She equated race with racism. She said she faced racism her whole life, and that was due to people insisting that she was black and that black was a race. She said that if she feels her “race”, that race is a true thing. I believe she was confusing her culture with race, but I did not say that, as I wanted to listen and learn. In the end, I think we misunderstood each other, but she never came back to class and we never had a further conversation.