The first two things an American notices when they see another person are these: is it a man or woman, and are they White or Black (or "something else").

You will note that I have started capitalizing White, so clearly the article worked on at least one person...

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Hah, funny story popped into my head - I remember one time decades ago, I was trapped in a bodega in Brooklyn with a Black man who looked like he was going to be dragged out by a bunch of local people and I helped him hold the door, and the cry went up, "He has a White guy helping him!"

We held the door till the cops came, but I don't know what happened after that. My girlfriend had been disconcerted to see that a few minutes after I stepped into the store to get a corkscrew a riot ensued, and didn't even laugh when I came out and delivered my punchline, "They didn't have one!"

(We were both on acid, too, though fairly advanced in the trip. Ah, Williamsburg in the early 90s, it will never come again!)

The point is that the mob saw me as a "White guy" - details were unimportant.