Question

to which part of her identity is noda referring when she says that my identity seemed to hurtle toward me and past itself right to my face''(lines 1-2)

Answer 1

I would say she is referring to her racial identity.
She is talking about how people used to be very racist towards her because she is part Japanese (she is a Japanese-American citizen). Just by taking a glance to her face, they would assign her a certain race and treat her differently based on that.