing the work.
And the same with my dad, seeing him go into the hospital to clean up overnight, third shift, having to miss certain things because he had to work and provide for his family. And so I come from a working class family. I see my parents struggle, but I've also seen them work really hard. And it paid off because I was able to go to South Carolina State University.
That's how I got here to South Carolina when I was 18 years old. I graduated high school June of 2008 and my father unexpectedly passed away July of 2008. So just shy of a month, less than a month after I graduated from high school. And so it was a difficult moment because one, I lost my dad.
Two, my mom's only child. And so for me, I was the man. You know, at that point I was 18 and I was concerned with, you know, I needed to take care of mom. So I really contemplated not going to college because I needed to stay home and get a job and just work to help her pay the bills because my dad did most of that.
And so my family being supportive as they are, they pushed me to go. They're like, you got to go. You're dad would have wanted to go to the state. And plus I had a full academic scholarship.
And so, you know, that opportunity may not come around again. And so I ended up going down to Orangeburg 2008. No family in South Carolina at that time, at least that I knew of. And so just went, you know, got dropped off and the rest was history.
I fell in love at state man and some great friends fell in love with the school because my mom told me that, you know, if you don't like it after a year, we'll let you transfer back home. And so I was in my state. I was in the on this college. I was in the March in 101.
I played the trumpet. Was very active on campus. I've always been active in leadership roles. I was in student government.
My freshman year, I was a freshman class senator. I ran for that because I've always wanted to be involved to help shape other people's experiences and make sure that they have enjoyable experiences, but also opportunities that other people didn't have. And junior class president and I was in student government my senior year. I was Mr.
Honors College at state. So just kind of all around, you know, that's just my personality. It's always been involved in everything sometimes, much at one time. I'm stretching myself then.
I played alpha for fraternity and quick. So I did a lot at state. I graduated there 2012 at Magna Cum. Went to USC, got in law school there, said in our transition to Columbia.
I spent four years in Columbia, three years in law school, graduated. And then I had the opportunity to clerk for a circuit court judge, which is a unique experience. That's where, you know, I obviously knew I was going to practice law, but to sit on the bench with a circuit court judge, you just get to see it from a different perspective. You get to see all sides, which I think helped shape my practice and me, the ability for me to be able to work across the aisle.
Because in court, it's the same way as in politics, you know, you got to work with opposing counsel with other side sometimes to get things going. And so that's how I got, you know, law school, graduated there. And then how I got to Charleston was my wife. She was going to MUSC.
She got an MUSC. And so I moved to Charleston, followed her and the rest is history. And I'm here. Yeah.
All right. Well, thank you for that. I mean, you mentioned a lot in there in terms of just your journey of getting here. And thanks for walking us through it because maybe a lot of people haven't had the opportunity to get here.
You know, that story of how Dion even came to it, to came to South Carolina. So I didn't know you went to March one on one. So, you know, go go go Bulldogs. And I learned a lot of things right there.
We actually need to pause for a break. So I'm going to come right back. We're going to take a quick break. And then we're going to come right back and learn more about Dion Teder, representative Dion Teder and little Dion inside the car.
Dion Teder, as we come back and you are listening to real talk of John Radio, I'm your host, Ray John Lewis, and you're listening to WDRB Media, the voice of the community will be right back after the break. And we are back. We are back. We are back.
We are back. Welcome back to WDRB Media, the voice of the community of streaming live. Thank you, those who are listening streaming live through free tune in radio app stream up Apple music radio seat and much more. And I also want to thank people who are watching live on Facebook.
If you're not watching live on Facebook, if you like to catch the live, all you need to go do is go to real talk with Rajan and you will find when I'm streaming and catch all the interviews live. So if you're not watching live, you're watching a replay. It's cool. I'm at it.
All right. We are having a conversation with representative Dion Teder. As he's telling us, he the first segment he actually told us a lot about his journey to becoming representative Dion Teder as opposed to just Mr Dion Teder. And I'm really excited now to talk about he's in the position of District 109.
Let's talk a little bit about your win to District 109. Then let's talk about the decision to run for Senate District 42. So how do we go from, all right, you came from Durham, we talked about that. You got here, got to South Carolina State, you passed the bar, you became a lawyer.
