european racism is also more xenophobia than about race, which is exemplified by the difference between africans and african-americans. it's less the skin color that matters but where you are from. an african-american is from a 1st world country with a western culture similar to europe, whereas a native african is from a 3rd world country. "from the bush", from a poverty stricken and war-torn region.
A mistake on the side of the potential xenophobe that usually turns out quite positive for the misidentified. "Welfare seeker" vs "impersonation of the Marshall Plan", the difference could not be bigger. The face of the "good GI", in popular memory, has black skin because that used to be so much of a standout feature back in the day.
do caucasian americans identify as europeans outside of america?
or mexicans as spanisch?
Here in Germany for example, black skin Africans report wildly different amounts of discrimination: the lucky ones are those who, due to some inexplicable subtility, tend to get misidentified as African Americans. Suddenly they are on the other side of that strange line separating immigrants from expats, without even trying.