Ask her how she's finding the class? Ask her questions about herself that are slightly more personal so that you share a personal knowledge about each other. Asking questions is the smoothest start, I think. If you can introduce any questions about ex's without being tempted to complain to much about your past relationships or start her on a rant about a bad one of hers, it might be helpful to see if she has dated anyone outside her race. If she even makes the effort to through in a comment like, "Yeah, when I was dating ____, who was actually (enter race here)..." then it doesn't matter what she said there, she's just trying to let you know that she has dated someone of another race. If she drops any line like that, just be observant enough to pick it up.
