This always makes me think of Americans who can't tell any Asians apart at all and think it must be so much easier for Asians to tell Americans apart, because there are so many different kinds of white people.
I think most people have a hard time telling people of other races apart initially, and there's a biological reason. I'm probably mixing up body parts here, but the basic thought is this: white people instinctively look to the eyes, because the eyes show the greatest variety among white people. Black people look to the nose, because noses show greater variety in black people. Asian people look to the mouth, because mouths differ more amongst Asians. A black person looking to an Asian's nose area, which doesn't have as much variety, gets confused. A white person looking to a black person's eyes, which are majority brown, gets confused. An asian looking to a white mouth, which mostly tend toward similar thin lips, gets confused. Once the right pattern recognition gets subconsciously learned, they begin to tell members of other races apart more easily.
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