Funny story...
One of my good friends is this very well educated black dude, he's a Harvard Grad, and he's also very athletic (JACKED) 6'2, 240 lbs, squats 500 lbs... Its funny because he's originally from Florida, and has a THICK surfer accent... so he doesn't speak "ebonics" or anything like that. He's very very dark skinned, bald, and dresses normal... not super nice, but also not "ghetto" or anything... anyways 1 year it was halloween and I was going to a party, and I heard he's going some other event somewhere, so I asked him if he's dressing up, and he said yes, I then ask what he's going as, he goes "I'm dressing up as a thug", he was being 100% serous, I damn near lost it, and he didn't understand why, I just didn't have the heart to tell him that people will not think he's dressed up and just think that this is how he always looked.
If it wasn't for his surfer accent, education, and normal clothes everyday he would be very intimidating.