And then so how do we end up in House District 109? What happens then? Yeah, so in law school at Carolina, I was always engaged in political realm, so to say. So I would actually go to city council meetings when I lived in Columbia.
Actually, it's funny myself and one other guy, Jimmy, and he, one of my buddies, he's actually now working with the Biden administration, but we always laugh because we were only two, what, 22 year olds, going to a city council meeting all the time. But we were just interested in those things. I've always wanted to be informed, interested in how government works. And so, and I'm going back up a little bit to explain how I got interested in politics.
So my junior year, actually my freshman year at state, I had the opportunity to intern on Capitol Hill, I interned for Senator Ted Kennedy right before he passed away. And, you know, he was, I mean, he's the lion of the US Senate. And so I learned a lot working with him and his office. And it amazed me at the things that they did, you know, just being from a small town and not really knowing anybody in politics, you know, first college, first generation college student, no lawyers in my family, no politicians.
So it was interesting, the exposure I had just being in that space and seeing how the decisions people make, a lot of people who don't look like you and I, the decisions that they make and broker and deals that really affect us back home. And that sparked my interest. And that's when I realized I can be more than just a lawyer. I can also be a legislator and a lawyer.
And so that's how I got interested in politics. And so, and that transformed when I was in law school, I was just attending a lot of meetings. I sort of put myself in touch with sitting legislators at the time. I would go introduce myself, I'd follow up network, be in the spaces that I knew they would be at.
And then it just so happened when David Mack, great, David Mack, who has a radio show here in Charleston, he held the seat before me. He was retiring. And I found out about that. And actually some of the current legislators who reached out, they said, hey, you've always been interested because I've always expressed my interest in wanting to run.
Just didn't know how to go about doing it or what that looked like, you know, again, being the first person in my family to ever run for public office. And so I jumped in. I said, you know, this is an opportunity. This is my opportunity.
He was retiring. It was an open seat. And, you know, my biggest hurdle, as you know, in people that watch the race, was that, you know, people use against me and people still doing that. And I'm not from Charleston.
I'm a come here, not a big. And that's true. I did come here, but I'm here. Okay.
Right. And I intend to raise my family here. I pay my taxes here. And I do a lot of good.
And I think that we have to move away from that because there are a lot of people who are not from Charleston who live in Charleston, work in Charleston and have done exceptional things for the people of Charleston. And so, but that was that was the biggest attack that was used against me when I first ran. I was the youngest candidate. So obviously I was met with arguments that I was inexperienced, et cetera.
But again, just like this race, people try to say the same thing now. And like I told a reporter, they asked me, well, you're the one with the least, I'm not experiencing time in the house. You know, what makes you qualify? And I said, well, I don't equate time with experience.
Yeah, there's a lot of people who have a lot of time, but they sit idly. Okay. And so I think experience is measured by effectiveness, not by time, because you can be, you can hold a position and not be effective for the people. But that's how I got there.
In that run, there was three people. It went to a run off. And then, you know, I was successful. And I think what that showed is and how I think I connected with people.
I was meeting people where they are. I talked directly to the voters and I wanted them to see who I was. And I think that people, we don't get our people that have credit. And people can see through the BS.
And I think people can sense when somebody is a genuine person and really wanting to do something for the good of the people. And I think that's what resonated with the voters in 2020. Absolutely. And like, so that's now you got elected.
I'm so glad that some of the things you said and for those who watch the show, you may or may not know that I ran for office last year. And a lot of the stuff that they hit you with, they also hit me with trust me. Don't feel like, because I'm from Charleston, right? But I'm not from Summerville.
I'm not from Walterboro. I'm years not fromARI Space, now in the tr summary. Let's talk about how you got to decide to run. Now you have two terms were and this is 101.lon and now you're gonna run for Senator kimert Aqua.
How did that come about? Yeah. So when I learned that Senator Kempson was resigning to take a position with the Biden administration, I reached out to him and I said, hey, you know, this is because that's something I've always wanted to do too. And really the reason why, because people ask, well, why, why, you're in the house, why don't you just want to stay there?
