How “African” is North Africa?

One quote that really resonated with me was, “Certainly there is something to be said about North Africans trying to distance themselves from ‘black Africa’.”(Amrani, 2018). I personally noticed that in North African countries previously colonized by France (Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco), people tend to frame themselves as more white, western,  open minded, and Mediterranean in efforts to  distance themselves from sub Saharan Africans