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.