Well, because in the Senate, their rules are different. Their rules allow you to be more effective. There's a lot of defense mechanism. As for people that don't know, I'm a Democrat.
And so we're in a super minority. Yeah. And so when we show up to Columbia every week, there's 124 members in the house and 36 Democrats. So you just do the math there.
And in the house, our rules are so flexible and it's left to interpretation a lot of times where we don't have the same mechanisms as in the Senate. Their rules allow them to play defense more, which is what you have to do when you're in a super minority because they are as well in the Senate out of 46 senators because they can play defense by playing defense. I mean, they can block bills. So the bills that are doing a disservice, in my opinion, to our kids, like, you know, taking away curriculum and black history and things like that, the Senate rules allow for more defense mechanisms to stop those types of things in the house, not so much.
And so I believe that I can be more effective and get more accomplished in the Senate versus the house just because of the number of people there are there, how the hierarchy works. But also, I wouldn't be abandoned in my constituents because the beauty of my district is that the majority of my house district, one of nine falls within Senate district 42. So I would still represent a lot of our constituents, majority of them, and then pick up downtown and a portion of West Ashley. And so that's why I want to do this.
And I think it's important too that we have, you know, I'm an attorney and I always tell people I think that we need more lawyers in the legislature. And that's not to say you have to be a lawyer to serve, but it's important because the type of legislation, types of bills that come through and legislation, I mean, there's so many things under attack right now, literally civil rights. And then we've seen the things that are happening. And so there are a lot of legal arguments that have to be made on the floor in committees and subcommittees when we're amending bills and doing things like that.
And if we have time, I do want to kind of get into how bills are passed because I don't think people realize the complexity of it, what all you have to go through and what amendments are and why amendments are effective, et cetera. So that's a good place right there for us to pause. I have to take another break. We're going to come back and we come back.
We're actually going to talk about one, how bills are passed. You know, we not everybody's seen schoolhouse rock on the bill. We'll start with that. And then we'll talk about your platform in terms of what you want to change and see better through you as the center for us in the SESC District 42.
Thank you so much being tuned in to WDRB, the voice of the community. We are back. Hello, hello, hello and welcome back to Real Talk with Rejan, Radio and WDRB, the voice of the community. Everybody who's streaming live to the free, tuned in, radio app, stream up Apple Music, Radio Seed and more.
You are listening to Real Talk with Rejan, Radio. I'm your host, Rejan Lewis. In my latest book, I Need Answers Volume 1. I speak to men as we ask the question, how important is it to have a positive male role model growing up?
Here from men in their own words about their life story to the lens of having or not having a positive male role model and the impact on them as fathers, husbands and mentors. To get your copy of I Need Answers Volume 1, please visit www.bit.ly.com or call roe.com or call roe.com or call roe. We are speaking to this week on our local slavery spotlight. We are speaking to representative South Carolina, House District 109 representative, who is also running for the seat that was currently vacated by Senator Marlon Kipson as he accepted the position at the White House.
Congrats to the way Senator Kipson. We know you are going to do amazing work at the White House. Thank you for all that you have done. But somebody has got to take his place.
And representative Teder has been on here talking to us not only about first time he talked about who is Deon, so if you are watching this on the replay go back and find out who Deon Teder is. The second second we talked about how he joined, how he ended up in the State House. And now we are talking about why he is the guy for that seat and how does a bill happen? So we are going to start backwards with the schoolhouse rock and do that.
I am only a bill. So please, how does a bill happen? Yeah, so like I said, I think it is important to get a lot of people think that we just go up there and you can just push a button and pass a bill and it is not that easy. You have to be effective.
You have to have support from both sides of the aisle. Because what I mentioned earlier with our numbers being 124 members and 36 Democrats. And so what happens is I will introduce a piece of legislation. So I will follow a bill.
And then it goes to a subcommittee. And then it goes to a subcommittee within that full committee. You essentially at some point you have a hearing on that bill. And so say there is a subcommittee hearing.
You go over the bill. People debate about it. There is discussion outside interest can come in. And then ultimately those members of that subcommittee both Republican and Democrat will vote whether or not to pass it up to full committee or to essentially kill the bill.
