What is your race? -- LiveWire Teen Forums

Optional: You may specify on your ethnicity or nationality if needed.

If you classify yourself as hispanic or latino, Mestizo would most likely be the proper choice for you as hispanic and latino are NOT races.
For more information, see Hispanic/Latino definitions.

What is race?
The term race or racial group usually refers to the categorization of humans into populations or groups on the basis of various sets of heritable characteristics. The physical features commonly seen as indicating race are salient visual traits such as skin color, cranial or facial features and hair texture.

Be careful to not confuse race with ethnicity or nationality.
For more information, see Race ~ Ethnicity ~ Nationality for a more detailed definition and it's difference from ethnicity and nationality.

White refers to people characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin and dominant European ancestry.
Often used interchangeably with Caucasian.
The term 'Caucasian' (also Caucasoid) has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the indigenous populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia. Historically, the term has been used to describe the entire population of these regions, without regard necessarily to skin tone.
In common use, the term is sometimes restricted to Europeans and other lighter-skinned populations within these areas, and may be considered equivalent to the varying definitions of white people. The term has also sometimes been equated with the lesser known term Europid, or Europoid, although in classification europeans were considered a sub-branch of caucasian.

Black refers to people characterized, at least in part, by skin tones ranging from light brown to brown or nearly black.
The term usually refers to those of the Negro[id] race or people of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, but is not limited to it.
'Black people' as a term has different definitions in different parts of the world, but most find common ground in describing those of dark skin.
In America, 'black' is commonly used interchangeably with African-American.

Asian refers to people having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent (South Asia.)
Basically, it's somebody from an Asian country. Although it seems residential, it is still considered a race.
However, it's more commonly used by it's historic definition, Mongoloid, which only describes people with origins of Far East and Southeast Asia, and can be characterized by features such as epicanthic eyefolds.
Like black, it's a broad term and it's definition varies by person.

Information largely composed from Wikipedia.
Credit: SpRiNgS, jakelong, and fantazia for input and feedback.

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