Why is the US one of the few countries that collects data on race?

While in other countries, they collect ethnicity, nationality or citizen vs. non-citizen? That seems to produce more accurate results! Besides, the census terminology & options are clearly flawed, misguiding, promote racism & sound completely ridiculous: "White" (It's a color for god's sake), "Black/African" (It's another color, and Africa is a diverse continent of 1 billion, not a race), "Asian" (Again, a diverse continent of over 3 billion, not a race).