Which means they will vote it down the majority. And if it goes up to the full committee, the same thing happens again. You have discussion and now you have more members of the panel. For example, there may be 15 people on a full committee and let's say six in the subcommittee.
And so now you have the full committee hearing the bill. And there is opportunity for testimony for and against the bill to ask questions about it. And also amendments can be added in the committee level. And when the amendment is essentially if I wanted to change a line in the bill because it was intended, I wanted to make it mean something else.
I would do an amendment to change the bill to change the direction of that bill. And again, that has to be voted on and by the majority to pass. So it's a lot that goes into that. If it passes full committee, it will receive a favorable decision.
And then it goes to the House floor. Once it goes to the House floor, that's when all 124 members get to debate that bill. One person goes up and they explain the bill and anybody can ask questions. Anybody on the floor, all 124 members can raise their hand and question anything about the bill.
You kind of go back and forth. And you want to gain support of this bill obviously. And ultimately it comes to a vote. And that determines whether it passes or fails.
If it passes, then it goes to the Senate, the other chamber. And vice versa if it's starting to send it, it would go to the House. And I do the same thing. Full committee, full committee.
And then the Senate floor. And then it can get amended and changed. Sometimes it can get sent back to committee. So it was very complicated.
So when somebody passed the bill, that's a big thing. Because that means a lot of work went into it. And also again, you have to be able to work across the aisle to get things done. Or you won't garner that support from the opposition.
So thank you for that. Now for those who hope you all take notes at home, there will be a test later. Thank you so much. I'd like to to for that.
Yo man! Let's talk about you in this seat. So you're running for it, you mentioned how you got in the house. Let's start with this.
What is one of the things that you're most proud of that you've done as a member of the House Representative? Well, one of my proudest moments is when I passed my first bill, my freshman year, and I just told you how complicated the process is. And I had to go through all that to get it done. And again, I was a freshman.
And so this was established in HBCU Day in South Carolina, historically black colleges and universities. And what that does, some people will say, oh, it's just a day. But this is not a resolution. This is a bill.
This was signed into law and not by the governor. So this is standing law. And what they did was expose, give our HBCUs more exposure, which gives our kids more opportunity. Every third Tuesday in February, specifically chose Black History Month.
The HBCUs, all these other schools and organizations get to come up to the State House, but we never do it for all of our HBCUs. And so now that's the thing. And what happens with that is you've got to be strategic in certain things. People will say, well, it's just the opponents of it.
People that want to say that it's not anything big. They'll say, well, it's just today. But it's actually more than that because what's happened is this past year South Carolina State has received probably more funding than they have in years. But again, that's because of exposure.
I had all the college HBCU presidents up at one time in one room with the governor having a conversation about what they need and why HBCUs are so important to our state. And we got the governor on record saying that we are important and we produce some of the top and brightest students in the state. And also what's come out of that is internships. Now we have HBCU students interning in the State House for representatives and senators.
That's because now what I wanted to do what my intent was is to give them access. When I was at South Carolina State, I knew I wanted to get an apology. I didn't know what state representative didn't have access to them. Didn't know how to get access to them.
But now these students, they have access. That was my intention there. They intentionally allow them to go meet with their representatives. They come to the caucus meetings.
They get to know who their state reps are. Their state senators. And so I was intentional about that because it's about exposure and opportunity. And so now you have the students that can come up and they're asking questions to us.
We had this past year. We had a luncheon for them for the HBCU students. And they were able to ask us questions about what we did. And a lot of them were intrigued.
They were like, well, how does this work? And we were breaking it down to them. They get to watch the debate from the balcony. And so that's exciting.
And those are things that when I, that's right, HBCUs matter. And so when I was at state, and I got told you when I interned on Capitol Hill, for me, it was the exposure. It was just being exposed to the power and the dynamics of how the federal government works. And that's what we wanted to provide for our HBCU students here at home.
How the state government works. How they can influence legislation. And we talked about that to the students. I said, look, if you have an idea, you can literally call me or one of your reps and say, look, why don't we do this?
