Recently, Kanye West made some controversial comments in regards to slavery and it's history pertaining to African Americans. His comments suggest that 400 years was a choice and as a matter of fact, in the TMZ interview, he said those exact words. As one could imagine, his comments caused a public backlash among people, especially African Americans. On the other hand, some people agree with what he said.

For me and my family's history, his comments struck a nerve.

Before I give my two cents on the matter, I should preface my comments by saying I understand what Kanye was trying to accomplish with his statements. He feels that people are mentally enslaved and it prohibits growth. Fine, I get that. In some cases, he's absolutely correct. But in this case, he's not.

My family came to America on a slave-ship from West Africa and I can assure you that it wasn't by choice. My grandparents picked cotton out in the field in Alabama when they were younger. Slavery has impacted my family in many ways as it has other families, as well as this country. I purposely don't watch movies such as 12 years a slave, or The Help, or series such as Roots. My friends have tried to convince me to watch those movies and I'm sure they're great movies.

But I can't bring myself to watch those movies because in a way, they're more than movies. I've never picked cotton or boarded a slave-ship. But it's not easy to say or comprehend that it happened in my family.

I think Kanye might think that the blacks could've come together and revolted against the slave masters and made a difference. In a sense, he might have thought of what it would be like if blacks were slaves in the modern day and answered to slave masters. The problem is, African Americans didn’t have the education or any tools or resources to even think about fighting or revolting. People such as Harriett Tubman, who created the underground railroad for slaves to escape, gave hope for the other slaves that there was a better life waiting for them if they could escape.

However, that wasn't the case for every slave. Slaves who tried to escape and got caught were punished. As a matter of fact, there were slave catchers who stood guard to catch slaves who escaped for a reward. Bottom line, if the slaves didn't obey their masters, or tried to escape but got caught they were punished even unto death – their mentality was survival.

You can't erase history, good or bad. This was a bad part of history and something that can't be downplayed. I can't wrap my mind around the African Americans who were lynched and brutally beat over that period of time. I can't comprehend what I read in the history books about what happened, just like I can't fully comprehend the people who defend slavery and use the Bible to defend slavery, or in this case, understand why Kanye thinks that slavery is a mentality.

To put things in broader terms, slavery of no kind is a mentality. Slavery still exist today and I'm not referring to our minds being mentally enslaved to certain cultures, habits, etc. Human trafficking exists all over the world. People of all ages are being traded and are forced to take part in horrible things, from drugs, to sex, etc. The people affected by this don't have a choice and I hazard to hunch, they hope for better days ahead.

While I respect Kanye's open mind and opinion, the bottom line is that slavery is not a mentality, but it was and is reality.