you're basically telling me I should consider myself a different race because random yankees think I am?

Race doesn't really exist*. No one can tell you you're a race you don't think you are

*I mean it exists, but it's a social construct that only has any meaning because we give it meaning culturally. Any person with a particular racial identity, in a different cultural context, could have a different racial identity. Would have a different racial identity, most likely. But that doesn't mean the concept is meaningless, just that its meaning is derived from its use, rather than the other way around.

You do know that there is no scientific definition of race, right?

Also, she's from the U.S., so...