And in fact, that's how HBCU, they started. One of the SGA President from state reached out to me and had this idea. And so that's inspiring the students to know that they can be influential in legislation because they have great ideas as well. And so that's one of my proudest moments there.
All right. Yeah. Thank you for that. For sure.
I'm sorry for the glitch on the screen. I'm trying some new technology. OK. No, but thank you for that.
And to your point, I think that it's so important that some of you may say it's just a day. But like you said, that representation, that understanding that these things are tangible, these things are accessible to all of us, not just some of us, it's so important. So kudos on that accomplishment as a sitting house representative member. But now let's talk about Senate seat 42.
What can you do as a member of seat Senate seat 42 that you could not do in 109? And what will you bring to Senate seat 42 that maybe even the great Senator Martin Kim Simpson wasn't able to do at that time? So what I can do that I was not able to do is use the Senate rules more effectively. I will have the opportunity to, at least in the Senate, like I was telling you earlier about the rules and how they're different.
I'll have the opportunity to stop bad bills that we typically can't do in the house just because we don't have the numbers. But one Senator can stop something. And that's why the hate crimes bill has passed. One Senator to object to it and it stops.
And so we need people that will be willing to step out and be bold enough to hold up these bad bills that really affect our kids and our families back home disproportionately. And so that's one tool. That's one way. So somebody that can be on Judiciary Committee and in these other committees in finance to effectively argue and articulate reasons why bills are good and bad.
And by that I mean, and I'll give you an example. I did not support this bond. Now, let's talk about the bomber phone bill. And the reason is because there were things within the bill that's very harmful, particularly for black men.
And you have to understand the nuances that goes along and bills. Yes, it sounds good. You know, the title of the bill sounds good. The first 10 pages look good.
But then when you get down to page 17 and you find that paragraph that basically makes it where you're not innocent until proven guilty. And we've seen that play already. And so being an attorney, I think that's a tool to just be able to explain things to the general assembly, to our colleagues that they just don't understand because they weren't trained in that area. And so for me, that's like my expertise.
Right. And so I can say this is what this is the unintended consequence that will happen if we do this. Particularly, I had a constituent reach out and thanked me for voicing my pain against this. It was a drug that we call it the War on Drugs bill.
But fentanyl is a very serious thing. And we got to we need to catch the traffickers and stop that. But within that bill, it also what it does is it punishes those who are suffering from addiction, right? The users, not the traffickers, not the builders.
And so it's specific things like that where we need people to be able to amend these bills so we're doing what we intend to do because what happens is we pass these bills and then now the judges hands are tied because they're like, this is the law y'all pass. And then we said, oops, we didn't really intend it that way. But at that point, it's too late. Now somebody's liberty and life is on the line.
Somebody's in jail when they shouldn't be. And the kids are left in the system and you just start that trickle effect. And so it's really important to have people that can really understand and explain to other people why bill is bad. And I've done that effectively in the house about particular issues where I stood on the floor and I was advocating for my clients because I do this every day.
I go to court and that's another thing for me, man. I see how the system, the unintended consequences I see it because I run up against brick walls as an attorney. And this is not right. This is not how it's supposed to work.
And so as a legislator, I can bring those things up and I can provide real life examples to my colleagues on both sides of the house. And I've had Republicans to say, wow, I didn't know that happens. I'm like, yeah. And they're like, okay, we're with you.
And then they vote for an amendment that I will offer. And that's important, man. And the legislature to have that and be able to explain things like that. We're about to end of our time.
So I want to just give you just one last opportunity to just state, you know, why should they vote for you? Where can they find more information about you and how can they follow your social media? Okay. So follow me is just Deon Teder.
You type that in. You'll find me on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. DeonTeder.com is my website. But real brief, I want to tell you, because you mentioned earlier in my platform, when I first ran for house, I said criminal justice reform, affordable housing, education.
Those are my top three things. If you look at my track record, I've introduced and championed legislation dealing with all three. With education, I was on education committee this past year. And I was very vocal against CRT.
I was, I actually was the one who brought up certain concerns about definitions of words and just specific simple stuff like that. That really would have had unintended consequences and where we, where they removed some things from the bill because I voiced those concerns. And those are things that the average person is not going to pick up. But if I'm looking through it, I asked the question, well, what does this mean?
