Seriously, who is surprised that Lil Wayne is down with Donald Trump?

He’s been trying to tell y’all for years what he’s all about …

You know what they say: When you great,

It’s not murder it’s assassinate

So assassinate me, bitch

‘Cause I’m doing the same shit Martin Luther King did

Checking in the same hotel, in the same suite, bitch

Same balcony like, “Assassinate me, bitch!”

Lil Wayne lyrics from “Playing Fire”

I wasn’t going to write this piece.

It seemed to me the news of Lil Wayne endorsing President Donald Trump’s Platinum Plan (pdf) — a title that reads like the name of a malt likka delivery service for Black neighborhoods — shouldn’t be news.

But for some of you, this is not only news, but you also feel disappointed and betrayed.

Weezy’s been trying to tell y’all for a while that he sees no racism in this country.

Check his see-no-racism remarks when he appeared on Fox Sports.

This isn’t the first time Lil Wayne said he “never dealt with racism”.

Nor his third.

Nor his fourth.

How many times does Lil Wayne need to warn y’all that he’s operating on a different racial reality? Or he at least thinks so …

Consider his disrespect to the Black Lives Matter movement during his 2016 interview with Nightline.

All his statements appear to show he sees nothing like the stats I recently cited about Black life under Trump a’nem.

Or that Black college graduates have barely more money than White high-school dropouts.

Or the rate of Black college graduates who own homes is smaller than The rate of White high-school dropouts who are owners.

Or how Black folks die nearly four years sooner (pdf) than White folks will.

Lil Wayne has never lied to you about who he is: a rapper who doesn’t read see racism.

So why be disappointed?

Weezy lives a very different life from most African descendants. His bubble, constructed by cash and residuals from his craft, protects him from seeing racism …

… Until the day his money stops protecting him …

I have a broader question: Why do we offer blind respect to celebrities’ social platforms, and then become disappointed when they begin to speak that wild-azz stuff?

Here’s an even broader question: how can Weezy and Ice Cube be walked through a skinny, two-page document about rebuilding Black communities — a document with no connection to a root-cause analysis or target metrics for progress — and be in a position to offer an informed opinion?

Without details that move beyond two pages (pdf; reposted) — and I doubt the details exist — the Malt Likka Plan strikes me as predatory neighborhood development, oxymoron usage intended. Another giveaway to the rich, topped with the over-policing of Black communities. I may dissect this plan later, but I keep telling myself there isn’t much that was presented for a serious discussion.

I suggest we keep our heads out of Hollywood and focus on two things: this election, and the struggles after that.

Because believe me, this struggle is going to get much worse.

And yes, Vice President Biden needs to step up with his Black community plan, assuming he gets elected.

The song stuck in my head right now is rapper Nyles’ take on Lil Wayne’s “Let the Beat Build”. I dig Nyles’ version more. I posted a link this time …