This. I actually didn't assume any "race" for Shadow because "race" isn't a term I think in. I think that was the whole point of the character and the descriptions: Shadow is set up as trying to be as forgettable as possible. People have a trouble defining him. The thing with the guard? I always thought that was in the book not to explicitely state "he is not white" but to further imply that you can't really pin Shadow down in terms of race, character and motivation. Even after I heard about the race wank, I thought that was the whole point, not being able to tell his race and that he could have parts of just about everything.