The perception of Donald Trump in many of America’s minority communities has changed dramatically in the past couple of decades.

Once, before he was president, he was celebrated by black dignitaries, such as former Democratic presidential nominee Jesse Jackson. Trump received the Ellis Island Award alongside Rosa Parks for the celebration of “patriotism, tolerance, brotherhood and diversity.”

He’d also been honored in rap culture, through a song celebrating him as a symbol of American success, with the name “Black Trump.” The Cocoa Brovaz and Raekwon track even features an Islamic reference and the chorus, “Pull your boots up” — a message about self-sufficiency.

It also features glorifications of violence, robbery, murder, war and other assorted illegal activities.

Seeing Jay-Z — a rapper who has claimed in countless verses of his songs to self-finance his empire by selling drugs, at least initially — fawned over by CNN’s Van Jones like a 14-year-old teeny bopper — illustrates the issue in our heavily democratic and minority demographic. The real news about our historically low black unemployment and new all-time low Hispanic unemployment has taken a back seat to sensationalized attacks against the sitting president of the United States.

During a January interview, Jay-Z said he felt Trump’s heavily disputed “s***hole” comment was “hurtful.” Anyone who is familiar with Shawn Jay-Z Carter’s vast library of CDs and double albums has undoubtedly heard his violent, sexist and otherwise offensive material.

This is a rapper who has written such debatably hurtful lyrics such as: “I ain’t no ball player, you ain’t gonna get pregnant and get / Hit off with paper, you gonna get hit off and slid off…” (There’s far more and far worse that we won’t waste time articulating here.)

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Jay-Z and his wife, Beyonce, took a trip to Cuba in 2013 with special permission from the Obama administration to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary. In their time there, the capitalist couple were treated like royalty in a socialist country in which people are oppressed by a military dictatorship and only earn roughly a bit over $100 a year around the time of the visit.

As for Eminem — a rapper who often references the working class of Detroit in his music, the place where he grew up and a place Trump shocked the media by winning in the 2016 presidential election — he focused his recent comeback on piling on the onslaught of anti-Trump rhetoric. His strategy of putting his chips on Trump resulted in first-week album sales of less than 200,000 for his 2017 album. By comparison, 2002’s “The Eminem Show” sold over 1.3 million copies in its first full week.

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The record sales show Eminem was doing better in terms of sales prior to attempting to be political. Any observer could determine that it is perhaps in Marshall Mather’s best interest to “shut up and rap.”

And that brings us to LeBron James. He is an athlete, not a published or celebrated economist. He has lived a life of unimaginable fortune. James has never had to work a 40-hour week to earn a check that barely covers living expenses. He has been coddled as a super athlete since he was a young boy.

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Now 33, LeBron James has no excuse to follow the herd foolishly. Although he has grown up in front of our eyes, he’s no longer a child. He recently demonstrated his immaturity by attacking President Trump, saying he “doesn’t give a f*** about the people.”

Laura Ingraham of Fox News was spot-on when she charged that LeBron should “shut up and dribble” — he certainly should for now.

If he wants to have a positive impact on the black community, James should invest some time during the off-season to analyze the effects of conservative versus liberal policies in the communities he claims to represent.

Julio Rivera is editorial director of ReactionaryTimes.com. He’s also a small-business consultant and a featured columnist at Newsmax.com; he is based in New York City.

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