Because this is going to be left up to individual interpretation, right? And we can't have that. We need to make sure we define everything. Criminal justice reform is huge for me.
I represent juveniles and I see the school to prison pipeline play out more and more now. So I'm actually champion in legislation to really slow that down from our kids being put in the system so quickly. They're just being arrested quickly, expelled from school. We know what that leads to.
When it really doesn't have to be that way. So there's alternatives. And we need to find the alternatives. Economic opportunity.
I'm all about bringing jobs to Charleston to the low country, to District 109 and 42. And that's what I'll do as a state senator. And as a state senator, this is important in the district because it's an economic hub. You have Boeing, you have Bos, you have Mercedes, the airport.
I mean, everything is in this district. And so we need somebody who is not going to be self-interested and try to align themselves or personal, we need somebody that can't be bought, somebody that can't be swayed. And that's going to actually stand up and do the right thing for people. And I think I'm showing that.
That's the one thing I'm proud of. I don't owe anybody anything. And I don't belong to anybody. I'm not bought.
I'm not paid for. I'm Deon Cheddar. I fight for people. And I do what my constituents ask me to do.
And I think that's important. And we must have somebody that's going to look out for everybody's interests and not their own personal interests. Absolutely. I think that's very well said.
I think that's very well said. And thank you for making that case. And thank you for running. How can they find you said you're doing so much on your social media and your website was about again?
Deontetter.com. So that's just D-E-O-N-T-E-D-E-R. Oh, and just for those who may not know, what areas does Senate House, I'm going to Senate District 42, yeah. So you got downtown Charleston, Cal Home King, on North Charleston, area.
Going out to Dorchester County, out there by Fort Dorchester Cathedral, all that area. And right now, Maryville, actually a little snippet of West Ashley is in it. So West Ashley, City of Charleston, downtown Charleston, and North Charleston is within the Senate District 42. I would love and appreciate your support.
I want to earn your vote. I want to earn your support. And so I want you, if you have questions, reach out to me. Go on the website, send me a quote.
I'd be happy to talk to you about where I stand on certain issues and why I vote the way I vote. And I think it's important to be transparent about those things. And so, yeah. And also one important thing is that this is a special election.
So this is a September 5th election date. This is not November. This is the primary special election, September 5th. Early voting will start August 21st.
A lot of people don't know that. As I'm going around knocking on doors and there's 110 degree weather, a lot of people that I meet and I talk to, they know about the race, but they don't know that it's September 5th. And that's so crucial. We have to make sure everybody knows that because it's going to come down to turn out.
September 5th, I need your vote. But remember, August 21st, you can vote early and it's the new, you can vote early at the voter registration headquarters. And that is now on corporate road. It moved and I'll get you that information too.
So you can share on your platforms. I'm sending that out as well. But yeah, September 5th is the special election. Awesome.
Thank you so much for that, man. Thank you so much for taking the time to be here today. I know you got a lot of things going on. You canvassing.
You got a brand new wife. You got married. You got a lot going on. But you took some time.
I want to come out. No, I think it's been a lot. I mean, people, I talk to people like, how are you doing this? I mean, literally, I mean, you know, I was at a law firm where my partner that I worked with passed away.
Yeah. So a lot of things that was shaken up in my life went from a firm closing down. I got started at a new firm in May. So I got a new job in May.
I got married in June and I'm running for a state senate. That's a lot at one time. But I've been able to stay with it because I'm a fighter and I stay focused. And you were at the jail the other day when I spoke to the inmates that graduated.
They got their high school diploma and associate's degrees. And the message to them, and I tell young people all the time, don't give up. You got a persevere. Jeremiah 2911 has gotten me everywhere because that is so true.
And you know, people look at me and say he's a lawyer. He has a suit. Life was easy. It was not.
It was not. I didn't pass the bar on the first time. I didn't pass it on the second time. But I kept working.
I kept fighting because I knew this is what I wanted to do. And that's the same way I'll fight for my constituents. And that's the same way I'll fight for my clients because this is real to me. And it really, it really means a lot to me to be able to help people.
