Black and White

I have an African friend who is an immigrant here in Canada. He has a very dark skin tone. My genetics are from the Mediterranean. Some people may call him black and some people may call me white, but I don't see it like that at all. My friend's skin color is dark brown. If you look at my skin color, it is obviously a shade of brown, like a tan color: olive skin is what I'm told. Therefore, I do believe that my friend and I are of the exact same color, that is, brown. We are but varying shades of brown. I do not like this black and white terminology to describe us. I think it's simplistic.