The nation has been mesmerized by the confrontations between the Republican presidential candidates for several months.

Now a confrontation of a different sort that occurred in St. Louis last month is just now going viral.

Dr. Eric D. Thomas is a black motivational speaker whose success story is an inspiration for anyone of any race. Born in Chicago and raised in Detroit, Thomas dropped out of high school after an argument with his mother and lived homeless for two years. Meeting a preacher during those homeless years changed Thomas’s life, and he eventually graduated from Michigan State University in 2015 with a Ph.D. in Education Administration. He now gives motivational speeches and produces videos and books.

Thomas charges anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 as a motivational speaker for corporate groups, but will speak for free to juvenile detention centers and underachieving high schools.

It was at Vashon High School in St. Louis that Thomas was interrupted several times by noisy and inattentive students. That’s when things got real:

You got the nerve to act the fool when somebody cares about you? You’re talking when I’m talking. Do you know that if I go to a Jewish school, those kids are quiet. If I go to a white school, those kids are quiet. If I go to a Latino school, those kids are quiet. The only kids that disrespect me are black kids.

That’s it, my own, are the only ones who disrespect me. I work in any other school and they’re taking notes. I come home, you’re talking. You’re capping jokes. You think something is funny. Look how we’re living. Ain’t nothing funny. Ain’t nothing funny y’all.

Here’s the video of the entire incident. It’s worth watching the full eight minutes.

https://youtu.be/NWDTM0rAJCc

Will Dr. Thomas’s speech change the lives of any of those students in St. Louis? There’s no way of knowing, of course, but with people like Eric Thomas in the world to inspire others, there’s always hope that people stuck in dire situations can be propelled to turn their lives around.

Slow clap, Dr. Eric Thomas. Slow clap.