Over the years, ideas of race and ethnicity have been broken down and questioned by society and popular Black celebrities, most recently Raven-Symone Lark Voorhies. This week, Symone’s View co-host made the bold decision to separate from her ancestry by declaring herself solely an American.

Whoopi Goldberg on ‘The View’: “I’m an American. I’m not an African-American […] Since the 1700s, my people have been here.” (Goldberg was responding to Donald Trump’s first TV ad for president, which some say promotes a fear of immigrants) What do you think of Whoopi’s statement? #theview #whoopi
A video posted by TheGrio (@thegrio) on Jan 5, 2016 at 11:38am PST

The Huffington Post caught wind of Whoopi Goldberg’s comments during Tuesday’s airing of the popular show. After a few jokes about leaving the country, realizing the reality of Donald Trump’s presidential bid, the actress and comedian took things to the next level by removing hyphens from her ethnic identity, implying that her family is rooted in America, not anywhere else.
Via Huff Post:
“You know what uh uh! This is my country,” Goldberg said. “My mother, my grandmother, my great-grand folks, we busted ass to be here. I’m sorry. I’m an American. I’m not an African-American, I’m not a chick American, I’m an American!”
Raven-Symone chimed in as well: “I’m an American! I’ve been here too long to not just hold American.”
Black identity has been a topic of discussion in the first few days of 2016. Earlier this week, former child star Lark Voorhies also called herself an American on Instagram.

Morning messages from #LarkVoorhies
A photo posted by The Shade Room (@theshaderoominc) on Jan 3, 2016 at 8:07am PST

The actress later deleted the post, but reposted Whoopi’s statement with her support.

A warm hearted THANK YOU to the lovely @whoopigoldberg (and @ravensymone) for being politically correct and voicing her personal opinionata in regards to my comments on being AMERICAN. I won’t speak further on this issue to avoid much hatred and ignorance. I’ve been called a coon over 50 times and refuse to deal with such jealousy. Enjoy life and may god bless you all! LV
A video posted by Lark Voorhies (@thelarkvoorhies) on Jan 5, 2016 at 6:43pm PST

While many believe the term African-American keeps Blacks connected to their ancestry, the progressive move to drop all labels has left the gates open for those to become more fluid in their own view of race and identity.
Do you agree with Whoopi’s statement? Sound off in the comments below.
SOURCE: Huffington Post | VIDEO CREDIT: Instagram, Inform
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Read More: Whoopi Goldberg Declares She’s American, Not African-American