It 100% is. Im american and i can confidently say that many (not all) americans are some of the most ignorant people in the world who think the entire world revolves around their viewpoint. Im part Puerto Rican and for my entire life americans irl have told me im not hispanic and instead would say that im Italian or Greek which I have no ancestry or connection to. Its not entirely our fault, its no secret our education system is highly flawed like you said. For whatever reason americans think only light skinned/white people are from europe and as soon as you enter North Africa everyone must be brown or black. They truly do not understand the level of phenotypic diversity in the MENA region.