What is the color of Islam?

I must be perfectly honest and say that I had no anticipations whatsoever to become closer to understanding my religion since I have been here, but I have learned more than I had ever thought possible about Islam, especially Islam in South Africa and the Cape Malay influence. It has always been difficult for me to have two coexisting and seemingly conflicting identities shape my personhood: my life as an American and my life as a Muslim. While it has been exceedingly difficult, I have found here in South Africa that personal identities do not necessarily matter if one can link one’s very personhood to an all-encompassing national identity, as has happened in South Africa generationally. This realization was brought crashing down the other day on my walk to class.
After getting off the Jammie, Nykeyia and I were walking along the way to class, and we decided to pick up a drink and some gum. I picked up my water and gum, and sat them down on the counter to pay. The elderly gentleman at the counter asked me if I was Muslim, I responded yes. After I had paid and a brief pause, he looked at me and told me that the color of my face was not Muslim. I looked at him pensively and told him no, I was from America. I asked him where he was from and he told me Jerusalem, so I would suppose he may be a Palestinian refugee, as he did tell me goodbye in Islamic tinted Arabic. At the time Nykeyia and I laughed it off, but later it had me wonder if his perception was common amongst others as well. I have often had people tell me that they thought I was a very light skinned Indian or perhaps Lebanese, Syrian (generally lighter skinned Arabs) or Turkish.
To start unpacking this incident, of course the first thing that comes to mind is the fact that this is another very blatant example of race being addressed in South Africa, although it should be recognized that he was somewhat candid about the way he brought it up. He did not tell me that I was White, or that I was America, rather he beat around the bush slightly to say that my color was not Muslim. I found this so strange, as to me, Islam is an all-inclusive and equal religion, which is one of the things which attracted me to it in the first place. Why then, should my Islamic identity be qualitatively judged based on the color of my skin? This racial issue pertaining to Muslim identity has become clearer to my in South Africa than in any of my previous experiences in the states.
After our experience and tour at BoKaap, I was under the impression that I would find Cape Town a safe haven for me as a Muslim. I even found out (through my own research, Bilqees claimed to know nothing of Shiism, a generic Sunni response) that there is a rather impressively large Shia mosque and community here, of which there is little to none in the states. Especially after seeing the wide range and variety of the people of BoKaap, I felt convinced that Cape Town would be an all-inclusive society where I would be able to flaunt my Muslim identity shamelessly. This, I found, was not the case. Even here, in a society so diverse and so bent towards racial reconciliation, I was still being judged on my seemingly paradoxical outward appearance.
This has caused me to understand that I must work towards bridging the seemingly irreconcilable gap between my two identities. I refuse to let go of some if not most of my American values, yet I have an emerging new identity as a Muslim which must be able to fit into the mix equally, if not more so than my Americanism. I am curious to pursue and to research further the varying perceptions of people about Islam and its compatibility with other cultures. This man on campus, as well as many others I am sure see a conflict between Islam and many Western cultures. I hope that this is not the case, and I am determined to prove them wrong and show that the color of Islam is as multifaceted as the wide array of cultures in South Africa.