Just going by the color of a person's skin, there is no doubt that Somalis will qualify as BLACKS, but the issue is more than just a mere skin color. Most of us who object to the classification of Black are opposed to the underlying idea which carries racist undertone that discard a persons humanity. Our experience is different to that of Afro-american, caribbean and west Africans. Its also a question of attitude and psychological conditioning that does not apply to Somalis even though we have been colonized by the same European because our forefathers were well aware of who they were and thanks also to Islam they understood that there is more to us than just a colored person.
You'll never see a sri lankan describe him/herself as black even though they are darker than Somalis.
In a nutshell, it goes like this...Muslim, somali, African...But never black.
Ps..But don't think you can call me a nigger as well, cos i'll bit your head off!
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One evening i was stopped by the police and when they were filling their form they asked me what i was to which i replied...Somali! then the officer goes, 'ok, but you black to which i said no, brown! can't you see?
then he explain that he didn't have brown in the list, because i asked, if they are going to use color why didn't they list all the colors that are found in humanity and stop using misleading color references. i even pointed out that They (the officer) are called white but if anything they are more of a pinkish color than white. at that point he laughed and then just asked me to pick one from the list provided, and i had to go for Black African, instead of Brown African. 