I was fortunate enough for my parents to sacrifice and work hard for me to get here. And I think it's incumbent upon me to make sure that other people have the same opportunities that I have. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Thank you so much again, man. Good luck in the race. I'm a fan. You know, I've seen the work that you've done.
I've seen the way you show up for a community. That doesn't mean that I'm closing the door to talk to anybody else. But I'm just, I just always let me show when I got somebody in front of me that I give them their flowers and just give them, because it's hard doing the work. A lot of people talk about doing the work.
But it's hard to be out here in the field doing the work. You know, you got to leave your wife. You know, multiple times a week to go up to Columbia to represent the people of District 109. And you've done it well.
You've done it as a younger person who had to fight, you know, as you mentioned earlier, against certain, you know, ages, ideas about young people in the way, especially young black men the way what it's expected to sort of wait our turn until, you know, something happens. Like, so an opportunity opens up. And the truth is that a lot of the work they're waiting for us to do, we could be doing right now. We don't have the time.
We don't have the time. I got friends and you know, as people younger and younger, just dining, we can't, we have to go get past that mentality. My young people being bold enough to step out and run is not an attack on older people. It's really not.
And so when people say that we don't want to listen and know we do, we people always talk about how young people, particularly young black men, we need to, oh, the young folks need to do this. They need to be active. And then when we go out and we step up to the plate and we want to lead, then they want us to sit back down. Like we, we, we, right now, yes, right now.
And we have a lot to add. We have, we bring value. We have value. And honestly, I know I'm sort of riffing now, but like as somebody works with young black men on a day to day basis, the most, I think for me, the most impactful thing I can do is give them opportunities to lead and to take charge, to show them that their voice matters, that their voice has purpose, that they have something to wait until they turn 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 years old, making impact.
You can do it at 15, you can make it at 12, you can make it at 18, like right now you are ready, you have lots of money, do you have experience, do you need mentors, help guide you along the way? Absolutely. Absolutely. You have many, you know, so what we as adults, what we as the elders, you know, the coming elders have to do is yes, go get it, go hard, but when we, as we're going hard, let's make sure that we're building up the next generation of things.
Yeah, because you got to know when you have to know when you become, at some point, you people just become ineffective. Yeah. And when you become ineffective, it doesn't mean you don't care, it just means that you don't have the same sway that you used to have because it's a different, it's a different, it's even people that serve with you are younger generation on the other side. And so things change and you do a disservice to people when you make it about yourself.
Absolutely. Absolutely. And thank you so much, bro. I actually am now going to have two episodes of content.
So shout out to WTRV Media, the voice of the community. I appreciate it. My next two weeks of shows are in the can. Ha ha, take that.
I want to thank everybody for tuning in. I want to thank Representative Deonta Teder for taking the time to come out again. This is a special election. So this is not, you know, the one you're normally thinking about, which is November.
No, this is September. Next month, you'll be able to, this election is actually taking place. And you can, as you mentioned earlier, early voting starts on August 21st. So if you are in those areas that you mentioned, I'm sure you're going to share that information out, I'm going to share social media about these upcoming days, these very important upcoming days.
September 5th is this election day. Do not, do not, do not, not vote. And then come to me complaining about what's happening in your areas. That's something that I'm very strong about.
If you don't vote, I don't want to hear from you. And I mean that with all my heart. Well, two birds on the same wing on the same bird. Do not talk to me if you don't vote.
That is something I mean. Anyway, sorry. Thank you for tuning in. Continue to tune in every Friday at 530.
Please listen live 24-7 by going to WDRB Media and click on the Listen Live tab. Also, if you want to be a guest on the show or want free advertising, please reach out to me at realtalkforgiont.com. You can connect me on Instagram or Twitter or everyalltalkforgiont.com. You've been listening to WDRB, the voice of the community community.
I am Raison Lewis and this has been Real Talk with Raison Radio. And always remember in closing. In the words of Frederick Douglass, it is easier to build strong children and to repair broken men. My question for you is always, what are you building?
Now that is Real Talk and I will see y'all next week. Thank you.