As I make my way from Alabama into Mississippi on my Walk Across America, I’ve been thinking a lot about the chains that bind us. I’m not thinking of the visible chains of poverty, drugs and violence, but the invisible ones that shackle our minds. Just as great ideas set our minds free, there are destructive notions that keep us imprisoned. It seems far too many of us prefer this imprisoned mindset — and why?

What got me thinking about this was the recent attacks on Nicki Minaj. This Trinidad-born rapper, who rose from the streets of Queens to worldwide fame and wealth, dared to step outside the identity politics script by publicly supporting President Donald Trump. 

Predictably, the left unleashed a torrent of attacks with the explicit aim of “canceling” her. All for what? An individual expressing her opinion? Or, more accurately put, a Black individual expressing her own opinion?

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Is this politics, or something deeper — like White guilt manifesting as control over Black thought? It’s a tired pattern we’ve seen before, from the vilification of thinkers like Thomas Sowell and Shelby Steele. Even I was vilified when I came out in Chicago as a Black conservative. I lost more than half of my church, and my family had to go into hiding due to death threats.

U.S. President Donald Trump and musician Nicki Minaj hold hands onstage at the U.S. Treasury Department’s Trump Accounts Summit, in Washington, D.C. on January 28, 2026. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

When Minaj appeared at a recent U.S. Treasury event promoting “Trump Accounts” for children’s financial futures, she didn’t mince words. She declared, “I am probably the president’s number one fan, and that’s not going to change.” 

She addressed the backlash head-on: “The hate or what people have to say — it does not affect me at all. It actually motivates me to support him more.” And she didn’t stop there, calling out the “bullying” and “smear campaigns” against Trump, saying, “We’re not going to let them get away with bullying him. … It’s not going to work.”

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Minaj, an immigrant who came to America as a child, was once a Trump critic. But in her recent posts on X, she has not shied away from questioning the Democratic establishment, asking why key figures like Jay-Z stayed silent when Trump pardoned a Roc Nation executive. 

She’s also called for voter ID, exclaiming, “What sensible, forward-thinking, cutting-edge, leading nation is having a DEBATE on whether or not there should be VOTER ID?!?!!!!”

This isn’t just celebrity gossip. This is a woman in a position of great influence, with millions of fans, who has chosen her own path and opinion. 

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The response? A full-scale assault from the left in hip-hop and entertainment circles, where mindless submission to progressive orthodoxy is demanded.

Fans and critics have piled on. One X user lamented, “Nicki Minaj sold her soul for a Trump gold card. … She sold out Black fans, queer fans, immigrant fans.” Another accused her of becoming “anti-immigrant” and “embarrassing” for supporting Trump. 

Even at the Grammys, host Trevor Noah took a swipe: “Nicki Minaj not here — she’s still at the White House with Donald Trump.” 

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Reports claim she’s lost millions of followers due to fan “backlash” and her “MAGA-fication.” One critic even wrote, “She’s such an embarrassment & her fans don’t even care.” The Democratic Party’s official account even quoted a stan page to diss her — a rare and revealing move against a celebrity.

Is this all White guilt at play? Absolutely. White liberals, in their zeal to “protect” Black people from themselves, often end up patronizing and controlling us. They assume we must all think alike, vote alike and speak alike — or else we’re traitors. On the other hand, Black elite liberals shame us into groupthink to keep their hold on power — or else we’re labeled race traitors.

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Steele, in books like “White Guilt,” exposes how liberals use racial guilt to maintain power, treating Blacks as perpetual victims who need their guidance. White guilt is never about actual guilt — no White person today can feel personal guilt for what past Whites did. Instead, White guilt is solely about power, and it has been the tool of progressive elites to keep their tribal agenda alive. As Steele says, White guilt is Black power.

White guilt isn’t benevolence. It’s a cage. It says, “We’ll forgive your history if you let us dictate your future.” But when a Black person like Minaj breaks free — endorsing Trump on issues like economic empowerment or border security — White guilt turns to rage. They can’t handle a queen who crowns herself. Instead of debating her ideas, they bully, mock and erase. This isn’t progress. It’s plantation politics in modern dress.

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I see hope. If I had listened to the progressive left, I would never be in the middle of building my life-changing community center on Chicago’s South Side. That is why I admire Minaj’s defiance. It echoes the spirit of those who’ve always fought for true liberation — thinkers like Sowell and Steele, who remind us that freedom includes the right to disagree. 

Blacks are not a monolith. We can support Trump on policies that build wealth for our kids, like those Trump Accounts, without losing our soul. The left can’t silence us or blind us to the truth. As Minaj said, the hate only motivates more — and let that be our fuel for a far better future for us all.

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