I think he’s trying to say that you are ‘anthropomorphizing’ your dog - treating it as if it were a person. In which case he’s still wrong, but at least his sentences would make sense.
It’s possible there is a difference in smell. But I think you guys are overlooking the obvious. Dogs are not blind, they can see the difference in skin tone. I’m not saying they are racist, but it is entirely possible that he was abused by a black man in his street-life past and now thinks all black men will hurt him. Same way a dog can hate all men wearing red hats after being kicked by a man wearing a red hat. That’s not a frequent thing, but due to individuality, different dogs react differently to situations. Most dogs will get over one episode of harm. Some don’t.
At the Spanish rescue I used to volunteer with they rescue hundreds of dogs a year and kennel them in a very large paddock-style (instead of small kennel/runs) facility until they get them adopted. These were dogs who were badly abused. I spent a week there a couple years ago, cleaning the paddocks and such. In a paddock with around 40 dogs, 35 would be the typical joyful “oh, humans are here to pet me and love me and tell me I’m pretty” and tackle me with doggy kisses. 5 would lurk suspiciously around the perimeter and never let me get close. Those spooky dogs, as they rehabilitated and homed, would almost always relax around women first, to the point of becoming velcro dogs to their human moms. It would take months to years for them to stop being suspicious of the men in the family, and even longer if at all, with strangers.
Nominate this for post of the year. This is exactly correct. Let them come to you first is the best approach of all.