Well it’s more or less because Americans specifically AAs and most american whites have 0 ties to their ethnicity or country of origin, making race more importantWestern Europe is really Americanized, but I swear none of the Black Africans call themselves black or group themselves as black etc. They mainly go by their country of origin or tribe. Even the West Africans.
Even the white people there don't call themselves white. They say they are Danish, Swiss, Flemish etc. If they were to say they were just white or white European it would be seen as cringe and they would be accused of being a globalist or being an EU-phile (as in that organization).
But I think this is all because on continental Europe they don't require people to fill in racial things on government papers.
PS. All of the above excludes the UK.
That’s mainly why I’m using America is a standpoint, it’s where race is actually a genuine thing and a form of identification to an extent