It turns out there is a proper answer to this.

On the surface, it seems like an easy answer because all zebras have the same skin color and that is black.

So if you look at it from that angle, you'd say that they are black with white stripes, but that ignores their actual for color, which is what we're actually seeing.

And just like a light skinned person can have black hair.

It's a different process that decides the color of our hair.

Zebras actually have more white hair on their body than black.

Their bellies are usually much lighter and so some people would argue that they are white with black stripes, but the deciding factor comes from melanocytes cells, which is what produces pigment in hair or for this pigment called melanin and the more there is the darker the hair.

But to create white hair, this process has to be completely turned off.

In other words, a zebra's default state is to create black hair, meaning they are officially black with white stripes.