NOTHING FUNNY, Eric Thomas motivator speaker.

[Bo Jackson]

While speaking to a group of kids at Vashon High School in St. Louis, ET is confronted with a situation causing his speech to take an unexpected turn..

Check it starting at 3:30 mark. But watch it all, quite interesting.

 

[DannyDeVito]

Look at the young kid's faces.

 

[Wanker]

Not sure what to say.

 

[cristycurves]

Thank you Bo for posting that, we need more people like him speaking and motivating the young. Love that he is promoting learning, education and love. That's where it starts. Loved the line "do what you don't like to live how you like to live", however that could be misinterpreted. Education and love is the best avenue for anyone to live better and to fulfill dreams.

 

[oldguyzer]

Good post. Wish more people cared like that.

 

[Prim0]

I wish that we could talk about issues without having to worry about claims of racism. I don't understand how black speakers can talk about Black Culture when telling others how they can't understand it, but acknowledge absolutely nothing about the culture maybe being part of the problem.

Let's face facts in the black community (and others), there is a different way of thinking about some things like success. I'm not saying it's their fault either....it could come from circumstances that were forced on them. But in the black culture, parenting children with different women is a status symbol. A vehicle is a status symbol. Street cred is more important that some things. Black on black crime. Bad schools and bad neighborhoods...who makes them bad?

America is great because anyone has an opportunity to be successful. There are plenty of examples of people pulling themselves up out of poverty. But what people won't acknowledge is the effort those people put into getting there. It's not luck....it's almost always hard work and self sacrifice. Most successful people listened to their teachers and parents. They studied their books. They learned useful skills. Often times in the face of their peers telling them that they are nerds, or weak or uncle Toms, etc. Why is Detroit fucked up? Did white folks drive in from the suburbs to break windows, tag buildings and dump trash everywhere? And all too often the behaviors are excused....it's not you....it's racism. The man been keeping us down fro 400 years.

I acknowledge that there is racism. But it doesn't have to hold you down. I've faced it for being hispanic...I got over it.

My son has been going to mixed race schools since he was 2. At first, all of the kids were just kids. They all played together and the only difference was usually about boys vs girls because they like to play different games. As they've gotten older, I've seen many changes. These changes are taught. I don't know what some of these kids are hearing at home, if it's the parents or the environment. But now we see anger and a separation between the black kids and other kids. It's the saddest thing. My son just wants to be friends with everyone and play and have fun. It breaks my heart when he's pushed away by the little black boys because he's not black like them.

The video puts it clearly. When the speaker goes to other schools, people listen and show respect. Inner city schools, he gets disrespected. The students are given a chance to learn and they'd rather mess around. The culture of that school or group is what's broken and I can only hope more men like him will step up to say it, as anyone not of the culture is going to be shut up or shut down or shut out.

 

[oldguyzer]

Amen, Prim0....agree completely!