This attitude is widespread among Europeans, the descendants of European slavers and colonialists, in particular. There are also Arabs who feel the same about Egypt not being an African country.
History is written by winners and rewritten by conquerors. Sooner or later, there is power-shift. Power changes hands, colors and forms. Power has changed hands, colors and forms many times in world history.
Europeans managed to colonize Africa and enslave millions of Africans. Arabs managed to colonize Africa and enslave millions of Africans
Europeans will never admit that a long time ago before Europe achieved dominance, ancient Egyptians contributed to the Greek civilization, they will never admit that millions of Europeans were enslaved in Africa, they will never admit that dark skinned Egyptians are the oldest stock of Egyptians.
Arabs will rarely admit that a long time before the Arabs achieved dominance over Africans, the Arabic peninsula was part of the Ethiopian Empire. Ethiopians conquered and occupied Arab lands for hundreds of years.
This is an answer given by an Egyptian about the "race" of ancient Egyptians and the Africaness of Egyptians. This is the best answer ever from someone from Egypt
Egyptians are definitely not Arabs, nor considered themselves Arabs prior to the overthrow of Farouk by Nasser. Well before the Nasserite years Egyptians under the leadership of Sheikh Tantawi and Saad Zaghul considered themselves ''just Egyptians'' but because of Pan-Arabism have embraced Arabs.
Another shock to people is that Arabs invaded the land of Egypt in 640 AD and the later Arabian Caliphates forced jizya tax and land tax upon the real descendants of the ancient Egyptians which were poor peasant farmers in the countryside. Neither Arabs nor any invaders bothered to mix with these people,
SO THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN RACE LIVES ON WITH THE RURAL FELLAHIN AND SA3EADI PEOPLE IN UPPER EGYPT.
Foreigners like Americans and Europeans also have an eschewed sense of Egyptian phenotype due to the less migration of more elite Egyptians compared to more poor Egyptians who have a more African phenotype. This accounts for confusing remarks made about the ethnicity of the modern and ancient Egyptians.
So here are some generally terms for Egypt and Egyptians:
a) Sa3eadi people: Generally less mixed than Cairene or Bohary Egyptians. Generally these people possess more phenotypes closer to Africans. Although some in Middle Egypt are more mixed, and the further south you go into Egypt particularly around Luxor/Aswan the darker the people become and more African features.
b) Balady: Typically rural Egyptians from the Delta and Upper Egypt that have recently moved into the Egyptian city. Many of these people are confined to urban slums very comparable to ghettoes in America and Europe. Typically more ''mulatto'' in appearance than the typical Egyptian. Elite or sell out Egyptians look down upon them as stupid and dirty.
c) Bohary: Typically a term for a person from Lower Egypt or the Delta. Although this region is not devoid of Africoid people, the majority looks more Mediterranean, but occasionally there is a deviation within the population. Some even look like lighter skinned African Americans. Some mixing with Arabs has occurred, and prior to this some mixture with Semites via Palestine.
d) Fellahin: refers generally to farmers in the Delta but also includes farming communities from Beni Suef to Suhaj in Middle Egypt. Generally purer than the city dwellers in Egypt. Both Christians and Muslim populations are identical in appearance.
Let me also say that there is historical documentation of intermingling with Greeks, Jews and Syrian populations from Greco-Roman times down to Christian times in Egypt. Some areas in the north like Alexandria had larger populations than the indigenous Egyptian populations, and so you can tell that northern Egyptians probably absorbed lots of foreign admixture.